 Tour participants pose for a group photo in front of the Indian Bar Rafting Access area on the Middle Fork American River.
Auburn, CA, Oct. 21, 2025 – On Monday, Oct. 13, the Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC), Placer County Water Agency (PCWA), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and Mountain Counties Water Resources Association (MCWRA) co-sponsored the Forests to Faucets Field Tour for state policymakers, staff, and government officials to experience the inextricable connection between forest health and the state’s water supply along the Middle Fork American River watershed in Placer County. The tour was co-hosted by assemblymembers Joe Patterson (R-Rocklin) and Diane Papan (D-San Mateo).
California’s forested watersheds deliver critical resources to the state, including clean drinking water, hydropower, recreation, and vital wildlife habitat. The American River system and three forks of the American River are key to keeping these resources flowing.
The Forests to Faucets Field Tour highlighted how connected forest health and resilience is to our water supply, water quality, and energy, and focused on the critical need to complete community protection and forest-health treatments quicker and on a larger scale.
"Healthy and resilient forests are critical to water quality and supply, and to keeping our communities safe from wildfires,” said Angela Avery, executive officer of the SNC. “There’s a critical need to advance landscape-scale restoration along with treatments near homes and infrastructure to ensure that our state remains livable and the resources we depend on are sustained.”
Tour attendees included Senator Roger Niello of District 6. Assemblymembers Joe Patterson and Diane Papan were joined by fellow assemblymembers Juan Alanis of District 22 and Tom Lackey of District 34. Staff members from a variety of legislators representing districts across the state also attended, including from the offices of Senators McNerney, Niello, and Laird and Assemblymembers Connolly, Hadwick, Lackey, McNerney, Patterson, Papan, and Rivas.
 From left to right: Assemblymember Tom Lackey, Assemblymember Joe Patterson, Assemblymember Juan Alanis, Senator Roger Niello, and Assemblymember Diane Papan tour Oxbow Reservoir dam, surrounded by the Mosquito Fire burn scarred Middle Fork American River Canyon. Photo credit: E. Blackmer, Sierra Business Council.
Forests to Faucets Field Tour stops included:
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Oxbow Reservoir at Indian Bar, which is a part of PCWA’s multi-purpose Middle Fork Project – California’s eighth-largest public power project that provides clean energy and a reliable water supply to Placer County. This project includes five hydroelectric power plants, two reservoirs (French Meadows and Hell Hole) and 24 miles of tunnels. The Middle Fork American River is vital to ensuring year-round water reliability for municipal, industrial, and agricultural needs – along with the myriad of recreation opportunities. Tour participants heard first-hand the importance of protecting infrastructure, such as the Middle Fork Project, from not only damaging wildfire itself but the abundance of sediment that can flow into rivers and reservoirs from burned areas during subsequent rainstorms. Surrounded by Mosquito Fire burn scars, this point was especially poignant at Oxbow Reservoir.
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Sugar Pine Roadside Fuel Break Project, 26 miles of strategic fuel breaks along U.S. Forest Service roads between the community of Michigan Bluff and Sugar Pine Reservoir. A $3 million grant from the SNC to the National Forest Foundation (NFF) was originally designed to complete 1,266 acres of forest-health treatments near Michigan Bluff, but during project implementation, the Mosquito Fire broke out and impacted 90 percent of the project area. The NFF and SNC used the funds to treat the unburned portions of the original project and pivoted the remaining funds to create roadside fuel breaks that will enhance future community, water, and natural resource protection.
Participants also attended a lunchtime panel discussion highlighting the French Meadows Partnership, a pioneering public-private effort to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire in the American River watershed, a critical water supply for California. This partnership was a response to the devastating and costly 2014 King Fire, which significantly impaired water infrastructure.
Partners from TNC, Placer County, PCWA and SNC shared lessons from this project, which aims to reduce severe wildfire risk across 28,000 acres and demonstrate approaches to accelerate ecologically based forest management in the Sierra Nevada. Leveraging $11.4 million in funding from state grants, the partnership has attracted significant funding from federal and private sources over seven seasons of treatment. The partnership serves as a model of shared stewardship to avoid future impacts to California’s critical water infrastructure.
"I am so grateful for the work that you do,” said Assemblymember Papan to the agencies co-hosting the tour. “The infrastructure you provide is essential and I love that you are doing so much with so little. That cannot go understated and your agencies are small but very mighty and our state owes you a debt of gratitude.”
Placer County Water Agency is dedicated to serving as the primary water resource agency for Placer County, California, with a broad range of responsibilities including water resource planning and management, retail and wholesale supply of drinking water and irrigation water, and production of hydroelectric energy. Learn more at pcwa.net
Mountain Counties Water Resources Association’s Mission is to promote the statewide importance of Sierra Nevada water resources through advocacy and collaboration. Our vision is to be the premiere advocate to influence water policy and protection of the Sierra Nevada watershed. This Mission is realized through strengthening Members’ regional leadership, collaboration, information sharing, issue awareness, education, advocacy, and potential legislative action or legal support. Learn more at mountaincountieswater.com
The Nature Conservancy is a global conservation organization dedicated to conserving the lands and waters on which all life depends. Guided by science, we create innovative, on-the-ground solutions to our world’s toughest challenges so that nature and people can thrive together. We are tackling climate change, conserving lands, waters and oceans at an unprecedented scale, providing food and water sustainably and helping make cities more resilient. The Nature Conservancy is working to make a lasting difference around the world in 83 countries and territories (39 by direct conservation impact and 44 through partners) through a collaborative approach that engages local communities, governments, the private sector, and other partners. To learn more, visit nature.org
The Sierra Nevada Conservancy is a state agency tasked to improve the environmental, economic, and social well-being of California’s Sierra-Cascade region since 2004. Learn more at sierranevada.ca.gov
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