New watershed fire-prevention fee for water customers in Placer County's future?

Gus Thomson in the Auburn Journal (California): Could Placer County Water Agency users soon be paying an extra charge on their bills for clearing brush and protecting the upstream watershed against fire and erosion? It’s a question that the Tahoe National Forest’s top ranger gave an opportunity for leaders of government and private industry to ponder during a workshop on the watershed in Auburn.

Forest Supervisor Tom Quinn told a gathering of about 120 people in Auburn on Thursday that the U.S. Forest Service view of water as a “non-market resource” has shifted. There’s a new move toward considering non-traditional values that can be attached to watershed – from its role as a wildlife habitat to its impact on climate change to providing water for a plethora of downstream users, Quinn said.

But Quinn said that funding for programs to protect and preserve the forested watershed against fire is “grossly inadequate.” Making reference to a program already in place in Santa Fe, N.M. that targets users at the end of the tap with fees, Quinn said water providers could tap into a source of revenue that could greatly aid efforts upstream to prevent fire and erosion. “A minor investment now on water bills might just prevent economic and social costs later,” Quinn said….

FEMA photo of a fire in San Diego in 2007, a distance from Placer County