08/10/2026
A VIEW FROM ABOVE: MCWRA Hosts Aerial Legislative Tour of the Sierra Nevada
Last week, the Mountain Counties Water Resources Association (MCWRA), in partnership with EcoFlight, hosted an Aerial Legislative Tour of the Sierra Nevada, providing state policymakers and staff with a unique, firsthand look at the landscapes, infrastructure, and communities that are critical to California’s water supply. The tour highlighted the interconnected relationship between headwaters, water infrastructure, forest health, wildfire, recreation, hydropower, and downstream water supply.
The aerial perspective helped demonstrate a message at the heart of MCWRA’s advocacy: what happens in California’s headwaters has implications far beyond the Sierra Nevada. Healthy forests and watersheds, resilient infrastructure, and strong rural communities are essential to protecting the water supply and natural resources relied upon by millions of Californians.
The tour also provided an opportunity for candid conversations about the unique challenges facing water agencies and communities throughout the Sierra Nevada. Participants discussed the significant investments needed to repair and replace aging water infrastructure, much of which serves small and geographically dispersed populations. Conversations also focused on water affordability and the difficulty of funding major infrastructure improvements while keeping rates affordable for customers, as well as the operational and financial challenges associated with California’s Advanced Clean Fleets regulations, particularly for rural and mountain water agencies that depend on specialized heavy-duty vehicles, operate across large and rugged service territories, and may lack the charging infrastructure and commercially available zero-emission equipment necessary to meet their operational needs.
These issues — coupled with wildfire risk, forest and watershed health, emergency preparedness, regulatory requirements, workforce needs, and the realities of operating in rural and frontier communities — underscore why policies designed for California must account for the very different conditions faced by agencies in the state’s headwaters.
🔹Special Thanks to Our MCWRA Aerial Tour Guides
MCWRA extends a special thank you to the water and local government leaders who served as Aerial Tour Guides, sharing their firsthand knowledge and providing important context throughout the flights:
1️⃣ El Dorado County Supervisor Lori Parlin, MCWRA Director
2️⃣ Georgetown Divide Public Utility District Director Michael Saunders, MCWRA Director
3️⃣ Tuolumne Utilities District Director Ron Ringen, MCWRA Director
4️⃣ El Dorado Water Agency General Manager Rebecca Guo
MCWRA also extends its sincere appreciation to EcoFlight for its partnership and to the elected officials, legislative staff, agency representatives, water leaders, and regional partners who participated in the tour.
