Good News (for once!) + Jay Lund Humor + Time for Boulder
Friends of Confluence West -
In this week’s Three Drop Thursday: The good news: Flagstaff, Arizona, continues to build on the success of the original $10 million forest-health bond measure passed by the city’s voters in 2012.
We spoke with Neil Chapman, the City’s Wildfire Captain, about what comes next now that they’ve successfully treated the original priority acres.
Returning to our archives, we pulled up the 2019 Confluence West interview with Paul Summerfelt, the former Flagstaff wildfire chief who led the historic campaign to pass the bond measure, for some of the lessons he identified seven years after its passage.
We’ve not yet found any other Western city or water agency that has replicated the success of the Flagstaff bond. We hope that other places dependent on water supply from National Forests will take inspiration from what Flagstaff has achieved.
Then on to Jay Lund's humor (laughing is greatly needed right now) and information on the not-to-be-missed Getches Wilkinson Center’s annual Colorado River Basin conference.
If you missed our last Three Drop Thursday, we’re still watching more federal shoes drop in the Colorado River Basin and more shoes with Forest Service, National Park Service, NOAA, BLM, and NRCS employees and IRA funding—the list is long. (My formerly reliable crystal ball is still in hiding due to the overwhelmingness of it all.)
As always, we look forward to your comments and questions.
For the West,
Kimery
Many excellent NGOs, water utilities, tribes, Nations, communities, and public agencies are working to protect rivers and forests in the American West from the (sometimes overwhelming) challenges climate change poses. We are proud to partner with many of them.
Why support Confluence West? Over the past 17 years, we've learned that Long-term, equitable solutions require dedicated and talented people from every sector, issue area, perspective, expertise, and culture to bring their part of the elephant, their truth, to the table.
We build and lead projects that connect diverse decision-makers who, in turn, create science- and evidence-based campaigns. Check out our work! Or, email Kimery.
Flagstaff: Continuing Success for Forest and Watershed Protection
Flagstaff – Lessons learned and what’s next
A history reminder: The 2010 Schultz Fire burned 15,000 acres just outside of Flagstaff and led to post-fire flooding that devastated neighborhoods. According to a full cost accounting by the Ecology Research Institute at Northern Arizona University, the recovery work cost between $133 and $147 million.
In November 2012, Flagstaff, Arizona, residents overwhelmingly approved a $10 million bond to support forest restoration work within key watersheds on the Coconino National Forest and State and City lands. There are (fortunately) an increasing number of examples of municipalities funding forest restoration work on National Forests, but Flagstaff is the only known instance of such an effort funded from municipal bonds.
The Flagstaff Watershed Protection Project is part of the Four Forests Restoration Initiative (4-FRI), a 2.4 million acre national priority landscape designed and led by multiple stakeholders to reduce catastrophic wildfires in Northern Arizona.
As the now-retired Arizona State Forester, Jeff Whitney told Confluence West in 2018:
“Flagstaff’s decision to tax itself is a great example of what we all must do to protect our communities and the health of our forests and watersheds. Whether communities choose to tax themselves or not, similar initiatives will be necessary to get the job done.”
Want funding? Build those essential private-public partnerships.
In 2019, Paul Summerfelt told us:
“We could just continue to pound on our congressman and senators and the Forest Service for more federal money to fund the treatment. The end result of that is just a lot of yelling and screaming, and not a lot gets done. There’s not enough money in the Treasury for the work that needs to be done.”
Neil Chapman estimates that their partners (State, USFS, Tribes, foundations) have provided another $50 million in forest and watershed health work since 2012.
Don’t underestimate what your community will support.
In our work over the years with successful public-private forest health partnerships in the West, we’ve found that municipalities and utilities often underestimate the willingness of ratepayers to support headwaters programs. A couple of quick examples:
The City of Santa Fe found that 82% of ratepayers were willing to pay 65 cents per month to protect the city’s water supply from the risk of catastrophic wildfires.
Denver Water is set to introduce a new fee in 2026 to partially fund wildfire prevention efforts.
Salt Lake City Public Utilities plans to charge customers a fee to support wildfire prevention initiatives.
Flagstaff’s water supply is entirely local, sourced from surface water and wells. Protecting water quality and the distribution infrastructure requires investment in restoring and maintaining a fire-adapted forest. In 2020, the Water Resource and Infrastructure Protection fee was established for the City of Flagstaff’s water services customers. This fee will increase the capacity of the Flagstaff Fire Department’s Wildland Fire Management Program to safeguard Flagstaff and its priority watersheds from the impacts of catastrophic wildfires. It is anticipated to provide the Wildland Fire Management Program with approximately $1.3 million annually.
Are watershed protection bond measures a good strategy?
As Paul Summerfelt commented:
“There are pros and cons of bonding. It takes an election and there’s a lot of work on that end. But the one thing about the election that carries great weight is that it shows that community members have skin in the game. They are vested in the outcome, and that carries weight with other agencies as well. So, people who oppose the work aren’t just opposing an agency but also opposing the will of the voters. I’m not sure we recognized that at the time we ran the measure, but it did put it in a different political arena, and that carries real weight.”
A big win for Flagstaff residents came in 2020 when the City closed the final balance of the $10 million original bond with the Arizona Water Infrastructure Finance Authority’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF.) Combined with interest savings on the forgivable principal, this resulted in a $1.4 million savings for Flagstaff’s property taxpayers.
Create a central information hub: The Flagstaff Watershed Protection Project has done an excellent job of keeping the public informed. Their website includes an interactive map, videos, updates on the work completed, and monitoring status of the Mexican Spotted Owl.
What’s next?
Neil Chapman noted that while about 18K acres of thinning has been completed within the FWPP project area, much work remains. New implementation plans include the Upper Rio de Flag watershed beyond the original footprint in the Dry Lake Hills. Partnerships with the National Forest Foundation and the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program are now in place for the Lake Mary watershed.
Coconino County and the FWPP bond funding will support 640 acres of thinning on Lowell Observatory land within city limits, managed by the Greater Flagstaff Forests Partnership. These efforts have expanded the original FWPP footprint from approximately 10,000 acres to 57,000 acres.
A new partnership with the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals at Northern Arizona University will provide the Flagstaff Fire Department with an intern for eight weeks this summer. The student will research indigenous cultural burning practices, extend the City of Flagstaff’s clean air initiative into tribal areas, and support wildfire response needs across the greater Flagstaff area.
Glasses at 50% in California - Jay Lund humor
Many of you know Jay Lund, the Director of the University of California, Davis’ Center for Watershed Sciences. In addition to his highly respected work, he has a wonderfully wacky sense of humor, which we greatly appreciate! His latest (click here to continue the list):
How do California’s engineers see a partially full water glass?
Depending on your outlook, the proverbial glass of water is either half full or half empty. Not so, for engineers in California.
Civil engineer (and George Carlin): The glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
Flood control engineer: The glass should be 50 percent bigger.
Army Corps levee engineer: The glass should be 50 percent thicker.
Mexicali Valley water engineer: Your leaky glass is my water supply.
Delta levee engineer: Why is water rising on the outside of my glass?
While this is a California list, we’re pretty sure many western water types could make a list for their state. Please send it to us!
Turning Hindsight into Foresight: The Colorado River at a Crossroads
The Getches-Wilkinson Center and Water & Tribes Initiative are co-hosting the 2025 Conference on the Colorado River in Boulder on Thursday, June 5th, and Friday, June 6th.
Once more, the Colorado River is at a crossroads, this time arguably a heck of a lot scarier of a crossroads. The efforts to finalize the post-2026 rules are pushing squarely against longstanding conflicts, legal interpretations, and notions of equity and inclusivity.
This annual conference is one you don’t want to miss. Registration information is now available online. See you in Boulder!
Please support Confluence West (aka Carpe Diem West!) Since our founding in 2007, we've been building successful alliances and campaigns and bringing new climate science and opportunities to put innovative, sustainable regional water projects into motion in the American West. You can read about our current projects and the ones we're developing. Thanks for your support!
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