Opinion: Ranchers’ GSA fees should be lower
Cattle producers who own and manage land in Butte, Colusa, Glenn, and Tehama counties are gravely concerned with the approach adopted by the Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) in our respective basin/counties. In every basin, non-extractors (or de minimis users who only pump stock water) are being assessed acreage fees by the GSA to generate the funding required to comply with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). Cattle producers are predominantly rangeland operations that do not use groundwater, and in fact, serve as a net recharge zone for the basins.