The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the following:

(a) Clean beaches, clean water, and healthy watersheds are necessary to support both human communities and the state’s native fish and wildlife, and are part of the legacy of California. Each generation has an obligation to be good stewards of those resources in order to pass them on to their children.

(b) California’s 1,100-mile coastline is world-renowned. Coastal-related businesses provide seventeen billion dollars ($17,000,000,000) annually to the state’s economy and depend on the restoration and health maintenance of beaches.

(c) Clean water is essential to the state’s communities and economy.

(d) Watershed management is a valuable approach to meeting comprehensive resource management and water quality objectives. Watersheds provide a useful, natural unit to integrate and coordinate the many natural resource functions of state agencies.

(e) Multiple state entities within the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Resources Agency are currently administering programs that provide technical assistance or financial support for various aspects of watershed management or restoration. Hundreds of watershed partnerships exist in the state, dedicated to the restoration and management of the state’s streams, rivers, and lands, and the use of watershed management principles and practices. Coordinated watershed management implementation is crucial to addressing critical problems and the efficient use of public funds. The California Environmental Protection Agency and the Resources Agency are developing a strategic plan for fully integrated watershed investments.

(Added by Stats. 2002, Ch. 727, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2003.)