The Upper Mokelumne River Watershed Authority is a Joint Powers Authority established in the year 2000 and comprised by six water agencies (Amador Water Agency, Calaveras County Water District, Calaveras Public Utility District, East Bay Municipal Utility District, Jackson Valley Irrigation District and Alpine County Water Agency) and the counties of Amador, Calaveras and Alpine. The Authority is governed by an eight-member Board of Directors which meets quarterly.

UMRWA is a public agency engaged in the stewardship of regional water and forest resources. The 550-square-mile Upper Mokelumne River watershed is located within Alpine, Amador, and Calaveras counties. The topography of the watershed is rugged with elevations ranging from 600 to 10,400 feet. The watershed is a source of drinking water for Amador, Calaveras and San Joaquin County communities and for about 1.4 million East Bay residents.

A vast majority of undeveloped lands within the watershed are managed by the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. City and county governments regulate development within the region with many public services provided by local water agencies and other special districts. As a regional public agency, UMRWA's role is to perform water and forest resource planning, secure grant funding, facilitate forest fuels reduction and restoration projects, and leverage federal and state investments for widespread regional benefit.

UMRWA's water and forest health goals are fulfilled in two principal ways. The first is by serving as the regional water management group for the Mokelumne-Amador-Calaveras (MAC) Region. In this role UMRWA has developed the MAC Plan, a state approved integrated regional water management plan, and secured more than $11 million for water-related infrastructure projects that benefit local communities. The Authority also supports the Youth Watershed Stewardship Program, a public school education program that focuses on water resources lead by Stewardship through Education, a local organization of teachers.

The second is by serving as lead agency for forest project planning and the contracting of fuel reduction and restoration projects within the watershed. Initially under a 2016 Master Stewardship Agreement with the US Forest Service - Region 5, and presently under separate Stewardship Agreements with Eldorado NF and Stanislaus NF the Authority has secured more than $31 million in funding from Sierra Nevada Conservancy, USFS, National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, CalFire and the Wildlife Conservation Board and has facilitated forest fuels and restoration treatments on over 12,000 acres of National Forest lands. UMRWA, by securing $1.6 million in state grant funding, also  lead the two-year effort to develop the Mokelumne Amador Calaveras Forest Health and Resilience Project plan (MAC Project). This landscape level forest plan covers more than 250,000 acres over the Eldorado and Stanislaus National Forests. NEPA has been completed with the Final EIS and two associated Records of Decision signed and published on April 16, 2026.