Wat. Code, § 78647.2

(a) The board shall administer a program under which a county, or a joint powers authority in which a county is a participant, may submit an application to the board for an eligible project requesting financial or technical assistance for the purpose of developing a voluntary, incentive-based watershed rehabilitation project. The board shall consult with other federal and state resource agencies, including, but not limited to, the Department of Fish and Game and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, in the administration of the program. The Resources Agency shall make a written recommendation to the board regarding each application. The board shall consider the recommendations of the Resources Agency and include, when appropriate, the recommendation in the board’s final decision.

(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), if a county, or a joint powers authority in which a county is a participant, after a request to do so by a local public agency, declines to submit an application for an eligible project for a watershed that is all or in part within the boundaries of the county, a local public agency other than the county or that joint powers agency may submit an application in accordance with subdivision (a).