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<br />" <br /> <br />tJSA TODA Ycom - West sees shift in water use <br /> <br />CJSA 'I'()I)\Y SPECIAl. SECTION: Ii USA iQDAY CAREERS NETWORK <br /> <br />Home <br />News <br />Main Categories <br />"[oJ) News. <br />N_atioJJ <br />SJate~s. <br />'tblsblngtQJJLPQlitlc.s <br />World <br />EdJtQliaJl.QpJnion <br />Health & Science <br />C.er:ts.us <br />Offbeat <br />More News <br />Columnists <br />LQtter:Le_s <br />City Guides <br />GO'l.e..rnrne.oJ_Gl.llde <br />Talk Today <br />Money <br />Sports <br />Life <br />Tech <br />Weather <br /> <br />ISeC1rc;~ <br /> <br />Site (ij:, Web C <br />By lYC~S- <br /> <br /> <br />NEWS <br />YOUR-INDOX <br />Click here to-get the <br />Qaily_Br:Lefjngjo__Y-@l <br />inbQx <br /> <br />:Uck an icon to learn about the Nokia 9290.. <br />You will not be Unkedawayfrom this page. <br /> <br />Nation <br /> <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />07/12/2002 - Updated 12:48 PM ET <br /> <br />. E- m<'l.i! th is story . Su h.x ri D8 t:> th e newsp<''''-pef . Sian- u p 10r 0-m.3. B fj0W-S <br /> <br /> <br />By Robin Loznak, AP <br />Unidentified rafters take a wave over <br />the bow near West Glacier, Mont <br /> <br />A California native and high-tech entrepreneur who acquired the Sun <br />Ranch four years ago, Lang no longer needed to use the water because <br />he stopped growing hay to feed cattle in winter. "It was totally, <br />intuitively correct to someone like me who loves trout and loves <br />streams," he says. <br /> <br />Lang is on the cutting edge of an emerging change in one of the most <br />hallowed legal systems in the West. In a reflection of the region's rapid <br />growth, changing demographics and clashes over endangered species, <br />efforts to reserve water in rivers for fishermen, kayakers and nature <br />lovers are gaining ground. They come largely at the expense of farmers <br />and ranchers, who have long controlled most of the water in the West. <br /> <br />The battles are playing out in the often arcane legal arena of water <br />rights. Water scarcity in the West led to the development in the 19th <br />century of water allocation laws far different from those in the rest of the <br />country . <br /> <br />In the Midwest and East, with normally abundant rainfall, broad rivers <br />and ample lakes, water generally is controlled by those who own the <br />land along rivers and streams. But in the West, anyone who diverts <br /> <br />hUp:/ /www.usatoday.comlnews/nation/2002/07/12/western-water.htm <br /> <br />West sees shift in water use <br /> <br />By Tom Kenworthy, USA TODAY <br /> <br />DENVER - The owner of the Sun Ranch <br />on Montana's Madison River did <br />something last year that once would have <br />been unthinkable in the arid West: he <br />leased his water rights to benefit brown <br />and rainbow trout. <br /> <br />Taking advantage of a change in Montana <br />law that was pushed by an unusual <br />coalition of fishermen and ranchers, Roger <br />Lang leased his rights to the water in three <br />Madison River tributaries to the fish <br />conservation group Trout Unlimited. <br /> <br />Page 1 of 3 <br /> <br /> <br />7/19/2002 <br />