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river's ecological health. Reservations that go beyond what a river can tolerate will defeat the purpose of an upside-down instream flow water right. · Upside-down instream flow water rights can be combined with the purchase of existing water rights, which are then transferred to instream flows or retired. Generally, any transfer of any existing water right to instream flows, no differently than a transfer to some other use, must not injure any junior water right, while senior rights usually will not be affected because of their priority. Where there are no or very few water rights intervening in priority, the purchase and retirement of a pre-existing water right would increase the amount of remaining natural flows protected by an upside-down instream flow water right. · The conflicts posed by federal reserved rights and regulatory schemes to protect instream flows are amenable to upside-down settlements, and this approach need not be limited to water rights appropriated under state law, or to water rights as property, at all. It is well past the time to acknowledge that river flows should be legally protected within the patterns of nature. Natural flow patterns need legal protection or we will leave our western rivers barren of the richness that has endowed civilization from the beginnings of time. We must begin by understanding each river's unique natural flow regime and current degree of alteration and then consider whether a conventional or an upside-down instream flow water right (or a combination of both) works best to protect the natural pattern. Whether this natural pattern is legally protected rightside up or upside-down, we must strike a balance based on what the stream will bear. REFERENCES Allan, J. D., and A. S. Flecker. 1993. Biodiversity conservation in running waters: Identifying the major factors that threaten destruction of riverine species and ecosystems. Bioscience 43(1 ):32-43. Amman, D., B. Cosens, and 1. Specking. 1995. Negotiation of the Montana-National Park Service Compact. Rivers 5(1):35-45. Collier, M., R. H. Webb, and J. C. Schmidt. 1996. Dams and rivers: Primer on the downstream effect of dams. Reston, VA: U.S. Geological Survey (Circular 1126). Egler, F. 1973. The Nature a/Vegetation: Its Management and Mismanagement. Northfork, CT. Limited edition (400 copies) in cooperation with the Connecticut Conservation Association. Gillilan, D., and T. Brown. 1997. Instream Flow Protection: Seeking a Balance in Western Water Uses. Washington, DC: Island Press. 20