8093 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

1-2 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I natural levels. And the federal government worked to protect instream flows on itJ western land holdings. Despite frequent resistance by irrigators and other consumptive user groups, many of the attempts to protect free-flowing and in-place waters under western law have succeeded. Currently, a variety of laws, programs, and strategies are being applied to maintain and enhance in-place water resources in most areas of the West. After describing the multiple benefits of undeveloped waters, this chapter looks at the ways in which in-place water protection is pursued in both the public and private sectors. The analysis begins with programs established by western state legislatures to promote instream resources. These include prohibitions on additional diversions, conditions imposed on new water use permits, the creation of instream flow rights, and transferring existing water entitlements to instream uses. Next, the efforts of Indian tribal governments are assessed, followed by ways in which the private sector is asserting instream flow protection. These analyses incorporate discussions of Indian reserved water rights, tribal water codes, the Public Trust Doctrine, and opportunities for intergroup cooperation. The chapter then describes federal strategies, including ways that both statutes and administrative procedures are able to promote instream resources. It concludes with a summary of the issues needing resolution in this emerging-and controversial-field of in-place water protection. The Multiple Benefits of In-Place Water The intangible value of free-flowing water in the West is significant to many people. The aesthetics of a waterfall, the peacefulness of a mountain brook, and the power of a torrent cutting through steep canyons would be sorely missed if they disappeared from the western landscape. Those whose lives are subtly but significantly enhanced by free-flowing waters have fought with some success to ensure that water remains in the natural beds of rivers and streams. It is doubtful, however, that aesthetic and spiritual values of in stream flows alone would have compelled state legislators and administrators to initiate the protective statutes and actions of recent years. Instream flow enactments in the West have sprung from a recognition of the broad economic, as well as intangible, benefits that free-flowing water brings to a region. Recreation As agriculture, mining, and energy each took a downturn in the West during the 1980s, the reliability and economic importance of the recreation and tourism industries became increasingly evident to state policy makers. Since these industries are heavily dependent on water-related activities throughout the western. states, the value of instream flows to the overall economy likewise grew in the minds of officials. For example, in a