9370 ‎(2)‎

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 9370
• Author: Colorado Water Workshop.
• Title: 1996 Colorado Water Workshop.
• USFW Year: 1996.
• USFW - Doc Type: Western State College of Colorado.
• Copyright Material: NO

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WATER LEASING FOR INSTREAM FLOW.

Liter E. Spence2
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks

"Rivers are marvelous spirits. Perpetually singing and dancing, they amble merrily toward the ocean, where they
rejoin their cradle and their grave, lose their identities, and are mystically transported to the tops of the mountains
to begin new lives. "

--Constance Elizabeth Hunt, "Down by the River"

"Rivers have what man most respects and longs for in his own life and thought -- a capacity for renewal and
replenishment, continual energy, creativity, cleansing. "
--John M. Kauffmann, former American Rivers board
member

"Ask the typical man on a horse to tell you about water leasing in Montana, and you're likely to a get a blank stare
if not worse. Although the state's lease program is nearly four years old, not much is known about it, thus, like
most unknowns, it carries the burden of suspicion. "
--Montana Stockgrower, October 1993.
Article on Water Leasing by Joyce Lancey, editor

" Although this idea is simple enough, the design and implementation of Montana's water leasing program is fraught
with problems. "

--McKinney, M. J. 1991. Leasing water for instream flows:
The Montana experience. In: Rivers, Vol. 2 (3), July, 1991.
p.247.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

During the early settlement of the west, the development attitudes and economics of the day did
not contemplate the recreational use of water in streams. Consequently, the water resource was
used for economic development and no consideration was given to the need for instream flows
to maintain fish and wildlife resources. Instead, emphasis was placed on the removal of water
for mining, agricultural and other purposes. During more than 130 years of water development
in Montana, streamflows have been reduced in nearly every river basin. This "dewatering" has
had adverse impacts on the fish populations and recreational use of these streams.

Because "first in time is first in right" in Montana, as it is in most of the west, the removal of
water has priority over keeping it in streams. In recent times, however, recreation, particularly
fishing, has become of increasing economic importance. There is more emphasis on finding

'Presented to the Second Annual Conference on Montana Water Law, September 28 and 29, 1995, Helena, MT.
Revised July 16, 1996 for the 21 st Annual Colorado Water Workshop, August 7-9, 1996, Gunnison, CO.

'Water Resources Supervisor, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, P.O. Box 200701, Helena MT 59620-0701.