8009

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 8009
• Author: Natural Resources Law Center.
• Title: Restoring the Waters.
• USFW Year: 1997.
• USFW - Doc Type: Boulder, CO.
• Copyright Material: YES

The Trust has paid $6,600 annually, or
about $34 per acre-foot, to lease approxi-
mately one cfs of water from Webb. This
price reflects the purchase price for 68 tons
of hay, equivalent to what Webb normally
cut from his irrigated pasture, minus the
costs Webb avoided by not irrigating.
Although the volume of water covered by
this lease is small, it represents the critical
difference between a dry creek and a
flowing creek. Meanwhile, the rancher is
able to continue his cattle raising opera-
tion.
Sucker Creek
The Trust made its first permanent
acquisition on Sucker Creek, a tributary of
the Illinois River in the Rogue River Basin
on the southern Oregon coast. Sucker
Creek provides important habitat for coho
and Chinook salmon, as well as steelhead.
A riparian property owner sold his water
right of 0.16 cfs to the Trust for $8,800.
Although the volume of water in this
transaction is even less than in the Buck
Hollow Creek lease and the right is one of
several on the creek, the water right has an
early priority date of 1857. It may repre-
sent the difference between flow and no
flow for several. miles of the creek during
dry months of the year.
For More Information Contact:
Andrew Purkey
Oregon Water Trust
111 S.W. Front Avenue, Suite 404
Portland, OR 97204
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]
Small amounts of water
can mean the difference
between a dry creek bed
and a stream that can
support a fish population.