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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />KEEPING THE WATERS FLOWING: <br /> <br />Streamflow Protection Programs, strategies, <br />and Issues in the West <br /> <br />Free-flowing waters have been appreciated and revered in the <br />western united States for as long as people have inhabited the <br />region. Over the cent.uries, water in western rivers, lakes, and <br />streams played major pragmatic roles in tribal fishing, <br />transportation, and in maintaining important habitat for hunting. <br />But the value of these waters went well beyond practical <br />functions. When new settlers immigrated from the east and south, <br />they found people to whom free-flowing waters were key to <br />spiritual sustenance and religious practices. <br />Although many of the 19th century settlers undoubtably <br />appreciated the intangible value of free-flowing waters, this <br />appreciation was dominated by the concurrent belief that <br />diverting large quanti.ties of water was key to prospering in this <br />arid land. Entire streams were taken from their channels when <br />placer miners found gelId deposits to be washed from the Sierra <br />Nevada hillsides of California. Rivers were reduced to empty <br />beds during the end of hot, dry summers on the Colorado high <br />plains as new farmers irrigated their thirsty crops. Throughout <br />