Keeping Fish Wet in Montana: Private Water Leasing: Working Within the Prior Appropriation System to Restore Streamflows

Authors

John J. Ferguson, Montana Water Trust, Inc.
Barbara Chillcott Hall, Montana Water Trust, Inc.
Brianna Randall, Montana Water Trust, Inc.

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Volume

27

Publisher

University of Montana School of Law

Publication Date

2005

First Page

1

Last Page

14

Abstract

Innovative and collaborative approaches are making headway in addressing dwindling water resources in the American west. Watershed organizations that emphasize the virtue of cooperative conservation to preserve and protect a resource we value for its ecological and cultural importance are springing up across the region. Throughout the western states, irrigators, farmers, ranchers, local governments, recreationists, and conservationists are forming coalitions to address water management concerns. The necessity of preserving our water resource is decreasingly viewed as only a "green" mission. Water users are coming to realize that we all have a stake in water conservation. Through our cooperative conservation successes, we have demonstrated that a "top-down" regulatory approach to water management may not always lead to the most beneficial or fair results. The win-lose nature of the "top-down" approach can be avoided to ensure wiser and more effective results.

Recommended Citation

Ferguson, John J.; Chillcott Hall, Barbara; and Randall, Brianna, "Keeping Fish Wet in Montana: Private Water Leasing: Working Within the Prior Appropriation System to Restore Streamflows" (2005). Publications. Paper 1.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/instream_publications/1