Ask Water Resources to Issue Instream Water Rights!

Please act now to help establish new legal protections for instream flows for fish in Oregon’s beloved Rogue, Umpqua, and South Coast River systems! The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife recently applied for 100 water rights to protect natural flows instream in many cherished waterways, but approval of these applications falls to the Oregon Water Resources Department, so it is extremely important for river lovers to weigh in with their support. Instream water rights do not harm or otherwise impact existing water rights, but do protect flows for fish going forward against new water withdrawals for other uses. Establishing protection for instream flows for fish is absolutely critical to help maintain healthy rivers in the face of mounting damage from climate change.

The instream water right applications are out for public comment.  Public comments are due February 18!  Please lend your voice and support these applications.

How to comment: 

There are two ways to comment—either on the full slate of applications or on an individual application.  Instructions are as follows: 

Clicking the button at the bottom of this email will create a comment email supporting ODFW’s entire slate of instream water right applications. Please feel free to change or add to this email with your own personal comment. You may also wish to modify to provide comments on specific rivers that are of particular interest to you. Comments written from your own point of view often have the most impact! NOTE: If you choose to comment on the full slate of applications it is important that all application numbers are referenced in the email.  We have inserted these into the email found when you click the button.  

Alternatively, you may submit comments on individual applications through the OWRD web portal.  To do this, go to the Oregon Water Resources Department public notice and scroll down to pages 5 to 22.

If you click on the application for the stream that is of interest to you, there is a hyperlink on the bottom left that says “public comment.”  Click on that to submit your comments. 

Suggest Talking Points:

1. I support issuance of all of the instream water rights applied for in the Rogue, Umpqua and South Coast Basins! (or in the alternative, the specific stream of your interest)
2. Please issue the instream water rights in the amounts applied for by ODFW!   For many of the applications, OWRD is proposing to issue the water rights in amount lower than ODFW has requested. The ODFW applications reflect the flows needed for fish, and  should be protected in full!
3. Please also make the comments personal to you, for instance noting the value of healthy rivers to you whether you value rivers for fishing, boating, hiking, wildlife viewing or cultural use or economic vitality.

Please act today! Comments are due Thursday February 18^th!