Gone fishin': stream rentals restore trout.

• Author: Bailey, Ronald
• Position: Citings - Brief article

THE UPPER reach of Montana's Wasson Creek is home to a purestrain population of westslope cutthroat trout. But overzealous irrigators regularly dried up the creek downstream during the summer. This kept the trout from migrating to and populating Spring Creek, another tributary that eventually connects with the Blackfoot River. The solution: water leasing, a property-based approach that lets ranchers and farmers profit from leaving water in a stream, where it sustains fish populations.

In the past, riparian rights in the American West have followed the principles of "first come, first served" and "use it or lose it": If you don't divert water from a stream for some use, you lose your right to it. Such rules encourage farmers and ranchers to consume water profligately, drying up streams and leaving...