Every summer, as snowmelt dwindles and temperatures climb, Montana’s rivers shrink and warm, threatening the state’s prized coldwater fisheries. Drought conditions in the state are currently better than in much of the arid West, but healthy rivers cannot depend on luck with the weather. More than 4,500 miles of Montana streams are chronically or periodically dewatered, and hotter, drier summers will increasingly strain a $1.5 billion industry and the communities that depend on it.
Fortunately, Montana is well-equipped to respond to the challenge. Senate Bill 178 (SB178), which allows expedited short-term water leasing, made headlines during last year’s legislative session, and again earlier this year when Crazy Mountain Ranch controversially used it to lease its own water right to itself to irrigate a golf course. Since then, discussion of the law has largely faded, but the bill’s conservation potential remains.
