An eastern Oregon rancher recently swapped his water
rights in a local stream for a year’s worth of hay. Rancher Rocky
Webb will receive $6,600 worth of hay from the Oregon Water Trust
in exchange for not irrigating 50 acres of pasture. The result:
Steelhead trout will swim in more water, reports The Oregonian, and
a rancher will be compensated for helping wildlife. “I want to see
the steelhead thrive again in Buck Hollow Creek,” Webb says, “but I
also have a bottom line to worry about.” Thirty pairs of wild
steelhead are now found in the creek, a tributary of north-central
Oregon’s Deschutes River. The Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife hopes the transfer of the leased water, along with some
streamside restoration, will increase the population to 500 pairs.
The historic deal was made possible by a 1987 law that allows the
purchase, lease or gift of an existing water right for conversion
to an instream water right. Janet Neuman, president of the newly
formed, non-profit Oregon Water Trust, says the lease proves that
the marketplace can help address Oregon’s environmental problems.
For more information, contact the Oregon Water Trust,
503/226-9055.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Fish benefit from trade.
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