Transcript

Taylor: What if instream flow laws aren't being enforced?

We've seen the clips here and I think that we all know that the west is the headwaters of many of America's major river systems. Yet so many of those rivers -- the Colorado, the Wind River and even the Platt -- in many areas run dry enroute to the sea. The interesting part of it with the Wyoming instream flow law is that concerned citizens stepped forward and gathered tens of thousands of signatures on petitions, and we passed the instream flow as a initiative and then through the Wyoming legislature as you've stated. Yet so many of the applications that have gone to the State Engineer's Office have not been processed. There's been a very small approval of those -- I think it's about 80-some applications that have already been submitted and only two of those applications have been adjudicated. The question is, what tools do we as concerned citizens, conservationists, outfitters for fly-fishing, and recreationists have available to us if the laws are in place and yet the instream flow is not being enforced on the river systems so that we can continue to enjoy those headwaters and see them flow to the sea in the future?

Back to Discussion page