The California
Instream Water Trust
For over 3 decades, RRI has worked to prove that securing water rights for wildlife could revolutionize water conservation and wildlife habitat protections. Modeled after the land trust concept he created at the Trust for Public Land, our founder Huey Johnson set out to build a parallel program that permanently protects water rights for nature.
The first critical step was rewriting state water regulations to designate water left in-stream as a "beneficial use," ensuring this new type of protection would be legally secure, ironclad, and regularly monitored by a district Water Master.
Many other steps followed, including the funding provided by the passage of Prop 1 Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act.
Finally, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, RRI, and Friends of Butte Creek partnered in a first-of-its-kind sale and proof of concept of RRI’s Butte Creek water rights. We envision the recently completed sale setting a precedent for the West and ushering in a new era of in-stream water conservation.
2023 UPDATE
2023 UPDATE
Friends of Butte Creek and Resource Renewal Institute work with California Department of Fish and Wildlife to set a precedent for salmon protection in California.
An unprecedented collaboration among government, nonprofit and private sectors has led to the one of the first acquisitions of water rights dedicated to instream flows in California. The environmental milestone for fish and wildlife preservation was announced jointly by Friends of Butte Creek (FBC), Resource Renewal Institute (RRI) and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW).
RRI President Deborah Moskowitz sees the Butte Creek water rights transfer as a major step toward realizing Johnson’s vision of water trusts becoming as common as land trusts that conserve open space for nature and the public. “As we face the challenges of climate change, this sale and purchase of Butte Creek water rights will serve as a model for the voluntary transfers to permanently protect California’s precious water. It will lead to healthier streams, creeks, and rivers for the fish, wildlife, and humans that rely on them.”