As many of you know, BEF just launched a new “product,” the Water Restoration CertificateTM (WRC).

Essentially, it is a way for folks who are concerned about the looming water crises, to actually do something about it. A WRC is a certificate representing 1,000 gallons of water, dedicated to a critically de-watered stream, at a critically de-watered time.  (Think summertime when streams are drained dry and the fish die.)  You can learn more about WRCs here.  You can see a fun video on the program here.  (Scroll down and press Play.)  You can also see a nice article from the front page of the Oregonian newspaper here.

Putting a thousand gallons of water in one of these streams costs a whopping dollar.  Yup.  One dollar.  I bet the fish think it is worth more than a dollar.

We have been working on the program for about a year and a half – figuring out how it will work, writing the business plan, creating standards and codes of conduct, writing contracts, creating marketing materials, and so on.  Pretty heady stuff.  But, as we all know, our heads will only get us so far in this world.  So…

This past August, I took a trip to southern Oregon to visit one of the project sites.  It was an amazing trip and I want to share the experience with you as best I can.

The project is on Evans Creek, which flows into Oregon’s famous Rogue River at the town of Rogue River.  Over the past many years this creek ran pretty much dry in the summer.  This has a lot to do with logging practices up stream and the fact that more water rights are allocated than there is water in the stream during the summer.  The result is that the stream dries up and there is no habitat for juvenile steelhead and Coho.  No water = no fish.  Pretty straight forward.

Fortunately for the creek and the fish that would like to call it home, the senior water rights holder on the creek is a guy named Lawrence Martin.  Lawrence has lived on Evans Creek for a long time. In years past, Mr. Martin would grow two hay crops — one in the spring and one in the summer.  He would draw his water allotment out of the creek and irrigate.  This worked well in the spring.  There was plenty of water from spring snowmelt.  In the summer things were not so good.  Pulling water out of the creek for irrigation dried it up and the hay crop was pretty marginal.  It was sort of a lose – lose situation.  Unfortunately, the way Western Water Law is written, if Mr. Martin did not put his water to “beneficial use” (pulling it out and using it), he could lose the water right (devaluing his property) and another water rights holder could take the water out instead.  If this were to happen, the creek would still be dry and Mr. Martin’s property would be worth less.  Clearly that is not going to work.

The good news is that in Oregon, the definition of “beneficial use” includes dedicating all or a portion of the water right to the stream.  This is where BEF and our partners, the Freshwater Trust enter the picture.  BEF contracted with Freshwater Trust to negotiate a contract with Mr. Martin.  Under the terms of that contract, he dedicates to the stream, the water he would take out in the summer months to irrigate his second crop of hay.

I went to visit Mr. Martin.  We pulled off the road at the edge of his property where normally we would see a large hay field.  Here is what we saw instead:

As you can see, there is no hay growing.  That was interesting, but not for very long.  I asked Mr. Martin to show me Evans Creek.  We walked out to a bridge where Evans Creek Road crosses Evans Creek.  You can see that by clicking here.

It was late August and in past years, this creek would be dry.  Here is what I saw from the bridge:

Not only is that a whole bunch of water you are seeing, but it is a beaver dam to boot.  Real habitat for real creatures.

I decided to take a closer look at the water and here is what I saw:

(For a larger view, click here.)

Those little dark lines (look on top of the rocks) are juvenile steelhead.  There were hundreds of them just in the area near the bridge.

Even though I knew that this was the whole point of the WRC program, I must say that it was astonishing and quite emotional to see these little fish thriving.  Had it not been for the funding the WRC program provided, this creek would be dry.  No habitat = no fish.

Pretty outstanding experience I must say.  Now I hope you can join us so we can continue the program.  Take a look at the website.  Calculate your footprint.  Consider how amazing it is that the Earth provides you with all that water.  Consider giving some back, so next year, there will still be water for these, and many other fellow creatures.  Buy some Water Restoration Certificates.

Take Care,

Rob Harmon