Water Resources
Water Rights
It is the Service's policy to comply with State laws, regulations, and
procedures in obtaining and protecting water rights. State of
Alaska
water law
allows private individuals and government agencies to apply for water rights
to appropriate instream flows to protect fish and wildlife habitat,
recreation, water quality, and navigation. Following Service policy and
statutory mandates, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in
Alaska
files for instream reservations
under State law with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. Filing for
State instream water rights does not diminish the existing, unquantified
Federal reserved water rights of every national wildlife refuge in
Alaska
. Under ANILCA,
each refuge has a Federal water right for water quality and necessary water
quantity to conserve fish and wildlife populations and their habitats in
their natural diversity. When
necessary, Federal reserved water rights will be asserted to accomplish this
primary purpose of national wildlife refuges in
Alaska
.
State water right applications are prepared using stream flow and lake
elevation data, combined with fish and wildlife information, to quantify
instream water requirements for rivers and lakes on
Alaska
refuges. Applications are also
submitted to protect groundwater supplies of refuge facilities such as
campgrounds and offices. Applications have been filed for 12 river segments
and 140 lakes on the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Applications have also been filed for 13 stream segments and 34 lakes in the
Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge. An application has been filed for one
river of the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge.
Water Rights Applications for Lakes and Rivers in
Alaska
Refuges:
Arctic NWR
Yukon Flats
NWR
Kodiak NWR
Last updated: September 4, 2008
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