Photo Credit: Jim Taylor
Alaska’s rivers, streams, and lakes sustain fish, wildlife, and communities across the state. For Alaska Native Tribes, rural residents, subsistence users, watershed councils, conservation groups, and everyday Alaskans, protecting water is not abstract, it is about protecting salmon streams, whitefish habitat, wetlands, food security, culture, and future generations.
That is why the State of Alaska’s instream flow water reservation process matters.
An instream flow water reservation is one of the few legal tools available to protect enough water in a river, stream, or lake for fish, wildlife, recreation, navigation, and other public uses. It helps ensure that water is not only allocated for out-of-stream uses, but also remains where fish and wildlife need it most: in the stream.
Now, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources is proposing changes to the regulations governing instream flow water reservations. These changes may sound technical, but their real-world impacts could be significant. If adopted, the proposal could make it more difficult, more expensive, and less secure for Tribes, watershed councils, conservation organizations, and members of the public to protect water for fish and wildlife habitat.
What DNR is proposing
DNR’s proposed changes would amend regulations in 11 AAC 93 related to reservations of water. According to the public notice, DNR says the revisions are intended to create a more “efficient, consistent, and cost-effective” process.
But for communities and organizations trying to protect fish habitat, the proposal raises serious concerns.
The proposed regulations would require applicants to provide more information up front, including at least five years of monthly data to quantify the proposed reservation. For reservations intended to protect fish habitat, migration, and propagation, applicants would also need to provide information about fish species and populations, estimate how many fish from the affected reach support sport, commercial, and subsistence uses, analyze how different water levels or flows affect habitat, and include upstream and downstream land use and property ownership information.
DNR is also proposing to change who can hold a certificate of reservation once an application is approved. Under the proposed language, state and federal resource management agencies could hold certificates for reservations they apply for. But if the applicant is not a state or federal resource management agency, such as a Tribe, watershed council, nonprofit, or private citizen, the certificate would be issued to DNR instead.
The proposal would also change how future review costs are handled. Current regulations place certain review costs on the state, but the proposed changes would allow the commissioner to apportion costs among the department, the applicant, or the certificate holder, depending on what the commissioner determines is equitable.
Taken together, these changes could create new barriers for the very communities and organizations most invested in protecting local waters.
Why this matters for Tribes and rural communities
Over the last decade, DNR has repeatedly proposed changes, through both legislative and regulatory processes, to Alaska’s instream flow water reservation laws and regulations. Each time, Alaska Native Tribes and members of the public have raised strong opposition because of the potential impacts on Tribal entities, local communities, and citizens seeking to protect fish and wildlife habitat.
This latest proposal follows that same troubling pattern.
Requiring five years of monthly data may sound reasonable on paper, but in practice, it can be expensive, technically demanding, and difficult to obtain — especially in remote parts of Alaska. Many Tribes and watershed groups are already doing important work with limited staff, funding, and technical capacity. Adding more data requirements could discourage applications before they are even filed.
The certificate-holder change is even more concerning. If a Tribe, watershed council, or community organization does the work to identify a threatened stream, gather information, submit an application, and advocate for protection, they should not be pushed aside once that protection is granted. A process that allows the state to hold certificates generated by non-agency applicants raises serious questions about control, accountability, and long-term stewardship.
Alaska Native Tribes have deep relationships with the waters, fish, and wildlife in their homelands. Any change that limits Tribal entities’ ability to secure and hold water reservations should be viewed with great caution.
A public resource should remain publicly accessible
Water is a public resource. The ability to protect water for fish and wildlife should not be limited to state and federal agencies or those with the most money, staff, or technical consultants.
The instream flow reservation process exists because keeping water in streams has public value. It protects salmon, whitefish, and other fish species. It supports wetlands and riparian habitat. It safeguards subsistence, cultural practices, and local food systems. It helps ensure that development decisions do not treat rivers and streams merely as sources of water to be diverted or used elsewhere.
If the process becomes too costly or complicated for Tribes, local communities, and public-interest groups to use, then the state is not improving the system, it is narrowing access to it.
That is especially troubling at a time when Alaska’s waters are under increasing pressure from mining, roads, climate change, industrial development, and competing water demands.
What is at stake
This proposal is not just about paperwork. It is about who gets to protect Alaska’s waters.
Will Tribes and local communities have a meaningful pathway to protect fish habitat? Will watershed councils and conservation groups be able to secure legal protections for important streams? Will the state support community-led stewardship, or will it make the process harder for anyone outside state and federal agencies?
These questions matter because the stakes are high. Alaska’s fish, wildlife, and waters are central to our lives, economies, cultures, and identities. Once stream flows are diminished or habitat is degraded, the damage can be difficult and sometimes impossible to repair.
DNR should not move forward with regulatory changes that make it harder for Alaskans to protect the waters fish and wildlife depend on.
Comments are due June 30
The public has an opportunity to weigh in. Comments on DNR’s proposed instream flow water reservation regulation changes are due June 30.
The Norton Bay Watershed Council is expected to put together a landing page and circulate comments for possible sign-on in the coming days. In the meantime, Alaskans should pay close attention to this proposal and be prepared to speak up.
Alaska’s waters belong to the public. The rules that govern their protection should strengthen, not weaken, the ability of Tribes, communities, and citizens to safeguard fish, wildlife, and future generations.
Take action
Submit comments to DNR by June 30 and urge the department not to adopt changes that create new barriers for Tribes, watershed councils, conservation organizations, and the public. Tell DNR that Alaska’s instream flow reservation process must remain accessible, equitable, and strong enough to protect fish, wildlife, habitat, and the communities that depend on healthy waters.
Official Public Notice:
NOTICE OF PROPOSED CHANGES ON RESERVATIONS OF WATER IN THE REGULATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
Alaska Online Public Notices ID: 224040
Published by: Alaska Department of Natural Resources
Comment deadline: 5:00 PM, June 30, 2026
Questions due: 5:00 PM, June 20, 2026
Public notice link: https://aws.state.ak.us/OnlinePublicNotices/Notices/View.aspx?id=224040
Comment portal:
https://dnr.alaska.gov/mlw/comment/submit/?topic=water_inflow
Email comments to:
dnr.water.regulation@alaska.gov
The notice is for proposed changes to 11 AAC 93.142, 11 AAC 93.146, and 11 AAC 93.147, dealing with applications, certificate issuance, and review of water reservations.