Providing Sufficient Streamflows in an Era of Competing Demands: FLOW 2008: Interdisciplinary Solutions to Instream Flow Problems; San Antonio, Texas, 7–9 October 2008

The Instream Flow Council (IFC) held its first-ever conference to forge interdisciplinary solutions to the problem of providing sufficient streamflows for environmental purposes in an era of competing demands for freshwater. Conference participants were drawn from across the United States and Canada and even as far away as China, representing state and provincial fish and wildlife and regulatory agencies, federal agencies including the U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, nongovernmental organizations, consultants, industry, academics, and even private citizens. Attendees included biologists, geomorphologists, hydrologists, engineers, attorneys, social scientists, and policy makers. The goals of the meeting were to advance the integration of science and policy related to instream flow and to demonstrate the importance of public dialogue through the engagement of diverse stakeholders in cooperatively solving instream flow problems in the United States and Canada.