Friends of Reservoirs is proud to announce this year's Friends of Reservoirs Award goes to Henry's Fork Foundation for their outstanding work quantifying oxythermal fish habitat and developing tools for stakeholders in a water-limited environment. Their achievements have already made Island Park Reservoir in southern Idaho a 2023 Water to Watch across the entire National Fish Habitat Partnership, and their continued focus on maximizing benefits to fish habitat while balancing water use makes Henry's Fork Foundation stand out nationwide.

Henry's Fork Foundation is one of the relatively few FOR chapters working in the dry West, where fish habitat challenges often revolve around quantity, quality, and timing of water. Like many Western reservoirs, Island Park Reservoir serves a primary use of irrigation. Its water storage feeds one of the most valuable agricultural regions in the U.S.: the Snake River Plain, and all water rights for water stored in Island Park Reservoir are privately owned. Henry's Fork Foundations' collaborative water-saving program engages irrigators throughout the basin, provides real-time precision guidance for irrigation, and has retained 20% more water in Island Park Reservoir as a result, benefitting salmon and trout fisheries and improving downstream water quality. As water tables drop and water scarcity affects more reservoirs beyond the dry West, the science-led approach to water management at Island Park Reservoir will continue to serve as an exemplary method for meaningfully engaging stakeholders, benefitting the entire watershed and local economy, and protecting aquatic resources.

Accepting the award for Henry's Fork Foundation was Dr. Jack McLaren, Aquatic Ecology Program Manager and lead investigator of the Island Park Reservoir habitat model.