-Kern River Conservancy's mission is really about helping and supporting recreation management here on the Kern River.

The Kern River is Southern California and Central California's only wild and scenic river.

It is very accessible to areas like Bakersfield and Los Angeles, so we see very, very high numbers of tourism, up to and a little over a million people every summer here.

It is as wild as it can get.

It has wild and native rainbow trout in here.

It is the only river in California that flows north to south, as most rivers either flow west to east or east to west.

-Besides that it's wild, beautiful, and scenic, it's amazing.

Hands down, it's up there with Yosemite and other places as far as scenery, as far as remoteness, as far as beauty.

Nothing gets better than that.

-Yes, you got it.

-Trout Fest is one of our flagship events that we put on every single year.

It's an event where we have all these organizations that are both environmental and fishing, and we all get together, and we promote responsible and conservation of fishing.

-You're going to wrap the thread around the shank of the hook.

-We want people to understand how important it is to conserve our fish.

If there's no fish in the river, that is an indicator that the river is not healthy.

-It's really important that you get your hands wet before you grab this fish, because these fish, the only protection they have is a slime layer.

If you touch it with dry hands, it'll get a disease.

Its mom won't let it go to school.

Go ahead and get your hands wet, and then you can just take them and dump them in.

My name's Randy.

-Randy?

-Just Randy.

Everybody knows me as just Randy.

Everybody on this river knows Randy.

The campgrounds are full because of the fishing.

The stores are full because of the fishing.

The restaurants are full in the summertime because of the fishing.

All we're trying to do is basically build a bridge between the community and fishing.

We want all these kids to learn to fish.

We want the community to understand how much money is brought in because of the fishing and how we need to protect it, protect this river.

-We're a coldwater conservation organization that focuses on salmon and trout.

The Kern is really unique in that it supports three endemic-- meaning that they only live in one place natively in the world.

Yes, so three different endemic species: the Little Kern golden trout, California golden trout, and Kern River rainbow trout.

They only live in the headwaters of the kern.

They've had 90% decline in their population over the last 100 years.

-Why?

-It's mostly as a result of legacy actions, such as mining, grazing, logging, just habitat degradation.

-The hatchery is a beacon for the Kern River Rainbow Trout Program.

Unfortunately, it's been closed nearly 10 years now.

We have no idea when it's going to reopen.

Currently, the fish are being trucked in from the San Joaquin Hatchery out in Fresno.

Every single week, Fish and Wildlife will bring trout in instead of having trout being raised here at the Kern River Hatchery.

-That's wild, man.

-It's definitely a challenge because the hatchery here is not in operation.

It's been closed for a long time.

The Kern is one of the most accessible rivers in California.

The entire stretch from the lower river all the way to the upper river is completely accessible.

You can just park on the side of the road and walk 10 feet, and you're already on the river.

Because of that, that allows access for anyone.

That also includes the campers, anglers, kayakers, boaters.

Everybody can access this river.

It's a great thing to have a lot of access where everybody can enjoy the river, but at the same time, there's the impact, right?

There's impacts of a lot of use of people coming here.

What we see is people are leaving their trash behind.

They're leaving their waste behind sometimes.

That's a combination of just lazy visitors and not having the amenities at each location.

I think the biggest threat to us here on the Kern River is overuse of recreation and tourism that is severely impacting the river.

-People.

-People.

At the end of the day, it's people, yes.

[music] -Behind me, you can see the Kern River.

As you can see, we don't have any water.

It's completely dry.

It's been this way for decades.

It's not because of the drought.

It's not because there's not enough water.

It's dry because of the way the water is being managed and because of the decisions that are being made around that water.

It's terrible.

It's terrible.

It's terrible for the community.

It's depressing.

You can see all this trash out here.

It's heartbreaking to-- this literally goes to the middle of town.

This is the heart of our town.

It's just completely been devastated.

-Although there's no water in the river, it's still full of life.

There's little kit foxes and all kinds of crazy stuff out here.

It's a beautiful place.

It has its own charms.

You just got to give it some time for it to grow on you a little bit.

-As much as you like it, would you want to see water in it?

-I would love to see water in it, yes.

Yes, I would love to see water in it.

That would make it even that much better.

Water brings life to everything.

-Why is the river dry?

-In the most essential terms, the river is dry because of the way the water is being managed right now.

The water is just being completely diverted before it ever gets through town.

Some of it is for the city of Bakersfield for drinking water.

That's probably the smallest portion that's being used.

Then the rest of it is for agriculture.

Bakersfield is very much an ag city, and we're a very pro-ag organization.

Everyone here really supports agriculture.

We're not here to take away anyone's water or to criticize how anyone uses that water to make a living.

What we're saying is that the water needs to run through the town first.

You need to give the environment and the people in the community an opportunity to enjoy that water before it gets diverted to be put to use.

-The Kern River, what I like to tell people is it is the most important and interesting river in California that no one has ever really heard of, [chuckles] because the Kern River, back in the 1880s, set California water law.

It's been litigated over since settlers first came here in the 1800s.

In the 1880s, it went to the Supreme Court, the state Supreme Court, and it set California water law.

Right now, there is a lawsuit that is headed to the Supreme Court.

The state Supreme Court has granted review that could have major implications for not just this river, but also river watersheds throughout California.

-Our organization is arguing that there is a law on the California books called Fish and Game Code 5937, which states that when there is a river, the fish have to be kept in good condition.

You can look out at this river, and you can see that the fish are not being kept in good condition because it is completely dry.

We're arguing that this is an objective law and that you need to follow the law in California.

We have sued the city because they're in violation of that law.

For me, that's what success looks like, is water in the river, but also a different form of decision-making and a different culture around this river.

-My take has always been that they should make a deal.

The city, the river interests, the plaintiffs, they're the ones that know this river the best.

Better than me, better than anybody, the people that are operating this river.

It would be great if they could make a deal for the public and for agriculture.

-I think the Kern River should be allowed to flow this entire pathway all the way to Bakersfield.

The people of Bakersfield deserve to see a river down there, but you have to change the culture of the people in Bakersfield, right?

Bakersfield is very pro-water and ag, but it's for the farms.

We get it, yes, the farms, but we're not asking to cut off the farms.

We're asking for the water to be designated for the river as well, so there is a river.

The river should be going through, and the people of Bakersfield deserve a river.

-Thanks for watching.

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