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Water allocation trade-offs between human and ecosystem needs pose a challenge to water resources management—particularly if both hydroclimate and water demands are non-stationary. Existing frameworks to deliver environmental flows via reservoir releases traditionally consider historical (pre-dam) flow conditions. However, evaluating reservoir operations based on historical conditions may not accurately capture best management options under current or future climates; further, restoringnatural'flow conditions is rarely feasible. Here we propose a multi-reservoir framework that explicitly considers both human water demands and ecological flow requirements, in order to maximize outcomes with independence of historical climate baselines. This framework was implemented and tested in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin, Southeastern US, a basin that supports high levels of imperiled …