In arid snow-fed river systems, where climate change affects snowpack accumulation and snowmelt timing, community-based participatory research that engages scientists and stakeholders can shape research agendas to support local climate adaptation and produce decision-relevant science. This presentation provides an overview of a community-based participatory research project underway in the Truckee-Carson River System in the Western United States. The authors: (1) describe the participatory research framework developed for this case study which features an interdisciplinary science team; (2) explain the selection and role of a diverse group of stakeholders representing diverse water use communities that regularly interacts with scientists; (3) highlight selected results of a local climate resiliency assessment and research activities to date; and (4) share successes and challenges to date useful to establishing best practices that may guide the replication of this research framework elsewhere. Our findings indicate that climate change is mobilizing local adaptation strategies that include communicating with other water managers, collecting data to monitor climate impacts, and planning for future water supply variability by investigating the performance of institutionalized water management regimes. To guide community decisions and support managers’ science information needs, researchers are developing stakeholder-informed climate scenarios and simulating locally identified adaptation strategies. Best practices identified to date underscore the importance of early stakeholder engagement to clarify case study boundaries, prioritize research questions of interest, and identify a core stakeholder group willing to participate in research. This sets the stage for a transparent and responsive process, which aids in building trust in the research design as demonstrated through scientists seeking and incorporating local knowledge and input. Related to this transparency is the need to acknowledge power disparities that may exist among stakeholder communities including historically marginalized groups with high stakes in sustaining water resources. A thorough stakeholder analysis should address these considerations and comprises a critical component of the research design.