diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index fe289351..b4e8fc77 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -3,142 +3,14 @@ on:
   push:
     branches:
       - master
-      - v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+*
+      # branchname trigger if we had the ability to auto-prep release PRs
+      # (turned off for doi-usgs org)
+      #- v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+*
   release:
     types:
       - published
 
 jobs:
-  prep:
-    name: Prepare release
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    if: ${{ github.event_name == 'push' && github.ref_name != 'master' }}
-    permissions:
-      contents: write
-    defaults:
-      run:
-        shell: bash
-    steps:
-
-      - name: Checkout release branch
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
-        with:
-          fetch-depth: 0
-
-      - name: Get latest release version number
-        id: get_version
-        uses: battila7/get-version-action@v2
-
-      - name: Setup Micromamba
-        uses: mamba-org/setup-micromamba@v1
-        with:
-          environment-file: ci/test_environment.yml
-          cache-environment: true
-          cache-downloads: true
-          create-args: >-
-            python=${{ matrix.python-version }}
-          init-shell: >-
-            bash
-
-      - name: Conda info
-        shell: bash -l {0}
-        run: micromamba info
-
-      - name: Install dependencies
-        shell: bash -l {0}
-        run: |
-          if [[ ! -d "$HOME/.local/bin" ]]; then
-              mkdir -p "$HOME/.local/bin";
-          fi
-          # copy modflow bins to local dir to add to PATH later
-          if [ "$RUNNER_OS" == "Windows" ]; then
-              d="win"
-          elif [ "$RUNNER_OS" == "macOS" ]; then
-              d="mac"
-          elif [ "$RUNNER_OS" == "Linux" ]; then
-              d="linux"
-          else
-              d="unexpectedos"
-              exit 1
-          fi
-          echo bin/$d/. >> $GITHUB_PATH
-          echo $GITHUB_PATH
-
-      - name: Test install from git
-        shell: bash -l {0}
-        run: |
-          pip install git+https://github.com/doi-usgs/sfrmaker@develop
-          cd ..
-          python -c "import sfrmaker"
-          cd sfrmaker
-
-      - name: Install SFRmaker and ipykernel
-        shell: bash -l {0}
-        run: |
-          pip install -e .
-          python -m ipykernel install --user --name sfrmaker_ci --display-name "sfrmaker_ci"
-
-      - name: Test with latest PyPI flopy
-        shell: bash -l {0}
-        if: ${{ matrix.python-version == 3.11}}
-        run: pip install flopy --force-reinstall
-
-      - name: Conda list
-        shell: bash -l {0}
-        run: |
-          micromamba list
-          pip list
-
-      - name: Run tests and upload coverage
-        shell: bash -l {0}
-        timeout-minutes: 60
-        run: |
-          coverage run -m pytest -v --durations=20 --timeout=120
-      - name: Upload coverage
-        shell: bash -l {0}
-        run: |
-          coverage report -m
-          codecov
-
-      - name: Push release branch
-        run: |
-          git config core.sharedRepository true
-          git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
-          git config user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
-          git commit --allow-empty -m "ci(release): Version ${{ steps.get_version.outputs.version }}"
-          git push origin "${{ github.ref_name }}"
-          
-  pr:
-    name: Draft release PR
-    needs: prep
-    if: ${{ github.event_name == 'push' && !(contains(github.ref_name, 'rc')) }}
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest  #ubuntu-22.04
-    permissions:
-      contents: write
-      pull-requests: write
-    defaults:
-      run:
-        shell: bash -l {0}
-    steps:
-
-      - name: Checkout release branch
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
-        with:
-          ref: ${{ github.ref_name }}
-
-      - name: Draft pull request
-        env:
-          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
-        run: |
-          ref="${{ github.ref_name }}"
-          ver="${ref#"v"}"
-          title="Release $ver"
-          body='
-          # SFRmaker '$ver'
-          
-          The release can be approved by merging this pull request into `master`. This will trigger a final job to publish the release to PyPI.
-          '
-          gh pr create -B "master" -H "$ref" --title "$title" --draft --body "$body"
 
   release:
     name: Create Release
@@ -153,16 +25,22 @@ jobs:
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           ref: master
+      - name: Bump version and push tag
+        id: tag_version
+        uses: mathieudutour/github-tag-action@v6.2
+        with:
+          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
       - name: Create Release
         id: create_release
         uses: actions/create-release@v1
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }} # This token is provided by Actions, you do not need to create your own token
         with:
-          tag_name: ${{ github.ref }}
-          release_name: Release ${{ github.ref }}
+          tag_name: ${{ steps.tag_version.outputs.new_tag }}
+          release_name: Release ${{ steps.tag_version.outputs.new_tag }}
           body: |
-            Changes in this Release:
+            Changes in this Release: 
+            ${{ steps.tag_version.outputs.changelog }}
           draft: false
           prerelease: false