Walker Lake Working Group

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Walker Lake, Nevada, is a most rare and precious international environmental, recreational historical and cultural resource. It is one of only a few desert terminus lake that long supported one of the West’s most outstanding trout fisheries and thousands of migratory birds. But because the Walker River system’s water has been chronically over-appropriated for decades, the Lake no longer supports fish, the migratory birds that rely on them or related recreational activities.

With Walker Basin’s water appropriated at 130 percent to agricultural uses, Walker Lake has lost more than 50 percent of its surface area and 180 vertical feet of water over the last 140 years. This lack of water caused higher concentrations of salts that made the 13-mile long lake, in west-central Nevada, intolerable to native fish. Loss of the fish has devastated the local tourism-related economy and displaced thousands of birds on the Pacific Flyway that relied on this oasis in the desert to refuel on their way to and from Canadian nesting grounds.

A solution to Walker Lake’s century-long deprivation of adequate water inflows is within reach. Recent federal court rulings offer opportunities to build off the congressionally funded efforts seeking a comprehensive settlement that brings a final, sustainable resolution to competing claims for the limited Walker Basin water supply. Funding is needed to finalize an enforceable agreement for a lake level at Walker Lake that will restore this important habitat and provide opportunities to rebuild Mineral County’s economy. Project includes funding for legal and technical experts to evaluate plans to be submitted to the U.S. District Court for ratification under the decree governing water rights in the Walker River Basin.

Walker Lake Updates 

News Release – 4/12/2024

Contact Walker Lake Working Group at 775-945-2289

Fisheries History on Walker Lake presented by Mike Sevon

More than 60 people attended a multi-media presentation on Thursday April 11 in Reno about Walker Lake’s fisheries history that highlighted the path to restore it back to a vibrant recreation area after rapid consumption of Walker River Basin water led to the collapse of fishery.

Retired Nevada Department of Wildlife fisheries biologist Mike Sevon presented The Fisheries History of Walker Lake - Past, Present and Future! at Bartley Ranch Regional Park at an event sponsored by the Walker Lake Working Group (WLWG) with support from the Mono Lake Committee.

Sevon compiled data from geologic evidence, historical records as well as experience from his nearly 30 years’ work as a Nevada Department of Wildlife  biologist and regional fisheries supervisor. It was Sevon’s work at Walker Lake and nearby community interactions that precipitated the WLWG’s

formation in 1991.

Sevon outlined multiple fish species that have all been extirpated from the lake because of falling lake levels that have caused salinity levels to rise to a level that is toxic to freshwater fish.

Introduced carp and Sacramento perch thrived at Walker Lake for recreational and commercial fishing but were unable to survive there past the mid-1900s.

Native Lahontan cutthroat trout (LCT), the largest North American trout, were a staple for the indigenous people who inhabited the area prior to white settlement. When irrigation farming began in the mid-1800s, Walker Lake levels declined as farming in the basin expanded. Historical records show a direct correlation between the shirking lake and the size and availability of LCT at Walker Lake. After multiple dams were built on the river, LCT were no longer able to spawn upstream. Recreational fishing at Walker Lake was then dependent on fish raised and stocked by state and federal agencies.

“Some of the things we (wildlife agencies) did made it a lot better for the fishery,” Sevon said of efforts to extend stocking as long as possible. These included barge planting, bioassays to determine the best strain to plant and preacclimation with Walker Lake water prior to planting.

Lake level decline brought the end of native Tahoe Sucker at Walker Lake in the early 1990s. In the first decade of the 21st century, neither LCT nor the lake’s native cornerstone species the tui chub were able to survive the briny waters, leaving the lake void of all fish. “Losing Walker Lake in our time is wrong!” Savon said.

Loss of the fishery led to the loss of habitat for fish-eating birds like the common loon that relied on Walker Lake to rest and refuel on its way to and from Canadian nesting grounds.

Since then, with the help of former Sen. Harry Reid and $500 million in congressional appropriations, the Walker Basin Conservancy (WBC) was formed to purchase water from willing sellers for the benefit of the lake. Over the last 10 years, WBC has acquired 56 percent of the water needed to restore a stocked

game fishery at Walker Lake. At this rate of refill, it could take several more decades to get water quality back to a level that native fish can survive. However, several more wet winters like 2022-2023 could augment water purchases enough to begin fish restocking.While “just add water” seems like a simple solution to bring anglers, birdwatchers and boaters back to Walker Lake, WLWG is still working behind the scenes to ensure that dedicated water rights for Walker

Lake are ratified by the U.S. District Court that governs water distribution in the Walker River Basin.

After 30 years of legal wrangling with upstream interests, WLWG and Mineral County’s public trust doctrine case is being heard anew in District Court, where the case is in the discovery phase.

“The public trust doctrine … is the notation that the government should take care of things that are common to the people,” Sevon said. “It’s a responsibility.

“The public trust doctrine was used to save Mono Lake,” Sevon continued. “It should apply for Walker Lake.”

More resources are needed to fund the public trust doctrine work to secure a permanent solution for Walker Lake.

If you missed this opportunity to hear Mike Sevon’s history as well as sing the “Walker Lake Blues” and play harmonica, it may be viewed by going to Walker Lake Working Group Facebook page where the

event is posted.

For more information about Walker Lake Working Group call 775-945-2289

3-11-24

A Good morning to all you Walker Lake Supporters.  

It's been a quiet winter, but the news is getting ready to step up.

On the legal front, we are waiting for the Defendants opening and responsive expert reports which are due on April 8. In the meantime, our council is working with our experts and preparing our rebuttal reports which are due on July 8. Our experts will identify the quantity of water sufficient to restore the lake.     

This is a very brief update on where we are headed and you can see the legal front will be ramping up in the next few months. As things progress, we will send you notices. Judge Du is directing all parties for the case to end in 2025. We are working hard to assure the water will proceed to Walker Lake.

On another front, on April 11, Walker Lake Working Group will be hosting an event at Bartlett Ranch in Reno. The guest speaker will be retired NDOW fisheries biologist, Mike Sevon.  We were with Mike Sevon on the boat ramp at Sportsman's Beach during a fishing derby in 1991.  That was the beginning of our desire to Save Walker Lake.  Mike was asked when we would no longer have a lake.  His reply to us was "Walker Lake will always have a small amount of sludge in the bottom of the basin. It will be so thick with salinity that it will not be able to evaporate anymore."  With this prognosis, it became obvious we had to do something.  I'm not sure we ever thought we would be so long during the process.  This was the start of our journey

If you are in the Reno area and would like to hear Mike speak, please come to the Bartlett Ranch.  Here is the poster of the event.  

We could never have made it this far without all of you supporting our efforts.  For that we are forever thankful.  We are almost there because of you.  THANK YOU.

Attached is the poster of the Walker Lake Event April 11.  We hope to see you there.

8-25-23

If you want to learn more about the Walker Lake Story, you can click on the link to watch a presentation by Dr. Phillip Garone, History Professor at Cal State Stanislaus entitled "Saving Walker Lake, Nevada. A Pleistocene Terminal Lake Encounters the Anthropocene."

5-28-23

Walker Lake is receiving water for the first time in years and is up almost 8 vertical feet in the last 3 months. With record snowpack in the Sierras we hope the lake continues to rise throughout the entire summer. 

10-25-21

WALKER LAKE UPDATE

In January 2021 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Walker Lake Working Group (WLWG) and Mineral County, Nevada could pursue remedies for restoration of declining Walker Lake, so long as this did not involve reallocation of prior water rights. 

The Ninth Circuit then sent the case back down to the U.S. District Court – District of Nevada, in Reno, where Walker Lake proponents found an earlier order from a departed Judge still awaiting them. This order required them to hand serve written notices of their Public Trust Claim in the Walker Lake litigation on all riparian landowners in the California portion of the Walker River Basin and to serve all subsequent filings by mail on all Walker Basin water rights holders, living throughout the country, as far away as Hawaii. While the WLWG and Mineral County are making good progress on serving the California riparian owners, that process and the continued burden of having to serve paper copies of every filing on the large total number of water rights holders in the basin is very costly for the Walker Lake proponents. 

However, the judiciary, and perhaps even judicial philosophy have changed in Reno. Chief Judge Miranda M. Du, a graduate of the UC Berkeley School of Law, relieved the Walker Lake proponents of the requirement to continue service of paper copies by mail in the future.  

Unfortunately, the advent and resurgence of Covid 19 has drastically slowed this legal process just when it is most needed to begin the practical application of the Public Trust Doctrine to the preservation of the Walker Basin and set a pathbreaking precedent of wildland protection throughout the state of Nevada. 

Funding for legal efforts, facilitated by then US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in 1994, allowed the WLWG to partner with Mineral County in the hiring of renowned environmental attorney Simeon Herskovits to join them in their public trust case. As lead attorney for the Great Basin Water Network, Mr. Herskovits won seven court victories in successfully blocking an attempt by Las Vegas to pump groundwater from rural northeast Nevada southward through a 250 mile pipeline. Previously, he worked with diverse coalitions to defeat a series of dangerous attempted water grabs in northern and southern California, including the original Cadiz Water Project.

The WLWG has currently exhausted their financial resources and now find themselves unable to fund future legal efforts, just as the legal tides are turning in their direction. I would ask the friends of Mono Lake to send their love, and contributions to our sister terminous lake.

Walker Lake Working Group

PO Box 867

Hawthorne, NV 89415