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of any such conflict can be traced to the advent of the Newlands Project itself. Here, as elsewhere in the grid West, too much water was promised to too many people for pennies on the taxpayers' dollar, with little if any regard for the needs of, or impacts upon, public environmental resources. Forging a Settlement Tired of being asked to choose between the two rivers and fearful of the ultimate demise of both resources, a handful of local, state and national conservation organizations joined together in 1987 to form the Reno-based Lahontan Valley Wetlands Coalition. Their principal purpose was promoting the acquisition of water from willing landowners to protect the Lahontan Valley wetlands without further impact to Pyramid Lake. Three years later, in June of 1990, a large and diverse crowd gathered to celebrate the first deliveries of water purchased for the drought-parched Stillwater marsh. Later that year the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone and Truckee-Carson-Pyramid Lake Water Rights Settlement Act (Settlement Act) became law. Title II of the Settlement Act provides direction and authority for along-term program to acquire rights sufficient to protect and restore approxi- mately 25,000 acres of wetlands at Stillwater and Carson Lake, including wetlands within the Fallon Indian Reservation. An Environmental Assessment completed by the D.S. Fish and Wildlife Service evaluated the impacts of state and federal purchases of up to 20,000 acre-feet of water. This document helped to ensure that, consistent with the Settlement Act, concurrent progress would be made on interim acquisitions while a more compre- hensive evaluation of the socio-economic and environmental effects of a long-term acquisition program was completed. By December 1996, 19,700 acre-feet of water rights had been purchased for the wetlands. As part of these early water rights pur- chases, the agencies and stakeholders negotiated several interim agreements that helped to inform development of a long- term water acquisition strategy. The Record of Decision on the Final ~y _,~ d ~ ' 'ESI~ } r 7 5¢M~~~S~a~lf~ ~"' 9 ,~~' ~/ .. _ 6._13i~:.~V..„,atu..aeaa:u''1 "t~41 ~?n.e 1 . i~F.~91 9 ~~ 20,000 acre-feet of water constitutes about 10% of the Newlands Project total annual headgate water deliveries. The key to success of the interim acquisition program was the fact that, by decree, Project landowners are understood to own clear title to the property interest in Newlands Project water. 15