8009

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 8009
• Author: Natural Resources Law Center.
• Title: Restoring the Waters.
• USFW Year: 1997.
• USFW - Doc Type: Boulder, CO.
• Copyright Material: YES

Key agreements under the
Interim Acquisition Program
^ Eligibility for transfer of water
rights offered for sale
^ Overall transfer rate (acre-feet/
acre/year) per acre of water right
purchased
^ Payment of associated operation
and maintenance charges
Environmental Impact Statement (ROD)
for the long-term program, issued in 1996,
called for purchase of up to 75,000 acre-
feet of Newlands Project water rights.
The ROD further identified a host of
supplemental acquisition options that
would also be pursued to minimize the
potential for adverse effects. ROD acquisi-
tion options include:
^ Purchase of water rights from landown-
ers along the middle and upper Carson
River;
^ Conservation efforts at the Fallon Naval
Air Station;
^ Ground water pumped near the primary
wetland areas;
^ Conservation agreements on privately
owned wetlands;
^ Shared use of acquired rights; and
^ Use of good quality irrigation return
flows and drainage, treated sewage
effluent and spills.
An Unfinished Story
It remains to be seen whether the long-
term acquisition strategy will fully meet
the Settlement Act's wetland restoration
objectives. For example, while water
leasing may be a viable supplementary
option (see Oregon Water Trust), it will
not be a reliable option without a dedi-
cated, sustained and sufficient source of
funds. In fact, most of the listed options
(and many others) were the subject of
intense discussion or part of a 1994-95
round of basin-wide settlement negotiations.
But the use of these options continues to
face a variety of implementation hurdles as
well as larger basin-wide uncertainties, due
to the largely unsuccessful conclusion of
those efforts. Because of these uncertain-
ties, the program includes an elaborate
system for monitoring, measuring and
reporting, as well as a feedback mechanism
for long-term adjustments.
Though not without controversy, the water
rights acquisition program is nonetheless a
noteworthy success: it has breathed new
life into what was a neglected and dying
marsh. It has done so through an agency-
stakeholder partnership that relies on the
voluntary participation of willing sellers,
which accomplishes its objectives without
impact to other environments and which
advances in numerous ways the difficult
task of developing and implementing
creative, contemporary solutions to the
arid West's most complex environmental
problems.
For More Information Contact:
David Yardas
Environmental Defense Fund
S6SS College Avenue, Suite 304
Oakland, CA 94618
Phone: (S10) 658-8008
Fax: (S10) 658-0630
Graham Chisholm
Great Basin Land and Water
440 Hill Street, Suite D
Reno, NV 89501
Phone: [phone]
Project Leader
Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge
P.O. Box 1236
Fallon, NV 89407
Phone: [phone]