Letting Rivers Flow for People and Nature
Forty people disembark from a charter bus outside Reno, Nevada, and step out to a sunny, clear day and an expansive lake in the Great Basin desert that holds stories of trials and tribulations.
The travelers were on a field trip as part of River Network’s seventh Environmental Flows Workshop, a gathering of environmental flow practitioners from throughout the Colorado River Basin and California. Environmental flows refer to the amount, timing and quality of water in a river or stream required to sustain ecosystems and people. The workshop provided a space to share best practices, advance learning, and work strategically on increasing the pace, scale, and impact of freshwater restoration, and the field trip provided a chance to see how partners in the Walker River Basin are tackling this issue.
Clear water lapped at the lake’s edge as the workshop participants gathered around to learn about this water body and humankind’s long-held connection to it. This is Walker Lake, a terminal water body and traditional home for the Agai Dicutta or Walker River Paiute Tribe. The importance of the lake and Walker River for the tribe are reflected in their name: Agai Dicutta means “trout eater” in Numu.
As European settlers moved out West, they grew interested in Walker Lake as well for use of its water in farming and ranching operations. Today, local counties and communities depend on the lake for recreation and tourism, and farmers and ranchers use water from the lake and Walker River for irrigation.
With increased interest has come increased diversions and withdrawals, and the effects on the lake have been significant. The lake’s surface area shrunk by 50%, leading to increased salinity and wildlife declines. Once a major site for an annual loon festival and Lahontan cutthroat trout fishing, loons no longer visit the lake and Lahontan trout have not been caught since 2009. To describe the future of the lake as bleak would be an understatement.
Standing along the edge of the lake, workshop participants received a message of hope. Peter Stanton, Executive Director of the Walker Basin Conservancy, and Andrea Martinez, Chairwoman of the Walker River Paiute Tribe, are working with other partners and water users in the basin to give the lake a second chance.
Through collaborations with over 150 farmers and ranchers in the basin, Walker Basin Conservancy and Walker River Irrigation District have sent a record amount of water to Walker Lake. Walker Basin Conservancy utilizes a voluntary market-based approach whereby they work with willing sellers to acquire water rights for environmental benefits. This approach to flow restoration has helped the Conservancy acquire 55% of the water needed to restore Walker Lake’s fishery. The Conservancy is able to track water thanks to Hydro Mapper, an online tool that provides basin-wide, real-time monitoring of instream flows. The Conservancy has also acquired over 18,000 acres of land associated with water acquisitions. These retired agricultural lands are being repurposed for one of the largest salt desert habitat improvement projects in the Great Basin, a shift that reduces water use while restoring native plant communities.
Although the journey isn’t over, partnerships in the basin between the Conservancy, Walker River Paiute Tribe, ranchers, farmers, and others are creating change towards a restored lake.
Workshop participants piled back onto the bus filled with inspiration and wonder about the next steps for Walker Lake. They teased out the state-by-state differences between regulatory frameworks, and discussed the need for greater focus on groundwater and conjunctive use (the coordinated use of surface water and groundwater supplies) in environmental flows conversations. They reflected on their work in the Klamath, Scott/Shasta, and Colorado River Basins, among others. They thought of ways to connect through existing networks like the California Environmental Water Network and blossoming opportunities like the proposed training center with the Instream Flow Council. Finally, they discussed the need for increased tribal engagement in this work, and greater recognition of tribal sovereignty. Movement on this front is underway more broadly, as with the long-awaited and much-needed institutionalized practice of including six Tribes in the Colorado River Compact discussions, but much more needs to be done. At River Network, we are committed to equitable and enduring solutions, which start with community – created with, by, and for the people most impacted, including Indigenous communities.
“Meeting others struggling with similar projects helped me not feel alone, and hearing about projects outside of our program’s focus helps me see and think outside the box.”
– Workshop participant
For River Network’s part, we’re using lessons learned from the workshop to help shape our Colorado-based Environmental Flows Cohort and Training Series. This in-person training series will feature training on techniques for measuring flow, interest holder engagement, natural resource facilitation, communication, and Colorado water law. We aim to increase knowledge and bolster peer to peer connections of water leaders throughout the state who are leading watershed planning efforts that center environmental flows for people and nature.
