Summer 2025 | Edible Notables

Restoring the Walker River Basin

written by Natasha Bourlin
photos courtesy of Walker Basin Conservancy

How a local nonprofit is replenishing a decimated region.

Long before state lines existed, the Walker River Basin watershed provided sustenance for the Walker River Paiute Tribe. Today, the lake that once teemed with Lahontan cutthroat trout, Nevada’s state fish, is too saline to support its native fish and wildlife populations. Since Europeans arrived on the continent, Walker Lake has lost 90 percent of its volume and 50 percent of its surface area due to upstream diversion of the Walker River, with more than 95 percent of that water being used for agriculture. The Walker Basin Conservancy is trying to reverse those dire statistics and bring the treasured trout back to the region.

WBC volunteers help clean up Walker Basin waterways
WBC volunteers help clean up Walker Basin waterways

Walker Lake is the terminus of the Walker River system, which flows through four agricultural valleys spanning two states: Bridgeport and Antelope valleys in California, and Smith and Mason valleys in Nevada. Mason Valley is among Nevada’s most agriculturally productive areas.

In this watershed that’s about the size of Delaware, Walker Lake used to have about half the surface area of Tahoe. Now it’s about one-quarter of Tahoe’s size.  

Waning Walker
Chief Executive Officer of Walker Basin Conservancy Peter Stanton explains that there are more water rights to divert the Walker River than there is water in the river in an average year, and there’s not enough water in the river to sustain the existing agricultural footprint. That gap is made up by groundwater pumping in Smith and Mason valleys, which has run many domestic wells dry, creating an unsustainable cycle of water extraction and water use in the Walker River. 

Congress established the Walker Basin Restoration Program in 2009, and a series of studies began in collaboration with the University of Nevada, Reno, and the Desert Research Institute to determine what actions were needed to save Walker Lake.

The WBC has helped reclaim water for Walker River
The WBC has helped reclaim water for Walker River

Walker Basin Conservancy learned water could perhaps be brought back to the basin by temporarily and permanently acquiring water rights from farmers and ranchers, then converting them into water rights for the Walker River and Walker Lake.

In 2014, the nonprofit WBC was founded to administer the restoration program, purchasing water rights at fair market value from farmers and ranchers who may be, for instance, experiencing generational transitions or adverse economic conditions, then preventing the water in the river and lake from being diverted to farms, ranches, and downstream users.

Volunteers with WBC work to improve habitat
Volunteers with WBC work to improve habitat

Supporting the Watershed
Northern Nevadans can support the cause by visiting the basin, an unparalleled region Stanton describes as having some of the “wildest and most verdant areas” in the state, just two hours from Reno.

Another way to show support is by attending the Under a Nevada Sky ranch-to-fork dinner on Sept. 13 at Mormon Station in Genoa. Regionally sourced ingredients comprise the menu that celebrates the Walker River Basin’s ranching and agricultural heritage. Guests can chat with scientists and learn more about conservation efforts, plus listen to the chairman of the Washoe River Paiute Tribe explain the importance of WBC’s initiatives while helping the nonprofit reach its $150,000 goal that night.

“As we work to restore Walker Lake, the first thing that’s happening is we’re seeing roughly a 20-mile stretch come back to life,” Stanton says. “When you put water back into a river, something bigger and more powerful happens than I can articulate …. It brings life back. To see an oasis and life returning to a stretch of river that frankly seemed like we’d given up on for decades is an immensely powerful experience and something that people can be a part of here in Northern Nevada.”

For details about the Walker Basin Conservancy, visit Walkerbasin.org.

Under a Nevada Sky
5 – 8 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 13, 2025
Mormon Station, Genoa
For details and tickets, visit Walkerbasin.org/uans.


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