FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Mineral County and Lake Conservationists Leave Walker Lake Water Rights Mediation Process

Lack of Progess and Lake's Dire Straits Cited as Reasons for Withdrawal

Contact:    Lou Thompson, (775) 945-8243, Chairman,        
                    Walker  Lake Working Group

                   Richard Bryant, (775) 945-2696, Chairman, Mineral                    County Commission

                    Simeon Herskovits, (505) 751-0351, Western 
                    Environmental Law Center

 
MINERAL COUNTY AND LAKE CONSERVATIONISTS LEAVE WALKER LAKE WATER RIGHTS MEDIATION PROCESS

 
LACK OF PROGRESS AND LAKE’S DIRE STRAITS CITED AS REASONS FOR WITHDRAWAL

 
(Hawthorne, NV) – After trying to reach a mediated resolution for four years, the Mineral County Commission and Walker Lake Working Group have decided leave the mediation process set up to address water rights issues pertaining to Walker Lake and the Walker River basin.  In a letter to the Nevada federal district court, the County and Working Group expressed regret over their withdrawal, but added that four years of negotiations had produced no agreement and no benefit for the Lake, which continues to teeter on the brink of ecological collapse.  The Walker River Paiute Tribe, another key party in the mediation, withdrew previously, in July of this year.

 
“When we began this mediation process, Walker Lake already had been declining precipitously for decades and the Lake’s two remaining fisheries (Lahontan Cutthroat trout and tui chub) were on the verge of collapsing,” noted Lou Thompson, Chairman of the Walker Lake Working Group, a conservation organization based in the communities around Walker Lake.  “The Lake is in even worse condition now, with catastrophically low water levels and water quality so poor that State and Federal fisheries authorities have seen virtually complete mortality in Lahontan Cutthroat trout they have attempted to stock and the remaining tui chub are incapable of successfully reproducing.  The collapse of the fisheries is turning Walker Lake from one of the most vital stopovers for migratory birds along the Pacific Flyway into a potential deathtrap for birds that can no longer find adequate food to allow them to make the journey to the next stop on the Flyway.”

 
Richard Bryant, Chairman of the Mineral County Commission, remarked that: “We have committed a great deal of time, money and energy to this process, and have played a leading role in trying to move it forward.”  “So,” Commissioner Bryant continued, “we did not decide to leave the mediation process lightly.  But it must be remembered that local residents and conservationists have been struggling for over fifteen years to get something done to save Walker Lake from being strangled by the over-appropriation of water in the basin.  And, after four years of mediation, there still has been no agreement among the parties on any basic issue and virtually nothing has been done to help the Lake on even an interim basis while the mediation drags on.”

 
“Mineral County and the Walker Lake Working Group are not averse to a negotiated settlement of Walker Lake’s water needs,” said Simeon Herskovits of the Western Environmental Law Center, who represents the County and Working Group, “and we believe that collaboration of all parties in the Walker River basin ultimately will be necessary to reach a balanced resolution of the competing water needs in the basin.  But given the mediation process’s failure to produce any results and the Lake’s desperate condition, the County and Working Group feel that they have no option at this point in time but to pursue other courses of action to save Walker Lake.”

 
A copy of Mineral County and the Walker Lake Working Group’s letter formally notifying United States Magistrate Judge Robert A. McQuaid, Jr. of their withdrawal from the mediation process and their reasons for withdrawing is attached with this press release.

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