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Walker Lake Working Group


About :

In America's past, water seemed abundant and nature forgiving. But our water policies did not balance the diversity of human and natural water needs. Intensive economic uses became the dominant forces in managing water. Other concerns - and ecosystems - were ignored.

Caught in the blueprint is Walker Lake. It has much in common with its fellow ancient Lake Lahontan survivor, Pyramid Lake: a high evaporation rate, meager rainfall regime, the somewhat saline waters and water diversions from its river source.

The task of the Walker Lake Working Group is to change the blueprint - to build public support for developing a long-term solution to protect the lake without jeopardizing the upstream community. We need to build support for three things:

* The reestablishment of spawning runs of the Lahontan cutthroat trout.
* Sufficient water so that TDS (salt) levels are low enough to support the Walker Lake ecosystem.
* Acquiring and transferring water rights for environmental and recreational purposes.