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A drop in flows into Weber Reservoir in Nevada in August caused a fish kill of over 7,000 warm water species, prompting the Walker River Paiute Tribe to declare an economic and natural resource disaster. The Tribe blamed the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the disaster because of their requirement that reservoir storage be limited to a third of maximum capacity of the lake's 10,700 acre feet. Earlier this year, the Tribe had appealed this requirement to the BIA, but the federal agency turned down their request, according to John McMasters, water resources specialist for the Paiute Tribe. The fish kill first became apparent on August 12, when tribal members found thousands of fish floating in the reservoir and river. The Walker River water master released too little water to meet the tribe's entitlement of 25 cfs at the same time that the Bureau of Indian Affairs continued regular releases from the reservoir into Walker Lake. The fish suffocated and died after the oxygen became depleted in the low water. Chuck O'Rourke, natural resources officer for the BIA, said that it took a week for four workers to clean up the dead fish and to dispose of them. "We picked up 7,000 fish in 20 loads of 5 cubic yard dump trucks," said O'Rourke. "The fish were 95 percent carp, while the rest were channel cats, crappie and largemouth bass. It wasn't a fun job." Most of the carcasses were buried in an old dump site and less than 200 fish were put into a tribal grazing pasture as fertilizer. |
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Before the fish kill, the tribe had electro shocked 130 crappie from the lake and put them into ponds on the reservation. What is the impact upon the tribe? "It will have a huge economic impact upon us, although we're not sure of what exactly it will be," said McMasters. "Besides the fish being killed, the cattle herds were stressed and the irrigation system was shut down." After the BIA closed the outflow gates to raise the reservoir and save remaining fish, all downstream irrigation stopped. Because of the fish kill, about 2,100 acres of farmland could not be irrigated and 2,500 cattle were without their normal water supplies. At press time, some limited irrigation had begun to the farmers in Schurz, all members of the tribe, who grow alfalfa. The tribe will lose the income that it receives from the fishing permits its sells, as well as the money spent on groceries and refreshments at stores in the town of Schurz, according to McMasters. The problem is that Weber Dam, built in 1934, is leaking and could collapse in an earthquake, prompting the BIA mandate to keep the lake no more than one-third full. The dam is located on an earthquake fault. The BIA, who operates the dam and reservoir, is in the process of a modification project on the dam to make it earthquake safe. "The dam is unsafe and has to be repaired," said Barry Welch, assistant Regional Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Phoenix. "We were hoping to have the repairs done by now and we contracted the project to the tribe." However, the $10,000,000 project became delayed in the Environmental Impact Statement Process. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, another federal agency, wants to include provisions in the dam refurbishing project to allow Lahontan cutthroat from Walker Lake to get into the Walker River above the dam to spawn. "We're hoping to get the consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and environmental documents finished as soon as we can, hopefully by this coming spring before we enter low runoff conditions," said Welch. Tribal leaders project that the dam refurbishing won't be redone until at least two years, and as many as five years. Weber Lake, before the recent disaster, was a popular warm water fishery for anglers from Hawthorne, Reno and Carson City. But it will be an unspecified time before anglers enjoy this fine fishery again. "The fishing was excellent this spring and summer for catfish, crappie and bass," said Bob Tompkins, owner of the Gun and Tackle Shop in Hawthorne. "Some 16 to 17 pound lunker catfish, as well as the state record crappie, were caught this year at Weber. This fish kill is a travesty." |
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