Mineral County v. STATE, DEPT. OF CONSERV.

Decision Date11 April 2001
Docket NumberNo. 36352.,36352.
Citation117 Nev. 235,20 P.3d 800
PartiesMINERAL COUNTY, a Political Subdivision of the State of Nevada; and the Walker Lake Working Group, Petitioners, v. STATE of Nevada, DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES, an Agency of the State of Nevada; Peter Morros, Director of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources; R. Michael Turnipseed, State Engineer; Walker River Irrigation District, a Nevada Irrigation District; Lyon County and the City of Yerington, Political Subdivisions of the State of Nevada, Respondents.
CourtNevada Supreme Court

Campbell & Stone, Reno; Western Environmental Law Center and Marc David Fink and Michael Dana Axline, Eugene, Oregon, for Petitioners.

Frankie Sue Del Papa, Attorney General, and Paul G. Taggart and William J. Frey, Deputies Attorney General, Carson City, for Respondents State of Nevada, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources; Peter Morros, Director of Department of Conservation and Natural Resources; and R. Michael Turnipseed, State Engineer.

George N. Benesch, Reno, for Respondent Lyon County.

Brooke Shaw Plimpton Zumpft, Minden, for Respondent City of Yerington.

Woodburn & Wedge and Gordon H. DePaoli, Reno, for Respondent Walker River Irrigation District.

Mackedon & McCormick, Fallon, for Amicus Curiae City of Fallon.

Allison MacKenzie Hartman Soumbeniotis & Russell and Karen A. Peterson and Christopher F. MacKenzie, Carson City, for Amicus Curiae Humboldt River Basin Water Authority.

Stanley H. Brown, Jr., Reno; Herum Crabtree Brown and Jeanne Zolezzi, Jennifer L. Spaletta and James Belford Brown, Stockton, California, for Amicus Curiae Town of Walker Lake.

BEFORE THE COURT EN BANC.

OPINION

YOUNG, J.:

This is an original proceeding brought by Mineral County and the Walker Lake Working Group (collectively "Petitioners") against the State of Nevada, the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and its Director, and the State Engineer (collectively "Respondents"). During the pendency of the briefing schedule in this case, Walker River Irrigation District ("WRID"), Lyon County, and the City of Yerington successfully moved to intervene. The petition seeks a writ of prohibition to prevent Respondents from granting additional rights to withdraw surface water or groundwater from the Walker River system and a writ of mandamus challenging Respondents' public trust obligations in managing and appropriating water flows into Walker Lake.

Petitioners seek the issuance of the writs to prevent Respondents from taking future actions that threaten to decrease future water flows into Walker Lake. They also seek a review of current and past water allocation decisions by the State Engineer that affect water appropriation in the Walker River Basin.

We conclude that issuance of the writs would not be proper because substantially similar litigation is pending in a more appropriate forum. Accordingly, we deny the petitions.

The Walker River Basin

The Walker River Basin covers an area that consists of approximately 4,050 square miles. The entire basin stretches in a northeasterly direction from its origins in the southwestern elevations of the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the basin's terminus, Walker Lake. Between the headwaters of the Walker River in Mono County, California, and its terminus at Walker Lake in Mineral County, Nevada, the Walker River Basin includes portions of Nevada's Douglas, Lyon, and Churchill Counties. Approximately twenty-five percent of the Walker River Basin lies within California, and this portion of the basin accounts for the majority of the precipitation. This section of the basin is also the primary source of the basin's surface water flows. On the other hand, the vast majority of consumptive water use within the basin, including evapotranspiration and evaporation from surface waters, takes place in Nevada. The basin's principal agricultural water use occurs in Bridgeport and Antelope Valleys in Mono County, California, and Smith and Mason Valleys in Lyon County, Nevada.

The Walker River system consists of two forks, the West Walker River and the East Walker River. The West Walker River has its origins below the divide that separates the Walker River Basin from Yosemite National Park. From its origin, the West Walker River flows north through Leavitt Meadow and into Antelope Valley. Before reaching Nevada, water from the West Walker River is partially diverted into Topaz Reservoir for water storage.1

The second fork, the East Walker River, is fed by waters in the high Sierras north of Mono Lake. Water draining from Virginia Lakes flows north and joins with water from Green, Robinson, Summers, and Buckeye Creeks. These flows contribute to Bridgeport Reservoir.2

The confluence of these two forks is located approximately seven miles upstream from the city of Yerington, Nevada, at the south end of Mason Valley. The merged forks of the West and East Walker Rivers flow northerly and then turn south as they enter the Walker River Paiute Indian Reservation ("Reservation"). Here, the Walker River flows through Campbell Valley and enters Weber Reservoir. From Weber Reservoir, the Walker River continues south for approximately twenty-one miles before entering Walker Lake.3

Walker Lake is a remnant of the Pleistocene Lake Lahontan that covered much of northern Nevada. As the climate dried, Lake Lahontan receded and many closed valleys became isolated dry lakebeds. However, several major rivers draining from the eastern slopes of the Sierras continued to support lakes and wetlands in some of these closed valleys, including present day Walker Lake.4

Walker Lake is a "terminal lake," meaning there is no outflow from the lake and all surface runoff terminates in the lake. Walker Lake is approximately thirteen miles long, just over five miles wide, approximately ninety feet deep, and contains approximately two million acre-feet of water. The shores of Walker Lake are almost entirely devoid of major riparian plant growth due in part to the extreme fluctuations in highly variable lake levels.

The waters of Walker Lake are characterized by high concentrations of total dissolved solids ("TDS"), consisting mainly of salts; high temperatures; low dissolved oxygen; and the presence of hydrogen sulfide. The lake also tends to support large blooms of planktonic blue-green algae which, when combined with the high TDS concentrations and low dissolved oxygen, create an inhospitable environment for fish species in the lake.

The causes of Walker Lake's present water deficit are disputed by the parties. Due to the highly variable hydrology of the Walker River Basin, Walker River has rarely produced "average" inflows to Walker Lake. The confusion over the data is understandable, given the various reports and data relied upon by the parties. What is confirmed is that Walker Lake currently has less water than it had when initial recordings were taken in 1882. As of March 1996, Walker Lake had only fifty percent of its 1882 surface area and twenty-eight percent of its 1882 volume. The ultimate cause of the decline is potentially attributable to a number of factors, including, but not limited to, overconsumption, declining precipitation levels, and natural lake recession over time.

In November 1994, Public Resource Associates, a public interest organization concerned with the protection of Walker Lake's fragile environment, prepared a report on Walker Lake describing the then current status of the lake and its various wildlife. The report indicated that Walker Lake supports a fragile balance of algae, zooplankton, small crustaceans, insects, and three endemic fish species: the tui chub, Lahontan cutthroat trout, and Tahoe sucker. Walker Lake is also an important habitat for a wide variety of migratory birds, including American white pelicans, common loons, snowy plovers, long-billed curlews, double crested cormorants, white-faced ibis, gulls, herons, terns, grebes, avocets, and many others.

Legal history and current proceedings

Walker River and its tributaries in the Walker River Basin have been the object of litigation for nearly one hundred years. In 1902, Miller & Lux, a cattle and land company, brought an action in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada against Thomas Rickey and others to enjoin interference with Miller & Lux's use of the Walker River. In October 1904, Rickey Land & Cattle Co. began two actions in a California state court against Miller & Lux to establish its prior right to waters on the East and West Walker Rivers.5 In 1906, Miller & Lux and other defendants sought to enjoin the proceedings in the California actions on the grounds that the United States District Court for the District of Nevada had acquired prior jurisdiction. The United States Supreme Court agreed, and prosecutions of the California actions were enjoined.6 The United States District Court entered a final decree in 1919.7

In 1924, the United States brought an action in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada seeking to establish a water right for the Reservation8 and to settle all water rights on the Walker River system. The action was commenced to adjudicate the surface water rights of all users of the river basin, but did not concern groundwater rights. This litigation resulted in the entry of Walker River Decree C-125 ("Decree") in 1936.9

On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit accepted the report of the special master with respect to the quantity of water reserved to the Tribe. The Decree was subsequently amended to conform to the ruling of the court.10

The Decree formalized the ownership of surface water rights from the Walker River that had been acquired pursuant to Nevada's doctrine of prior appropriation; it did not address groundwater rights. The Decree created the Walker River Commission and the United States Board of Water Commissioners, which were...

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