Walker Lake

April 2, 2010

For Immediate Release

Contacts with the Walker Lake Working Group:

Glenn Bunch, (775) 945-2289

Lorna Weaver, (775) 677-8951

Education Day success leads to expanded festival at imperiled Nevada lake

Riding a wave of success from increased visitors in 2009, Walker Lake Education Day organizers are expanding the 2010 event that is designed to showcase the multi-agency/organization efforts to conserve the imperiled lake near Hawthorne, Nev.

The nearly 1,000 people who attended Education Day in 2009 shows growing support for sustaining the fresh-water ecosystem that supports recreational fishing and thousands of migratory birds.

Plans for the 2010 event include expanded exhibits to provide one-stop shopping for answers to questions about how to save the fishery at Walker Lake that is on the brink of collapse due to lack of water from upstream diversions. New this year will be a demonstration and free lessons on stand-up paddleboarding, the fasting growing sport in the world.

The 2010 Education Day will be held May 1 at Sportsman’s Beach, 11 miles north of Hawthorne on Hwy. 95 in west-central Nevada. This free family event will run from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and feature boating, wildlife viewing, fishing demonstrations, scientific and cultural exhibits, as well as children’s activities. Food will be available for purchase.

Walker Lake Working Group replaced its 15-year tradition of the Walker Lake Loon Festival last year with Education Day because of declining lake levels and the absence of significant numbers of loons that normally visit the lake during their spring migration.

Upstream diversions on the Walker River allow little or no water to reach the lake and dilute the dissolved solids that are left behind and are toxic to native fish that migratory birds rely on for food. However, Lahontan cutthroat trout are still available for fishing.

The Walker Lake Working Group supports continued efforts to find a secure, long-term source of water to sustain the lake’s ecosystem. Without additional water, the lake’s freshwater ecosystem will collapse within the next couple of years.

For information on Walker Lake Education Day call (775) 945-2289 (775) 677-8951 or visit the working group’s Web site at www.walkerlake.org.

“When I first saw Walker Lake in the late 1960s, I was amazed to find this desert jewel. Since then, I have worked tirelessly to preserve Nevada’s desert terminal lakes, including Walker Lake. I have secured more than $150 million in federal funds to conduct world-class research on the Walker River Basin, to protect its fish and wildlife, to strengthen the economies of Lyon and Mineral Counties, and to increase in stream flows to maintain and raise lake levels. I am working hard to protect this rare natural lake, so that you and others in your lakeside community can continue to enjoy its benefits for decades to come.

I remain committed to protecting Walker Lake. In the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act of 2010, which became public law on October 28, 2009, I secured $67.2 million for a demonstration water leasing program and other acquisition program, water conservation and stewardship program, and additional research. These programs provide opportunities for willing sellers and volunteers to exercise their property rights in ways that protect and restore the Walker Basin and Walker Lake.”

http://www.walkerlake.org/index.htm

http://www.walkerlake.org/events/video.html

Visit Walker Lake on April 23rd, 2010 to learn about Walker Lake and why it needs to be saved.

In an annual event hosted by the Walker Lake Working Group to raise awareness, the Walker Lake Working Group and other organizations are will be hosting an education day to teach visitors about Walker Lake and why it needs to be saved.

For more information, visit their website!

The students in the division regarding legislation around the lake in the project wrote three letters, each to various senators and representatives on behalf of the lake. They raise concerns, and suggest solutions that Congress can accomplish on the Federal Level to help out the lake!

Here’s a drafted email to Representative Dean Heller of the United States House of Representatives.

Rep. Dean Heller,

Recently, we (James Ringel, Katie Elledge, and Julia Brown) were assigned a project to assist Walker Lake’s vanishing existence. We decided that Walker Lake’s high-ranking salinity level was the most engrossing and core problem of the lake. We were told to come up with an “action plan” on how we can pursue a helpful outcome; our team discovered something known as a desalination plant that normally costs up to $3,000,000. We agreed that a wind-powered desalination plant would most likely be more obliging in this environment.

There are many people who have come to the conclusion that acquiring water from other resources-such as Nevada’s Lake Mead- would be a better solution, but obviously that concept has not been favored. As a personal opinion, that seems out of the question currently. In result, we also suggest that Walker Lake should obtain it’s own individual water rights, rather than generalized water rights that are either owned by farmers are appointed to the Walker Basin.

There are many bills, propositions, and donations given by the government to spend thousands to millions of dollars on research alone to discern the present conditions of Walker Lake just to get an idea of how we can be of service to Walker Lake and Mineral County. Research has been a large factor in this project, of course, but because we spent a large amount of money on the University of Nevada research project and it brought us no where, we think its about time we started coming up with better answers.

Our group leans toward the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation lobbyist group to help us support our opinion on these ideas. They are concerned, as well as ourselves, in helping the ecosystem surrounding the lake.

Concerned Citizens,

Julia Brown, Katie Elledge, and James Ringel