STILLWATER NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE (NWR) (NEVADA)

One of the nine National Wildlife Refuges (NWR) located in the State of Nevada, the Stillwater NWR is part of the Stillwater Wildlife Management Area (Nevada) and contained within the Lahontan Valley Wetland System (Nevada), a key, resting, migration, and wintering area for up to 1 million waterfowl, shorebirds, and raptors. The Stillwater NWR is located approximately 15 miles east of Fallon, Nevada within Churchill County on the edge of the Carson Sink and was formally established in 1991 when 77,500 acres (121 square miles) of the Stillwater Wildlife Management Area were set aside to preserve critical nesting and habitat for migratory waterfowl and other birds using the Pacific Flyway in western Nevada. Each spring and fall, it hosts a significant percentage of the Pacific Flyway's migratory birds. The Lahontan Valley wetland system was named to the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network in 1988, and it has been nominated for inclusion under the Convention of Wetlands of International Importance, attesting to the continental significance of this invaluable resource. By one estimate, in the early 1900s the Lahontan Valley wetland system alone contained about 85,000 acres of wetlands visited by millions of waterfowl and shorebirds using the eastern edge of the Pacific Flyway during migration. With the advent of the Newlands (Irrigation) Project (Nevada), fresh water that traditionally charged the wetlands was replaced by a greatly diminished supply of agricultural drain water. The wetlands initially benefitted from the Newlands Project diversions of large quantities of Truckee River water, including winter hydro releases at Lahontan Dam on the Carson River, that provided the wetlands with considerable infusions of fresh water. As the federal government sought to protect Pyramid Lake's fisheries and the endangered cui-ui (Chasmistes cujus) and threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki henshawi) by reducing Truckee River diversions (at Derby Dam on the lower Truckee) and other actions to improve Newlands Project efficiency, the wetlands became increasingly dependent on agricultural drainwater as flows into the project were reduced. This drainwater has, at times, contributed to water quality problems and has generally not provided an adequate inflow into the wetlands. Overall, since the Newlands Project has been in operation, wetland acreage in the Lahontan Valley has declined by 85 percent. Because it is one of only three large interior basin wetland systems along the west coast, deterioration of Lahontan Valley wetlands has already markedly reduced the carrying capacity of the Pacific Flyway. On November 16, 1990, Congress passed Public Law 101-618 (also referred to as the Negotiated Settlement) authorizing the purchase and transfer of enough water rights to maintain a total of 25,000 acres of primary wetlands in the Lahontan Valley (to include Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge: 14,000 acres; Carson Lake and Pasture: 10,200 acres; and Fallon Reservation and Indian Lakes: 800 acres). The Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) estimates this may require up to 125,000 acre-feet of water annually. Also see National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) System and National Wildlife Refuges (NWR) (Nevada).