Nevada’s attorney general recently upheld a 1995
state law that took away the Bureau of Land Management’s right to
hold stock-water rights. The state said the privilege belonged
solely to ranchers.
Since the agency doesn’t own
cattle, said the attorney general, it can’t put a stock-water right
to beneficial use. “Water’s a special resource,” explained deputy
state attorney Wayne Howle, and “over the years, Congress has
always left water to the states.”
A stock-water
right, however, has never given ranchers the right to build needed
improvements like water troughs and stock ponds. Because the BLM
still controls these additions, grazing activist Rose Strickland
anticipates problems. “Why would the feds put taxpayer money into
water rights owned by a private individual?” she
asks.
BLM officials agree. “It’s a catch-22,”
says agency official Terry Woosley. “We will not contribute (to
improvements) if we do not hold a portion of the water.”
It remains unclear what practical impact the
decison will have on water use in Nevada. The state engineer’s
office says it will now turn down a backlog of 99 applications from
the BLM for stock-water permits, according to deputy engineer
Christine Thiel.
*Sarah
Dry
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Nevada ranchers win water rights.
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