Category Archives: Nevada State Engineer

Let it flow: Camp owners restore stream, amid ongoing legal challenge

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Let it flow: Camp owners restore stream, amid ongoing legal challenge

By Robin Hebrock Pahrump Valley Times

August 4, 2022 – 12:49 pm

Victor and Annette Fuentes have officially started the process of reopening the Carson Slough following years of waiting for a federal agency to do as it was ordered.

Finally, at their limit of patience, the husband-and-wife team, who own and operate the Patch of Heaven Christian Camp in Nye County, hosted a press conference of sorts on Saturday, July 30 to celebrate their decision to restore their water themselves.

Patch of Heaven is a 40-acre parcel of private land located within the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, which is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. When Victor and Annette first purchased the property, it was a lush oasis in the desert, with plenty of water flowing in channels running through the site and filling ponds used for camp activities.

That all changed in 2010 when Fish and Wildlife altered the Carson Slough, diverting the water around the Fuentes’ property and turning it into a dust bowl. In addition to the lack of water, the Fuentes’s then had to deal with unusual flooding occurrences that they said were a direct result of the alteration of the slough.

With no alternative, the two took legal action that resulted in a years-long battle between the Fuentes’s and Fish and Wildlife. That conflict seemed to have come to an end in 2017 when the federal agency was ordered to return the water to which the Fuentes’s had a senior vested right. But Fish and Wildlife never took action to restore the water so Victor was preparing to take a tractor out and do it himself.

Victor and Annette were joined by several dozen supporters on July 30 and the gathering at the Christian camp opened with an invocation.

“We come before you with humbleness in our hearts to ask you for protection for today, to ask you to give us the ‘OK’ for today, Lord Jesus, and I thank you for each and every one of my brothers and sisters, members of the community, who have showed up here today in support of the right of Patch of Heaven,” Victor prayed.

Those assembled for the event then stood up and faced the American flag for the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, after which both Nye County Sheriff Sharon Wehrly and Nye County Commissioner Debra Strickland were invited to speak.

Wehrly read from documentation detailing the Fuentes’ right to nearly seven acre-feet of water from the Carson Slough, remarking, “So that’s his permit to have the water come through his property. And it seems that he has been doing everything that he possibly can to get that done.”

Next, Wehrly read a document outlining the warning notice sent to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in which the Nevada state engineer had determined that the federal agency was violating the law through its action of diverting the flow of the Carson Slough. In that letter, Fish and Wildlife was ordered to cease the full and complete diversion of the surface water that should move through the Patch of Heaven property. That order came with the possible penalty of a fine of up to $10,000 per day per violation, as well as other consequences, none of which have materialized.

Strickland stepped up to the microphone following Wehrly and she was evidently fired up about the reason everyone was assembled that morning.

“We have rights, and the rights have been taken from this man,” Strickland declared, indicating Victor. “Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting. You know it, it’s been like that since the beginning of time. Nothing has changed here. We’re still fighting for the water!

“When did the feds decide that all things belong to them? No way, Jose, ain’t going on no longer,” Strickland continued. “This is the time… And Victor, Annette, you are brave people and we are so proud of you for that. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today to watch you take back your right.”

At that point, Victor requested that Wehrly call Fish and Wildlife to ask a representative of that office to come down to the camp and talk over the situation. “Let’s reconcile this, let’s talk. We want to see their response,” Victor announced.

Fish and Wildlife, however, was not amenable to going to the camp but a representative did invite the Fuentes’, Strickland and Wehrly to their office. The discussion, however, apparently ended without the reconciliation that Victor was aiming for. Not deterred from his mission, he and Annette returned to their land and Victor headed out to the area that had been backfilled to divert the Carson Slough, to begin the task of reopening the waterway to its historic flow path.

This is no simple matter, either. It will take time and patience for the couple to safely and successfully complete the operation but they fully intend to see the historic flow path of the Carson Slough reinstated in the coming days.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at [email protected]

Source: Let it flow: Camp owners restore stream, amid ongoing legal challenge

We need your Help to fight NV OSE INTERIM ORDER #1330

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We are asking for as many people as possible to download the document “WRITTEN COMMENT TO INTERIM ORDER #1330” and not only sign your support but give your friends and Neighbors an opportunity to sign as well. All Responses must be received at the following address by July 5th to be considered.

Mr. Adam Sullivan

State Engineer

State of Nevada Division of Water Resources

901 S. Stewart St. #2002

Carson City, NV 89701

 

RE: WRITTEN COMMENT TO INTERIM ORDER #1330

To the governing and regulating agencies of water rights in hydrographic Basin 230:

Order #1330 will place even more onerous restrictions over a more expensive geographic area on the movements of water rights (changes in point of diversion & place of use) within Basin 230.

These restrictions are being placed on water right movements with the stated goal of protecting the Devil’s Hole Pupfish, by ensuring that the water level in Devil’s Hole doesn’t drop more than 2. 7 feet below the steel bolt.

But, the historical record (see attached Graph) does not support the need for further restrictions on the use of water in Basin 230. In fact, the water level in Devil’s Hole is higher today than it was in 1980 (over 40 years ago) despite the overall increase in groundwater pumping in the Amargosa Farms area since that time.

Rather, this graph supports the contention that groundwater pumping in the Amargosa Farms area does not affect the water level in Devil’s Hole, which is situated on the other side of a gravity fault and whose water comes from a distinct, separate source.

Order #1330 is an ill-conceived and ill-crafted attempt to be a solution to a problem that does NOT exist.

Order #1330 casts a pall of uncertainty over the owners of water rights in Basin 230 by subjecting any request to move water pumping and use (other than domestic wells) to the approval or denial by an unelected bureaucrat depending on their interpretation and application of the continually evolving and changing Death Valley Regional Ground Flow Model.

This Nevada Department of water Resources’ overreach is resulting in the effective diminishment and “taking” of these private property rights from their lawful owners, resulting in the curtailment of economic growth and opportunities for the residents of Amargosa Valley and Nye County.

Order #1330 needs to be re-crafted to support and enable the lawful use of water rights by their holders, freeing them from the capricious, arbitrary, and discriminatory whims and decisions of unelected bureaucrats without due process.

Given the above facts, WE, the undersigned, hereby respectfully request that Order #1330 be sent “back to the drawing board” to properly reflect the facts of the Devil’s Hole water level and solicit additional input from residents, boards, ( i.e. Nye County water Board) and local governing entities of Amargosa Valley and Nye County, to ensure that the full scope of the issues and adverse impacts to the local residents and water right holders have been adequately identified, quantified, and are taken into consideration in the final Order #1330.

Response to INTERIM ORDER #1330

[pdf-embedder url=”https://patchofheaven.org/wp-content/uploads/securepdfs/2022/06/WRITTEN-COMMENT-TO-INTERIM-ORDER-1330.pdf” title=”WRITTEN COMMENT TO INTERIM ORDER #1330″]

Actual INTERIM ORDER #1330

[pdf-embedder url=”https://patchofheaven.org/wp-content/uploads/securepdfs/2022/06/1330o.pdf” title=”ORDER #1330″]

After more than a decade, this camp’s fight for water still hasn’t been resolved | Pahrump Valley Times

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By Robin Hebrock Pahrump Valley Times

June 16, 2022 – 11:09 am

A more than decade-long battle between the owners of Patch of Heaven Christian Camp and U.S. Fish and Wildlife seems no closer to a resolution but Nye County commissioners are hoping that a letter from the county to the state engineer’s office might finally prompt some forward movement.

During its Tuesday, June 7 meeting, the Nye County Commission approved that letter, to be sent to Adam Sullivan, Nevada state engineer with the Division of Water Resources.

David McDonald, an attorney representing Ministerio Roca Solida Inglesia Cristiana, of which Patch of Heaven is a part, thanked the commission for addressing the item as well as for the past support shown for the owners of Patch of Heaven, the Fuenteses.

“For those of you who may not be familiar with Victor and Annette, and their struggles to protect their church camp from the federal government, about 12 years ago the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided that it would be better for the environment if the stream that had run through the Patch of Heaven parcel since time immemorial was instead rerouted around the Fuentes’ property a few hundred feet to the east,” McDonald said that morning.

That stream, located inside of the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, used to flow down what is called the Carson Slough. When Fish and Wildlife diverted the water, the Fuentes’ property went from a lush oasis in the desert to a barren landscape.

“Now, I don’t have time to discuss the litany of abuses committed by the Fish and Wildlife Service here but in addition to stealing the church’s stream and turning the property into a miniature dust bowl, Fish and Wildlife has refused to provide for the delivery of vested waters rights that the church is legally entitled to under order of the state engineer, and is blatantly ignoring their obligations under that order,” McDonald stated.

He noted that his clients had filed a notice of violation with the state engineer’s office in April of 2021 but as of the June 7, 2022 commission meeting, that violation was still pending.

“The Nye County Board of Commissioners sent this communication to encourage the Division of Water Resources to pursue adjudication of vested water right No. V10092 and the approved application #85417 of the Ministerio Roca Solida Inglesia Cristiana with some urgency,” the letter from the county opens. “In addition to the adjudication of the above, the completion of the requested investigation into the junior water rights holder’s interference with the continuous flow to the senior water right holder is of greater urgency.”

The letter goes on to state that vested water right for the church camp is affecting 64 other water rights held by Fish and Wildlife at Ash Meadows, remarking, “With that many separate permits resting on the adjudication of one vested right, it should be promoted to a position of priority in your offices.”

Nye County Sheriff Sharon Wehrly is among local officials who have come out to publicly support Victor and Annette and she was on hand on June 7 to reiterate that support.

“This is such an atrocity. I got involved in it some time ago and on one of my trips to Washington, D.C. I talked to Trump’s representative for western states about this very issue. We were told that they would look into it, but I really don’t think much happened with it,” Wehrly said. “And I really think that we need to push forward or we will lose our water rights. Not only these ones, but other ones that are subject to the state water engineer and fish and wildlife.”

Commissioner Leo Blundo made the motion to approve the letter, with a second from commissioner Bruce Jabbour. The motion passed with emphatic “ayes” all around.

To view the letter in its entirety visit www.NyeCountyNV.gov and locate the June 7 Nye County Commission agenda in the “Meeting Center”. The document is contained as part of agenda item #34.

For more background information on the struggle visit pvtimes.com and search for “Patch of Heaven.”

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at [email protected]

Source: After more than a decade, this camp’s fight for water still hasn’t been resolved | Pahrump Valley Times

Nevada church continues 9-year legal fight with government over water rights

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Pastor Victor Fuentes with his wife Annette. Courtesy of Mountain States Legal Foundation

A church congregation in rural Nevada is continuing its 9-year legal fight over water rights with government agencies.

Ministerio Roca Solida, a small church located in Pahrump, Nevada, in 2006 purchased a 40-acre plot of land in the Amargosa Valley. The congregation used the property, which included a stream running through it, for baptisms and church retreats – “an oasis,” as Pastor Victor Fuentes called the property.

But in 2010 the church’s “oasis” changed when the the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service diverted a part of the same stream on nearby federal land. USFWS said the diversion was part of a restoration project that could help an endangered fish.

That diversion has caused flooding on the church’s property whenever it rains significantly, causing damage to the property, attorneys for the church say. They also claim that USFW diverted the water without doing the proper environmental assessments.

“It’s completely changed what [Ministerio Roca Solida] are able to do out there – their ability to help people and minister to people,” said Cody Wisniewski, an attorney for the Colorado-based Mountain States Legal Foundation, which is handling the case.

A federal court ruled that the water diversion and subsequent property damage didn’t constitute a taking or property, but allowed the church’s case to proceed on grounds of the flooding. Lawyers for the federal agency have argued that the water diversion didn’t cause the flooding on the church’s property and that flooding was not “reasonably foreseeable” when the agency began the restoration project.

The churchalso made its case in an administrative hearing last week before the Nevada State Engineer to establish water rights on its property.

While the federal court said the church doesn’t have established water rights, Wisniewski says the Nevada State Engineer can still determine water rights within the state.

The state’s engineer previously determined that the church had a plausible water right, but the church would like that right to be changed to allow for different usage.

The church submitted a proof of vested water rights that proves the property benefited from water use for irrigation prior to 1905, and asked the Nevada State Engineer to change its water right from irrigation uses to domestic and recreational uses.

“At the end of the day, the Nevada State Engineer has the ability to determine whether or not our claim is plausible,” Wisniewski said. “If it is plausible, then they can approve the change application, which would then require under Nevada state law a certain flow of water be delivered back to the church camp.”

It will likely be several months before the engineer makes a decision, Wisniewski said.

Baptism pond on Ministerio Roca Solida property before diversion.
Courtesy of Mountain States Legal Foundation

Baptism pond on Ministerio Roca Solida property after diversion.
Courtesy of Mountain States Legal Foundation

Source: Nevada church continues 9-year legal fight with government over water rights

NOTICE OF HEARING – Please Join Us in Support

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We now have a Date for our appeal hearing on our water rights claim before the Nevada State Engineer.  We are excited to finally get here. The results of this hearing will have a significant impact on our Federal Court Case.

Please, if at all possible join us and show your support for getting this corrected.

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that pursuant to the authority set forth in NRS § 533.365, the State Engineer hereby sets a hearing to consider the matter of protested Application 88535 to commence at 9:00 a.m., on Tuesday, December 3, 2019, continuing through Wednesday, December 4, 2019, if necessary, to be held at the Nevada Division of Water Resources, Tahoe Hearing Room, 2nd Floor, 901 S. Stewart Street, Carson City, Nevada.

[pdf-embedder url="https://patchofheaven.org/wp-content/uploads/securepdfs/2019/08/POHWaterRightsHearing.pdf"]