Joint Chapters Snake Valley Tour
Springs dry-up from pumping

Editor's Note Photo Credits

A joint Utah-Nevada Sierra Club outing ably lead by David von Seggern arrived in Snake Valley, gateway to Great Basin National Park, to learn about the threats to the Valley from a water export plan proposed by the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA). The outings highlight was taking local rancher Dean Baker's famous, day-long Snake Valley Water Tour. Joining us on Dean's tour was a member of the local water board, area farmers, a reporter, and a biologist.

We drove along the Nevada-Utah border in Snake Valley and stopped by an old, dry “water trough” near some alfalfa fields. The trough had been filled by an artesian well before the 1970's. The well stopped flowing shortly after groundwater pumping was used to irrigate the nearby fields; the water level is this day 10-20 feet below the surface. The alfalfa fields will at some point become unsustainable if the water table continues to drop.

At another stop Dean showed us a dried-up small “pond”. The once spring-fed oasis disappeared shortly after groundwater pumping started in the valley. Dean stressed that the Snake Valley already has problems with existing water withdrawals, even without the proposed huge withdrawals by SNWA (16.3 billion gallons of water annually).

Crossing into Nevada, Dean took us further north to Kane Spring (shown left) which still survives. Dean indicated that this spring has remained fairly constant over time and still delivers a lot of water. It provides water to pronghorn antelope and numerous other critters as well as livestock.

The biologist pulled up sedges from the spring which had small snails – endemic spring snails – often unique to a given spring (below right shown on vegetation and researchers hand). Snake Valley is home to endemic snails and fish dependent on the Valley's sparsely distributed waters.

We visited the site of a mid-1800's homestead, now thoroughly obliterated, in the middle of the valley. It certainly had water sources nearby when it was homesteaded. We found some homestead artifacts, including square nails and early barbed wire. Dean pointed to a spot which may well have been a spring and stream in the time of the homestead operations.

After lunch at the Border Inn, we travelled through the verdant Baker Ranch's fields and its natural meadows arriving at the NV Dept. of Wildlife Spring Creek fish hatchery on Snake Creek. The hatchery gets all of its water from a large, nearby spring. SNWA has proposed many wells above the hatchery's spring.

Heading southeast passing Garrison Utah just a few miles east of the state line, we arrive at Preuss Reservoir which stores irrigation water to local farmers and ranchers and is fed by perennial springs south and west which arise in both Utah and Nevada. Roughly one-half the water flowing to Preuss Reservoir comes from Bi Springs – Dean's next stop. Big Springs has a very large discharge for a desert spring. There are at least 15 minor springs fanned out around in the nearby area. The main spring area is lush with willows and cottonwoods – an vast oasis in the desert. Thousands of acres of natural meadows surround these springs and namesake creek. Downstream from Big Springs we stopped at an area of continuous springs feeding the creek near a ranch homestead. The series of springs emerge along a limestone shelf outcrop, supplying fresh water to the creek. These sources, plus Big Springs, provide a sizable stream of water that is used along the way to the reservoir.

Just a mile or so south of here was Needle Point Spring – a critical watering point for wildlife and wild horses for as long as area residents can remember. The spring, according to BLM's senior Hydrogeologist Paul Summers, had a long existence; its flow rate was documented in 1939 as 6 gallons per minute or about 3.2 million gallons per year. Needle Point Spring dried up entirely in late 2001 after pumping began to irrigate new alfalfa fields in June of that same year. This was a dramatic illustration of how springs disappear after pumping starts. The spring does not recover – even after pumping ceases at the end of the irrigation season. Groundwater levels measured by the BLM show a continued downward trend. Get the BLM report on Needle Point Spring here.

The Utah and Nevada Chapters tip their hat in thanks to Dean Baker whose knowledge of the land, people, and history of Snake Valley provided new insights to a region which is too precious to lose.