Residents are invited for the grand opening of the new Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge headquarters on Saturday, Oct. 4, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 3175 Freeman Lane. The Chamber of Commerce will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11:30 a.m., and events include live music, a fine art exhibition, and crafts for children. Food and drinks will be available.
The new headquarters are located at 3175 Freeman Lane, a former residence off Stillwater Road. Refuge Manager Carl Lunderstadt said they were leasing office space in Reno and Fallon for several years. Using the water rights acquisition program, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was able to purchase the former ranch because it came with eight acres of water rights, and is located within the boundaries of the refuge.
The refuge, which totals a little more than 80,000 acres, was established in 1948 as the Stillwater Wildlife Management Area. It was formally designated as a national refuge in 1990, the same year the Truckee-Carson-Pyramid Lake Water Rights Settlement Act was passed. Part of that act authorized the USFWS to purchase water rights from sellers in the Carson Division of the Newlands Project. The goal is to acquire water rights for wetlands for the refuge, Carson Lake and Pasture, and wetlands on the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe reservation. Historically, the USFWS has obtained those water rights by purchasing farmland, removing the water rights, and reselling the property.
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