The Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe, straddling the Nevada-Oregon border in Humboldt County, sits atop one of the state’s last unadjudicated groundwater basins.
This arid landscape, where alfalfa fields and lithium mines compete for the same aquifer, holds a sovereignty opportunity: the tribe could convert its dormant water rights into a living food system by treating groundwater as a shared commons, not a commodity.
One proposed mechanism is a tribal water lease template that could allow individual farmers to access a portion of the tribe’s groundwater rights in exchange for stewardship commitments—cover cropping, drip irrigation, and crop selection tied to cultural varieties.
First step: The tribe’s natural resources director could draft a one-page lease template this month, modeled after Nevada’s state water lease statutes but with tribal sovereignty clauses, and circulate it to three local farmers for feedback.
Within a year, the tribe might have a signed lease with at least one farmer growing tepary beans or desert-adapted corn; over five years, the template could expand to include off-reservation buyers, creating a water-secured agricultural corridor.
—
The Desert Commons Lease—A Proposal for the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe
The Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe’s reservation spans approximately 35,000 acres of high desert, where the Quinn River cuts a narrow green ribbon through sagebrush and alkali flats. Nevada’s economy runs on water—mining, alfalfa, and now lithium—but the state’s prior appropriation doctrine has left tribal water rights in legal limbo for decades. The tribe holds senior groundwater rights under the Winters Doctrine, yet these rights remain unquantified and unused, while neighboring farms and industrial users pump the same aquifer largely unchecked. The gap is not just legal; it’s operational. Without a mechanism to activate these rights, the tribe’s water remains a theoretical asset, not a tool for food sovereignty or economic leverage.
The proposed mechanism is a tribally chartered water trust, structured as a nonprofit operator, that would hold the tribe’s groundwater rights in trust and lease them to farmers under a standardized agreement. Unlike Nevada’s state water leases, which treat water as a transferable commodity, this concept would embed stewardship conditions into every lease: mandatory soil moisture sensors, crop rotation plans, and a ban on water-intensive crops like alfalfa. The trust would also require lessees to contribute a portion of their harvest to the tribe’s food distribution program, ensuring that water use directly supports community food security. The legal foundation for this structure already exists in Nevada’s state water law, which allows for temporary leases of groundwater rights, but the tribe’s version would add tribal sovereignty protections—such as a right of first refusal on any water rights sold by lessees and a tribal veto over transfers to non-tribal entities.
A single motivated individual could set this in motion within a week. The tribe’s natural resources staff could convene a working group of three local farmers, a hydrologist from the University of Nevada’s Cooperative Extension, and a tribal attorney to draft a model lease. The first version could be as simple as a two-page document outlining the lease terms, stewardship requirements, and a sliding scale for water use based on crop type. By month three, the tribe could test the lease with one farmer growing drought-tolerant crops on 20 acres, using a USDA Conservation Innovation Grant to fund the soil sensors and drip irrigation. Within a year, the trust might have a portfolio of leases covering at least 100 acres, with data from the sensors feeding into a tribal water dashboard to track usage and aquifer health. Over three years, the trust could expand to include off-reservation buyers—such as organic food cooperatives in Reno or Las Vegas—who would pay a premium for water-secured, culturally significant crops like desert-adapted corn or wild rice.
This mechanism fits the tribe’s geography and legal landscape in three critical ways. First, Nevada’s prior appropriation system creates a perverse incentive for water users to “use it or lose it,” but the tribe’s Winters rights are immune to forfeiture, giving it a unique advantage in a state where water is over-allocated. Second, the tribe’s location on the Nevada-Oregon border places it within a regional food desert, where demand for locally grown, water-efficient crops is rising among urban buyers. Third, the trust’s nonprofit structure would allow it to access federal funding streams—such as USDA’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program—that are unavailable to for-profit entities. By treating water as a commons rather than a commodity, the tribe could avoid the pitfalls of Nevada’s speculative water market, where rights are often bought up by investors and left fallow.
The larger dividend of this approach is that it could turn a dormant legal asset into a living economic engine. Water rights are often seen as a defensive tool—something to protect from encroachment—but this proposal flips that script. By leasing water to farmers under stewardship conditions, the tribe could create a feedback loop: the more water is used responsibly, the more the aquifer’s health improves, and the more leverage the tribe gains in future adjudication negotiations. Over time, the trust could become a regional model for how tribes in the West can activate their water rights without selling them off or triggering costly litigation. In a state where water is power, the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe could rewrite the rules of the game—not by fighting for a seat at the table, but by building a new table altogether.
Native-led resources for Nevada
- Healing The Spirit Productions — headquartered in Nevada
- American Indigenous Tourism Association — headquartered in Nevada
Organizations are independently selected resources. Inclusion does not imply endorsement, affiliation, or representation of a Nation.
Leave a Reply