The Southern Nevada Water Authority on Monday announced its plans to purchase the 1,154-acre Warm Springs Ranch near Moapa for $66 million.
The privately owned ranch, located in the Upper Muddy River Valley about seven miles northwest of Moapa, is considered the principal remaining habitat for the Moapa dace, an endangered 3-inch fish found only in the Moapa Valley, said water authority spokesman J.C. Davis.
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The water authority entered into an agreement earlier this year with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Coyote Springs Investment, the Moapa Valley Water District and other groups to responsibly conserve and manage lands while developing regional groundwater resources. The authority wants to acquire Warm Springs Ranch and help the Moapa dace as part of its fulfillment of that agreement.
It also plans to develop the area as an educational and recreational spot for Southern Nevadans, including hiking trails.
The land will not be mined for its groundwater, Davis said, but is instead intended exclusively for "environmental management."
The water authority is scheduled to vote on the purchase at its Thursday meeting.
The ranch will be purchased with Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act funds. Under the act, the proceeds from the sale of federal land are spent on Nevada schools and parks, water infrastructure projects and environmental restoration.
Last week the authority announced plans to buy the 7,000-acre Robison Ranch in White Pine County's Spring Valley for $22 million. It also said it will buy a 1,370-acre ranch in the same area for $4.9 million.
The authority plans to use the Robison ranch's nearly 12,000 acre-feet of surface water rights and the other ranch's 1,700 acre-feet to supplement natural recharge of the basin's groundwater table and support the valley's vegetation as part of the authority's "management strategy," Davis said.
