At 27, fifth-generation rancher and Carson Valley native Cassi Uhart may be one the youngest people ever to serve on the Carson Water Subconservancy District.
“Water is gold in this Valley,” she said when asked during the hearing where she was appointed.
It might as well be gold for all we’ve seen falling from the skies during the first quarter of 2022.
Last weekend’s storm barely dampened the streets of Minden, where records have been kept since 1906.
In an average year, Minden would have received 3.97 inches of precipitation by March 22.
There are only three Marches on record with zero moisture in the Douglas County seat over the past 114 years. Only 1972 has a first quarter that comes even close to this year, with .19 inches over the first three months.
More critically, the near record amounts of snow that fell in the Sierra during December has been melting off without seeing significant reinforcement.
As of Tuesday morning, despite receiving 99 percent of the precipitation for the water year, so far, the Carson River Basin is at 68 percent snow water equivalent.
Ebbetts Pass at the top of the East Fork is at 62 percent, while Carson Pass at the top of the West Fork is at 58 percent.
Irrigation season opens on April 1, which means Carson Valley ranchers will begin taking their surface water rights. There isn’t any significant storage upstream from the Valley, so the snowpack is the only source.
That’s what keeps the Valley green, makes hay and provides feed for cattle. It’s also what keeps ranchers from dipping into their supplemental rights, which account for roughly half the allocated groundwater rights in the Valley. One good storm can make a big difference. As March wanes, we wouldn’t mind seeing a middling bit of moisture before the big melt-off begins.
