For over a century, the waters of Baker and Lehman Creeks have sustained ranching operations in Nevada’s Snake Valley, supporting generations of families who have worked the land. These ranchers hold senior water rights, protected under Nevada law and upheld by decades of legal precedent. Yet today, those rights are under siege by the federal government.
In Baker Ranches, Inc. v. Haaland, the National Park Service (NPS) is diverting critical water resources away from senior rights owners like our client Baker Ranches, obstructing the flow of water, and threatening ranchers with legal action for maintaining their own water infrastructure—a practice explicitly authorized by state law. It isn’t supposed to be this way; Congress decades ago clarified in the law that the federal government has to be on a level playing field with other property owners on issues involving Western water rights. But increasingly, the regulators at the federal government have tried to “opt out” of this directive from Congress. And that is what is happening in the Snake Valley. This case is a high-stakes battle against federal overreach that threatens to erode the bedrock of property rights in the American West.
Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) has stepped in to defend these ranchers, challenging the government’s actions and holding them accountable to the law to ensure that no government agency can trample on the rights of American citizens.
Case Summary
For generations, the waters of Baker and Lehman Creeks have flowed through Nevada’s Snake Valley, sustaining the land and the ranching families who call it home. Long before the federal government entered the picture, Baker Ranches, Inc., and its neighbors secured their water rights under Nevada law—rights cemented by state decrees as far back as 1934. These decrees established the ranchers’ seniority in accessing water, a vital resource in the arid American West.
The trouble began in the 1920s when Nevada’s State Engineer conducted an adjudication of water rights for Baker and Lehman Creeks under state law. During this process, the Forest Service—then a potential federal stakeholder—was properly notified of the proceedings but chose not to participate. As required by law, the State Engineer proceeded without the federal government as a party, resulting in a court-issued decree that formalized water rights for the ranchers.
Everything changed in 1986, when the federal government created Great Basin National Park. Armed only with junior water rights, the National Park Service (NPS) nevertheless began diverting water for its own use, disrupting the natural flow of Baker and Lehman Creeks, and allowing practices that harmed downstream users. Ranchers, simply trying to maintain their water infrastructure as Nevada law allows, were met with threats of law enforcement action—an affront to their legal rights and livelihoods.
But the injustice didn’t stop there. When the ranchers sought to enforce their rights in Nevada state court, the federal government pulled a classic bait-and-switch. They moved the case to federal court, claiming immunity from state enforcement because they hadn’t participated in the original adjudication—a process they were notified about and chose to ignore.
This blatant maneuver flies in the face of the McCarran Amendment, a 1952 federal law that explicitly subjects federal agencies to state water law. Yet the Department of the Interior and the NPS act as though this law doesn’t apply to them, trampling the rights of ordinary Americans and undermining decades of legal precedent. This is about power. The federal government is gaming the system, inventing and then trying to jump through loopholes and using legal gymnastics to shield itself from accountability. If the Ninth Circuit allows them to get away with this, it won’t just harm Baker Ranches—it will jeopardize water rights across the West and effectively write the McCarran Amendment out of U.S. law.
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What’s at Stake?
The McCarran Amendment was designed to create a level playing field, treating federal agencies just like any private citizen. If regulators can “opt out” of their obligations, what’s to stop them from going after your water rights—or your land, your home, or your business?
This case isn’t just about ranchers in Nevada, it’s about the rule of law. It’s about ensuring that no government agency can place itself above the very laws that bind us all.
If Baker Ranches loses this fight, the implications are chilling. Senior water rights, many of which were established and recognized by courts more than a century ago, could be swept aside. Decades of legal certainty could evaporate, leaving ranchers, farmers, and communities across the West vulnerable to bureaucratic overreach.
This is a wake-up call for every American who values justice, accountability, and property rights. Water isn’t just a resource—it’s life. And if the government can steal water today, what will they come for tomorrow?
