Stillwater Dump Truck filling up with rock to transport to breach site. Credit: Bob Henderson/USFWS

Loading a belly dump at Stillwater Refuge gravel pit for delivery to breach site. Credit: Janet Schmidt/USFWS

Loading rock from Stillwater gravel pit to deliver to breach site. Credit: Janet Schmidt/USFWS

Work at the V Line Canal breach site. Credit: Janet Schmidt/USFWS

Janet Schmidt, Stillwater NWR
Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge maintenance professionals were one of many entities who provided assistance to the Truckee Carson Irrigation District to repair a breach in a major water delivery canal after the V-Line Canal breached at a structure about eight miles west of Fallon, Nev., at about 10:20 p.m. June 11th. 

A group of local farmers pulled together and formed a tractor brigade and began hauling dirt to the breach from a nearby field on June 15th.  The next day, other partners stepped forward to join the effort to save the Lahontan Valley’s young agricultural crops.  In four days of round-the-clock work by the farmers, Truckee-Carson Irrigation District, the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), Churchill County Road Department, Stillwater Refuge and others, the breach was repaired.  The BOR gave permission to release water down the V-Line Canal on June 20th, and water began to flow again from Lahontan Dam. 

Refuge Maintenance personnel, Bob Henderson, Neil Mansfield, Dave Wills and Keith Schmidt contributed a combined total of 78 man-hours to the project, and filled more than 72 ‘belly-dumps’ with over 1000 yards of rock and riprap from the Refuge gravel pit.  The refuge dump truck, dozer, belly-dump, and loader all saw action during this effort. 

According to Truckee-Carson Irrigation District Project Manager Dave Overvold "this was truly a community effort, everybody just came together."