The Changing Political Fortunes of the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District

Abstract

in California and end in Nevada. The Truckee River originates at Lake Tahoe and is fed below the lake by Prosser Creek, Martis Creek, Independence Creek, and the Little Truckee River. After crossing the border into Nevada, the Truckee flows east through Reno and Sparks, then turns north and ends at Pyramid Lake, natural sink or basin, from which water can only leave by evaporation. The headwaters of the Carson River originate in east and west forks in Alpine County, California. As it flows eastward the Carson River is impounded by the Lahontan Reservoir, part of the Newlands Project. After it is used for irrigation purposes on the Newlands Project, the water terminates in the Carson's sink, a wetland which fluctuates in size depending on the extent of the winter's snow pack in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.1 This article examines the changing political fortunes of the Newlands Project irrigators and their governing entity, the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District (TCID). The TCID is controlled by an elected board of directors cho-