Nye County Water District contractor outlines grants, tamarisk-removal plan in Pahrump

Beck Environmental representatives presented an overview of the master service agreement and active work orders with the Nye County Water District, outlining recent grant awards, an invasive-tamarisk removal project and next steps.

The presentation said the District received a Bureau of Reclamation planning/design award of $328,140 with a $164,070 required match for a rapid infiltration basin feasibility and design effort. Another project described as Basin 162 work (a Bureau of Reclamation WaterSMART award) was described in the backup as being awarded $300,000 with a $75,000 match. Beck staff said those awards are for planning and technical work only and that construction or earth-moving would require separate approvals and additional funding.

Beck Environmental project manager Kayla Armbruster summarized work orders that include technical support for grant applications, review of relevant research, coordination among county departments and interagency relationship-building. Evendy Severt described a tamarisk-removal grant (Tamarisk Action for Reliable Groundwater and Ecological Transformation) that narrows removal work to a single site to simplify NEPA review. Severt said Pahrump locations between Artesia and Berson Ranch were identified; the mapped area in the presentation covered about 700 acres with roughly 100 acres of dense tamarisk in the green outline and the pink outline marking tamarisk stands targeted for phase 1 removal.

Severt said selection criteria included stand concentration, permitting restrictions and land ownership; she said one proposed site in Beatty was excluded because of permitting difficulties working in a waterway and low infestation density. She also reported coordination with the Eastern Nevada Landscape Coalition on removal methods and with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Master Gardeners on revegetation plans. She said the project would include post-removal water-level and water-quality monitoring as part of grant requirements.

Board members asked whether the 700-acre polygon included public land. Severt said one parcel of roughly 10 acres is owned by Nye County and the remainder is private; she confirmed Beck has contacted some property owners but said widespread owner outreach and formal agreements would be part of the grant implementation. The board asked if any awarded grants had been paused under the new federal administration; Eileen Christensen (spelled C-H-R-I-S-T-E-N-S-E-N in the record) said there had been brief pauses but programs showing progress were being reopened and evaluated case-by-case. Christensen also confirmed the $328,140 award requires a 50% match, which Beck said will be partly covered by county in-kind contributions documented in letters of support.

District staff clarified the planning award would fund engineering and design work—not construction—and that if the board ratifies the final grant budget the District would be bound to the stated match amount. Beck staff and District management said remaining work order funds are limited but the firm has additional resources to help if the District needs more technical capacity.

Board members and staff emphasized that revegetation, threatened-and-endangered species considerations (the southwestern willow flycatcher was specifically mentioned), permitting and site-selection constraints were central to grant compliance. Severt said the project schedule aims to conclude the current tamarisk work in the next month and that phase 1 site selection would be refined before vegetative work began.

The presentation closed with staff offering to return with further details as specific sites and budgets are finalized.