By Mike Donahue
Moapa Valley Progress
The Moapa Paiute Farm is just weeks away from completing a massive project converting its water system from flood irrigation to sprinkler pipe.
When the job is finished, the farm will be able to use the Moapa Paiute Tribe’s Muddy Valley Irrigation Company water shares to sprinkler irrigate fields that have stood fallow for years, according to Anthony Frank, farm director and chairman of the tribe’s Farm Board.
The transformation has involved digging out and breaking up a concrete ditch first installed decades ago. Paiute Farm workers then installed underground 18- and 15-inch irrigation pipe, a huge water pump to keep the line charged and thousands of feet of irrigation pipe that will move automatically over the fields on wheels.
“The system will water approximately 175 acres the Farm Board hopes to have planted by the end of August or the first part of September,” Frank said.
The project is being funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant awarded through the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The farm faced stiff competition for the grant but its project apparently fell well within the federal parameters and requirements.
“All these fields were lush and green when I was a boy,” Frank said. “Then, because of one thing or another, they fell into disuse and became overgrown. We hope to return these fields to where they were years ago.”
Frank applauded the Moapa Paiute Farm Board for its long-term foresight and desire to return the fields to a productive use. Besides Frank, Farm Board members include Greg Anderson, vice chairman; Preston Tom; Dalton Tom; Kami Sue Miller; Tyler Samson; Darryl Ohte, and Ural Begay.
“We want to be more proactive in getting the fields back into production,” Frank said. “Although any crop is potentially possible, we plan on starting with alfalfa, barley and oats to see how we do.”
