federal funding. Early research-informed conservation goals suggest a TDS level of 12,000 mg/L would support native fish life and allow migratory birds to flourish. To accomplish this goal, approximately of increased flows each year into Walker Lake are necessary. In 2009, legislation established the Walker Basin Restoration Program and gave the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation responsibility and authority for the program. The Walker Basin Restoration Program restores and maintains Walker Lake while protecting the agricultural, environmental, and recreational interests of the basin. The program works with willing sellers in the Walker Basin to acquire water rights, rehabilitate former farms and ranchland, and reduce water use in the basin. In 2012, NFWF filed its first application to protect water rights in-stream to Walker Lake. A seven-year legal battle ensued, and the first water was delivered to Walker Lake in 2019. As of 2022, the program had acquired more than per year of water rights, though only approximately 25% of that water has been protected in-stream due to protracted administrative and legal processes. The program has completed more than 20 transactions and donated land to the Mason Valley Wildlife Management Area and Nevada State Parks. In 2018, the Walker Basin Conservancy donated more than and of the East Walker River to the State of Nevada to create the Walker River State Recreation Area. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has been acquiring water rights to benefit the lake and has submitted applications to the Nevada State Engineer to transfer the water downstream to benefit the lake. In 2016, the Flying-M Ranch was acquired by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The purchase price was $19.4 million. Along with the Pitchfork and Rafter 7 Ranches, this property comprises the new State Park. Litigation Walker Lake is the traditional home of the Walker River Paiute Tribe. The Walker River Reservation was created in 1874 and specifically included acres to be farmed. In 1924, the United States in its trust capacity for the tribe filed suit claiming that the Tribe's reserved rights to the flows of the Walker River were being impaired by upstream diversions. The 1936 Walker River Decree adjudicated water rights in the Walker Basin in California and Nevada. The decreed rights exceed the natural flows of the Walker River in most years, and the Decree grants no rights to flows into Walker Lake. In 1994, Mineral County intervened in ongoing litigation