Walker River Paiute Tribe

Walker River Paiute Tribe, a federally recognized tribal government based in Schurz, Nevada, operates as a federal grant recipient (98% of awards as prime recipient) delivering community services, infrastructure, and administrative programs across the Walker River Indian Reservation spanning Mineral, Lyon, and Churchill Counties in western Nevada. The tribe does not hold federal contracts or compete on contract vehicles; its federal footprint consists almost entirely of grant awards from interior, health, environmental, and justice agencies.

The tribe's grant portfolio centers on four capability domains: community health and social services, water and environmental infrastructure, cultural preservation and education, and public safety and justice. Representative prime recipient work includes a $2.24 million Bureau of Reclamation project grant (awarded July 28, 2025) to construct and install a 410,000-gallon water storage tank and distribution piping system addressing domestic water supply reliability during drought; a $871,600 Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women project grant (October 1, 2024) supporting the tribe's Victim Services Program with transitional housing, victim advocacy, legal services, and counseling for survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, sex trafficking, and stalking; a $650,433 Bureau of Indian Affairs Tribal Energy Development Capacity grant (September 18, 2024) funding geothermal resource assessment across the reservation in collaboration with Blackrock Geoscience and the U.S. Geological Survey; and a $552,532 Federal Transit Administration Section 5339 Low or No Emissions grant (September 10, 2025) for four shuttle buses providing public transit to tribal health clinic, dialysis, social services, and youth after-school programs where no public transportation exists within a 39-mile radius.

Customer concentration is pronounced. The Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs and Indian Education leads by volume with 58 awards; the Environmental Protection Agency (both headquarters and Region 9 combined) accounts for 43 awards; the Department of Health and Human Services (through Administration for Community Living and Administration on Aging) holds 33 awards. These three federal entities represent 55% of all awards, though the dollar concentration is lower — the Department of Health and Human Services Indian Health Service appears in the top-value ranking with 8 awards but carries only $19 thousand in combined potential value, indicating the metric reflects formula grant mechanics rather than discretionary size. Nineteen awards (combined potential value $33 thousand) face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and will require recompete or renewal.

The tribe acts as subrecipient in five grant sub-awards. Three sub-awards from Nevada Clean Energy Fund (March 4, 2025) fund construction of a net-zero Nutritional Wellness Building with Community Resilience Hub features, water system improvements, and integrated water-energy-food infrastructure. One sub-award from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (September 30, 2024) supports habitat protection, beaver management planning, riparian tree and shrub mapping, planting of 40 acres of culturally important native species, and 4 miles of trail construction to prepare for Lahontan cutthroat trout reintroduction to Walker Lake. A fifth sub-award from the Department of Agriculture Nevada (September 30, 2021) covered emergency operational costs for the Child and Adult Care Food Program reimbursement administration.

The tribe holds multiple formula grants under the Older Americans Act Title VI (Parts A and C) and the Nutrition Services Incentive Program through the Administration on Aging; historic preservation fund formula grants through the National Park Service; water quality and nonpoint source implementation formula grants through EPA Region 9; and environmental capacity-building and brownfields response program grants also through EPA Region 9. Activity has averaged 8-9 awards per year over the past three years (2023-2025), a decline from 14 in 2022, reflecting both the completion of COVID-era infrastructure funding and the formula-grant maturity of the tribe's federal partnership portfolio.