LVEA Newsletter: Fall 2005 Second Page

LVEA Welcomes a New Board Member

Welcome to the second LVEA Newsletter for Fall 2005 where Lahontan Valley Environmental Alliance welcomes a new board member!

Paul Ortiz was recently appointed to the Lahontan Valley Environmental Alliance Board of Directors as a representative of Churchill County.

Mr. Ortiz has worked for the last 38 years in Silicon Valley, California in the fields of Inventory/Supply Chain Management.

His positions have varied from Individual Contributor, Department Manager to Director for major semiconductor and semiconductor equipment companies like Advanced Micro Devices, National Semiconductor and KLA-Tencor.

During 2002, in preparation for retirement, he and his wife, Sue, began the search to find a new home outside of California because California’s costs were too high. Mr. Ortiz explained that, “We still had to stay within driving distance of the Bay Area to be able to maintain contact with our two sons and our grandchildren.” After many trips covering Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada, Paul and his wife discovered Fallon.

Mr. Ortiz said, “In Fallon, we found the things we needed and wanted – a hospital, Wal-Mart, Sears and Sonic! We spent almost one year traveling back and forth meeting people and touring the area. The more we learned about Fallon, the more we were sure that we had found our new home!”

Paul Ortiz has become very active in the community and lends his knowledge and ideas to LVEA activities such as the Agriculture Preservation Working Group. He is a great asset to the Lahontan Valley Environmental Board of Directors.

Uzbikastan and Tijsestan Representative Visit Lahontan Valley

Visitors from Uzbekistan and Tijsestan, former U.S.S.R. countries located north of Pakistan, recently toured Lahontan Valley in search of knowledge that would help in the development of their agricultural economy.

Jamie Mills, Newlands Water Protective Association, organized the tour and was joined in hosting the visitors by Lahontan Valley Environmental Alliance Board member Paul Ortiz as well as representatives from Truckee-Carson Irrigation District, the City of Fernley, the City of Fallon, Churchill County, Lahontan Valley Land and Water Alliance, Churchill Economic Development Authority, and University of Nevada Cooperative Extension.

The tour began at Lahontan Dam and continued to locations where water-measuring devises were discussed. The group then stopped at the Agriculture Service Center to view the ditch-lining project.

Lunch was served at Lattin Farms where value added agriculture and agricultural tourism was discussed. The function of the irrigation district and Fernley’s purple pipe system was discussed at the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District Office, the last stop of the tour.

Following a visit to Wal-Mart by the representatives of the two countries, Norman and Sue Frey hosted a dinner for the visitors at their Rambling River Ranch.

The Uzbekistan and Tijsestan representatives were very interested in how the amount of water each farmer receives is determined in Lahontan Valley. In their country the amount of water each farmer receives is dependant upon the type of crop he is growing and the water needs for that particular crop. The farmers do not own water rights in Uzbekistan and Tijsestan. These countries grow a great amount of cotton. They are just beginning to develop tourism which they feel will benefit their economy.