The dam is operated by the Washoe County Water Conservation District and was completed in 1939.

[3] After Congressional authorization of the Washoe Project in 1958, the BOR completed the Stampede Dam in 1970.

[3] As a result of litigation in 1982 (Carson-Truckee Water Conservancy District v. Watt), a Federal court upheld a determination that the obligations of the Secretary of the Interior (then James G. Watt) under the Endangered Species Act took precedence over his authority to contract for delivery of water for irrigation and municipal (M&I) uses.

The judgement required all storage in Stampede Reservoir to be used to provide water for the threatened and endangered Pyramid Lake cui-ui (Chasmistes cujus) and Lahontan cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii henshawii) fishes.

Historically, Lahontan cutthroat trout spawned in this Truckee River tributary, but due to passage barriers and non-native introductions which prey on and/or hybridize with native trout, Lahontan cutthroat are no longer found in the river.