Weber Reservoir, an impoundment of the Walker River, is located upstream of Schurz and provides irrigation water for farms on the reservation.

As part of that, they have been seeking more equitable access to polling places and treatment by county and state officials.

Led by chairman Vinton Hawley of the Pyramid Lake Paiute, the Walker River Paiute joined in a successful civil rights suit in federal court against the state government to gain polling places on their homelands in 2016.

On behalf of the council, Hawley has "urged Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske to direct counties to open [homeland] polling places for nine more tribes, including some where ballot boxes are 200-plus miles away, round trip.

"[2] He also urged the Secretary of State for Nevada to improve conditions at local county polling places for urban Indians, who testified in the suit to being made uncomfortable at most offices.