LAS VEGAS -- A southern Nevada church camp is suing the federal government claiming the feds stole an entire stream they used for baptisms.
Even though the lawsuit focuses on one church camp near Pahrump, the questions posed by the lawsuit matter for all Nevadans living next to federal land. Who is responsible if the federal government does something on their land leading to a natural disaster on your land?
"Me and my wife, we were watching a cartoon. We saw the ranch on the cartoon. It was beautiful. It said Patch of Heaven. My wife said, you know, 'I would like to have a ranch with that name,'" said Victor Fuentes.
He fled Cuba, did prison time for drug charges, and then started Solid Rock Christian Ministries. In 2007, with the help of donors, he bought an old ranch in Amargosa Valley near Pahrump and called it Patch of Heaven.
"This is the place that we need for the church. This is the place we need for the people to come and refresh their soul and take a moment to de-connect from the life in Vegas."
Fuentes, a former Las Vegas construction worker, shows the improvements he built himself. From the church camp dorm rooms to the chapel, he views his land as a religious refuge. But it's also a nature refuge, completely surrounded by the federally-run Ash Meadows Refuge.
In 2010, U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials diverted the Fairbanks stream, which flowed through Fuentes ranch, by dumping tons of earth and rock to change the path of the stream.
Three weeks later, the federal dam was overrun in a storm. Floodwaters and mud covered the Patch of Heaven Ranch. Building damage was tallied at $86,000.
"We would like to dissuade agencies from running roughshod over people's property rights and individual rights and religious rights," said NPRI Legal Director Joseph Becker.
Self-described "free market" think tank Nevada Policy Research Institute took the Fuentes case. They filed a claim against U.S. Fish and Wildlife which is the first step for a federal lawsuit.
"This was a river that was used to for free exercise of religion in baptism. It's just patently unjust," Becker said. "They knew that the water would have to do this when they did what they did. I think this is an attempt to get private landowners out of this refuge."
But U.S. Fish and Wildlife says the ranches never belonged in that location. In a letter they wrote to the Nye County Commission, obtained by the I-Team, U.S. Fish and Wildlife points out that for around 100 years, local ranches damaged the natural habitat of endangered fish and plants, according to federal studies.
Fuentes claims the stream diversion was a surprise he had no say in. U.S. Fish and Wildlife counters that they told Fuentes of their habitat plan in 2007 and held multiple personal meetings with him over the following years.
The major legal question: Can a neighbor, even if it is the federal government, build something that not only takes away a person's water, but also could be responsible for a flood?
"I never thought that I was going to be presented with something like that here in the United States of America. That the government can come and take something from you because they think they can," Fuentes said.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife have Six months to respond to the damage claim for $86,000. The Nevada Policy Research Institute plans to press farther with their lawsuit, hoping to establish a legal precedent on property rights.
Ranch owner Victor Fuentes and NPRI Legal Director Joseph Becker.
Miniature donkeys live at the ranch.
