A church camp in southern Nevada is making a claim for $86,000 against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for damage stemming from the government's damming and rerouting streams that previously flowed through the 40-acre camp site. A report yesterday from 8 News Now and a press release from the Nevada Policy Research Institute give the background on the claim, apparently filed administratively in anticipation of an eventual federal lawsuit.
Victor Fuentes, a Cuban refugee, started Solid Rock Christian Ministries and in 2007 bought an old ranch in Nevada's Armagosa Valley which he turned into a camp named Patch of Heaven. The church called the camp an "oasis for anyone seeking God" and used one of the two streams flowing through the camp for baptisms. However the camp site is completely surrounded by the federal Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. In 2010, the federal government began rerouting streams in the Refuge. This had the effect of cutting off the streams in the camp that were used for both recreational and baptismal purposes. In December 2010, a few weeks after the rerouting was completed, a storm raised waters over the banks of the rerouted streams and caused severe mud and water damage to the camp buildings. While the claim appears to be for this damage, the camp's lawyers are emphasizing the loss of use of the stream for baptismal purposes, saying: "This was a river that was used to for free exercise of religion in baptism."
