1. A subsisting right to water livestock may be proven by an owner of livestock by one or more of the following items of evidence for the number of livestock and date of priority:

(a) As to water rights on open range, whether public lands or unfenced private lands or a combination of these:

(1) A statement of priority of use submitted to the Taylor Grazing Service, predecessor to the Bureau of Land Management, to show the numbers of livestock grazed upon the open range, for years from 1928 to 1934, inclusive, if accompanied by evidence of changes or absence of change since the date of the statement;

(2) A license issued by the Taylor Grazing Service for use upon the open range; or

(3) A statement of priority of use, or a license, issued by the United States Forest Service for the grazing of livestock before 1950.

(b) As to water rights on other privately owned land:

(1) An affidavit concerning the number and kind of livestock by a person familiar with the use made of the lands;

(2) A record of livestock assessed to the claimant of the right, or the claimant’s predecessor, by a county assessor;

(3) A count of livestock belonging to the claimant or the claimant’s predecessor made by a lender; or

(4) An affidavit of a disinterested person.

2. The location of a subsisting right to water livestock and its extent along a stream may be shown by marking upon a topographic map whose scale is not less than 1:24,000 or a map prepared by the United States Geological Survey covering a quadrangle of 7 1/2 minutes of latitude and longitude and by further identifying the location or extent by one-sixteenth sections within a numbered section, township and range as certified by a registered state water right surveyor.

(Added to NRS by 1993, 1944; A 2017, 3504)