watershed

Each year, the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection works in partnership with other public agencies, educational institutions and nonprofit organizations to provide students with a unique opportunity to learn about local water quality issues, water quality protection, and to participate in watershed research.

These field studies provide a unique hands-on opportunity to learn about the Carson River watershed and the natural environment.

Due to the ongoing drought, limited water in the Carson River impacts fish and wildlife habitats, especially by the end of summer. To enhance flows along the West Fork of the Carson River, the Carson Water Subconservancy District is utilizing their storage water rights to supplement water in the watershed.

17th Annual Tahoe Forest Stewardship Day
Sep 27, 2014, 9am - 2pm
Tahoe Paradise Park
Meyers, CA
Tahoe Forest Stewardship Day is the largest volunteer restoration event in the Tahoe basin. Volunteers of all ages and skill levels are invited to restore trails, stabilize stream banks and plant native plants. Last year 82 volunteers from various organizations participated to help restore Tahoe Paradise Park in Meyers, CA.

Visitors to the Lake Tahoe Summit on Tuesday, August 19 will notice new gateway signs along three Nevada highways leading into the Lake Tahoe Watershed. Installed near Daggett Summit on Nevada State Route 207, Spooner Summit on U.S. Highway 50 and on Nevada State Route 431 the Mount Rose Highway, the decorative gateway signs read, “Entering the Lake Tahoe Watershed — Help Protect It!”

New high definition fire cameras are scanning the mountains and shoreline, while University of Nevada, Reno researchers are discovering new animal species at the bottom of Lake Tahoe and working with colleagues at the Desert Research Institute to document the dramatic decline of other bottom dwelling species and nearshore water quality.

The League to Save Lake Tahoe hosted a Stewards of Stormwater event Thursday, Aug. 7 in Incline Village in partnership with Tahoe Family Solutions’ Camp Explore program, IVGID, the Nevada Tahoe Conservation District, and Washoe County, Nevada.

More than 50 kids from Tahoe Family Solutions along with other volunteers helped place 41 metal markers on storm drains that lead to Lake Tahoe and picked up 40 pounds of litter on the streets.

There will be free parking and beach access Saturday to Sand Harbor, Cave Rock and Spooner Lake state parks for those who support Lake Tahoe with the purchase of license plates.

“Buying a Tahoe license plate is one of the easiest ways to help the Lake,” said Tahoe Fund CEO Amy Berry. “Thanks to Nevada State Parks, we are able to show our appreciation to Tahoe plate holders with a free day at the beach or park.”

The Tahoe Fund has partnered with Nevada State Parks to offer free access July 12 to Sand Harbor, Cave Rock and Spooner Lake to current owners of Lake Tahoe license plates. The event is designed as a gesture of appreciation to those who support Lake Tahoe with the purchase of license plates.

“We are thankful to the thousands of people who choose to buy and renew their Tahoe license plates,” said Jay Howard of Nevada State Parks. “Our Lake Tahoe parks benefit greatly from those funds, with beach improvements, watershed restoration work, and new hiking trails.”

What started as a way to get more staff members of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency to participate in the Tahoe Bike Challenge has become a hallmark event for planners at the bi-state agency, according to TRPA.
This is the fourth year that the agency has made an environmental improvement by essentially closing its parking lot to motorized staff vehicles for one car-free day today.

Fire restrictions will begin Friday on public land throughout western Nevada, eastern California and the Sierra, according to the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.

Below-average precipitation this winter and spring and a third consecutive year of drought have led to abnormally low soil-and-fuel moistures, increasing the potential for large and potentially devastating wildfires, the agencies announced.

The Clear Creek watershed that runs through Carson City and Douglas County and Franktown watershed at Washoe Lake are two of 10 areas within the Nevada's national forests to be picked as priority projects designed to combat damage from insects and disease that weakens forests and increases the risk of wildfire, U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell said Wednesday.

Responding to a provision in the new Farm Bill, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval had asked Tidwell to designate the watersheds and eight other areas for forest health projects.

The 14th Annual Water Quality Snapshot Day will be held Saturday, May 17, from 9 am to 12 pm throughout South Lake Tahoe. The event is a citizen-based environmental effort designed to take a “snapshot,” at one moment in time, of the water quality throughout the Lake Tahoe and Truckee River watershed. Water quality monitoring will take place from the tributaries flowing into the Lake.

The Carson Water Subconservancy District is offering a two-day bus tour of the Carson River Watershed from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on June 11-12, 2014. The Carson River Watershed “Get on the Bus Tour” will cover a variety of watershed topics and locations from the headwaters in Alpine County, CA to the terminus at the Carson Sink near Fallon.

Have you heard about the water and natural resource based programs and projects happening in the Carson River Watershed? Please join the Carson River Coalition and the Carson Water Subconservancy District for the 2014 Carson River Watershed Forum on Thursday, April 3, 2014 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The forum will feature speakers from several disciplines presenting projects, programs, studies, and educational outreach activities that occurred throughout the Carson River Watershed in 2013.

Have you heard about the water and natural resource based programs and projects happening in the Carson River Watershed? Please join the Carson River Coalition and the Carson Water Subconservancy District for the 2014 Carson River Watershed Forum on Thursday, April 3, 2014 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The forum will feature speakers from several disciplines presenting projects, programs, studies, and educational outreach activities that occurred throughout the Carson River Watershed in 2013.

Clarity levels within the iconic blue waters of Lake Tahoe continued a decadelong trend of stabilization in 2013, according to University of California, Davis, scientists who study the lake.

Data released today by the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency reported the average annual clarity level for 2013 at 70.1 feet. While the reading represents a 5 foot decrease over the previous year, it is still well above the lowest value recorded in 1997 of 64.1 feet and above recent years' averages.

The Tahoe Fund is actively seeking environmental improvement projects in the Lake Tahoe Basin that will restore lake clarity, improve outdoor recreation, and build a stronger sense of stewardship in the region. The organization plans to build a portfolio of projects in need of monetary support that can attract donations from the private community of individuals, businesses and foundations. The board of directors will choose a handful of projects to be 2014 Signature Projects and the focus of the Fund's summer fundraising activities.

Beginning Thursday current Lake Tahoe license plate holders are eligible to win free lift tickets through the Tahoe Fund’s “Plate Spotter” program.

Owners of Tahoe plates who post photos of their plates to the Tahoe Fund Facebook page are entered to win two free lift tickets from one of eleven participating resorts. Winners will be drawn randomly bi-monthly through March.

This owner of this plate is this week's Plate Spotter winner and will receive two tickets to Heavenly Ski Resort.

Eight individuals who display strong personal commitment to protecting and restoring Lake Tahoe were recognized Wednesday by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency during the third annual Lake Spirit Awards ceremony at the Agency’s Governing Board meeting in Stateline.

Genevieve Masters has begun her new position as deputy supervisor for the 6.3 million-acre Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, officials announced Wednesday.

Masters arrived from the Apache-Sitgreaves’ National Forest in Arizona, where she served as the ecosystem staff officer since 2009.

“I look forward to getting to know the employees and contributing to a positive and transparent work environment,” said Masters. “I also look forward to working together with employees, communities, and stakeholders to manage the natural resources of the Humboldt-Toiyabe.”

Students from Logos Christian Academy in Fallon gathered recently at the edge of the Carson River with water quality professionals for the 8th annual Snapshot Day at Ft. Churchill State Park.

Volunteers from the Bureau of Land Management, the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection and the River Wranglers came out to the river on October 18 to give students, grades 5 through 8, a chance to gain hands on experience with the science of river ecosystems.

The reauthorization of the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act was introduced Thursday in the U.S. House of Representatives, following the Senate’s introduction of the bill in August.

The legislation, sponsored by Nevada Congressman Mark Amodei, co-sponsored by California Representative John Garamendi, and Nevada Representatives Joe Heck, Dina Titus, and Steven Horsford, would continue another 10 years of federal government investment in the Tahoe Environmental Improvement Program.

Former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore said in his speech to scientists, elected officials, environmentalists, business leaders, fire department officials, students and others in the audience of the 2013 Lake Tahoe Summit, that what we’ve learned at Tahoe can help inform the rest of the world to protect their resources and communities.

From Tahoe’s mountaintops to the lake’s sandy bottom, scientists from the University of Nevada, Reno continue to study and find solutions to the breadth of issues that face the entire Lake Tahoe Basin. Their research is making a tangible contribution to the decisions, policies and practices that guide the basin’s environmental health.

Tinder-dry vegetation, lingering drought conditions, increasing daytime temperatures and several human-caused fires have prompted the Bureau of Land Management Carson City District Office, the Carson and Bridgeport Ranger Districts of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Nevada Division of Forestry’s to announce the implementation of fire restrictions today, Friday, June 28.

Low water levels caused by persistent drought conditions and irrigation demands at Wildhorse Reservoir north of Elko have prompted the Nevada Department of Wildlife to remove the limit on trout, allowing anglers unlimited take.

This emergency regulation is now in effect and will run through Oct. 15, 2013.

NDOW is concerned that with anticipated low reservoir water levels during the hot summer months the oxygen levels in the water could become low enough to cause a large number of the trout to die.

Boaters planning to launch at Lake Tahoe over Memorial Day Weekend are reminded to arrive at one of five watercraft inspection stations clean, drained and dry in order to get through the inspection process and out on the water more quickly.

All boats entering Lake Tahoe without a Lake Tahoe wire inspection seal are required to go through a mandatory inspection and purchase an inspection sticker as part of the public, private, multi-agency effort to protect Lake Tahoe from aquatic invasive species (AIS). Inspection stations are located at:

Register is underway to attend the Carson River Watershed Bus Tour. The Carson Water Subconservancy District will host its annual 2-day bus tour of the Carson River Watershed on June 13 and 14, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day.

Come join this highly educational and informative event. Continuing Education credits will are available for AICP planners, teachers and engineers.

Earth and science will be in the spotlight at Western Nevada College next week with two free lectures in Carson City that will feature discussions on global warming and the geologic history of Lake Tahoe. The events highlight a series of activities during Earth Week, April 22-27.

A discussion on global warming and ways that plants, wildlife and humans living in the Sierra Nevada and Great Basin will adapt to climate change will be the focus of a free April 23 forum at Western Nevada College in Carson City.