The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets to the ocean, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California. It is noted for both its arid climate and the basin and range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin in Death Valley to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than 100 miles (160 km) away at the summit of Mount Whitney. The region spans several physiographic divisions, biomes, ecoregions, and deserts.
Pyramid Lake is the geographic sink of the basin of the Truckee River, 40 mi (64 km) northeast of Reno, Nevada, United States.
The Northern Paiute people are a Numic people that has traditionally lived in the Great Basin region of the United States in what is now eastern California, western Nevada, and southeast Oregon. The Northern Paiute pre-contact lifestyle was well adapted to the harsh desert environment in which they lived. Each tribe or band occupied a specific territory, generally centered on a lake or wetland that supplied fish and waterfowl. Communal hunt drives, which often involved neighboring bands, would take rabbits and pronghorn from surrounding areas. Individuals and families appear to have moved freely among the bands.
Lake Lahontan was a large endorheic prehistoric lake during the Pleistocene that occupied modern northwestern Nevada and extended into northeastern California and southern Oregon. The area of the former lake is a large portion of the Great Basin that borders the Sacramento River watershed to the west.
The Truckee–Carson Irrigation District (TCID) is a public enterprise organized in the State of Nevada, which operates dams at Lake Tahoe, diversion dams on the Truckee River in Washoe County, and the Lake Lahontan reservoir.
Derby Dam is a diversion dam built from 1903 to 1905 on the Truckee River, located about 20 miles (32 km) east of Reno in Storey and Washoe counties in Nevada, United States. It diverts water into the Truckee Canal that would otherwise enter Pyramid Lake. The canal feeds Lake Lahontan reservoir in the Carson River watershed, where it is used for irrigation.
The Truckee River is a river in the U.S. states of California and Nevada. The river flows northeasterly and is 121 miles (195 km) long. The Truckee is the sole outlet of Lake Tahoe and drains part of the high Sierra Nevada, emptying into Pyramid Lake in the Great Basin. Its waters are an important source of irrigation along its valley and adjacent valleys.
The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Reservation is a United States reservation in northwestern Nevada, approximately 35 miles (56 km) northeast of Reno, in Washoe, Storey, and Lyon counties.
The Walker River Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation located in central Nevada in the United States. It belongs to the Walker River Paiute Tribe, a federally recognized tribe of Northern Paiute people.
The June sucker is an endangered species of fish endemic to Utah Lake and the Provo River in the U.S. state of Utah. It is named after the month in which it spawns. It is a gray or brownish fish with a paler belly, growing up to about 24 in (61 cm). It lives alongside the Utah sucker, which has a much wider range. Due to the populations of both fish becoming greatly reduced in the lake as a result of fishing, other species such as the common carp have been introduced into the lake. As a result, the June sucker has become "critically endangered" as the pure species is lost as a result of hybridization with the Utah sucker, and predatory fish feed on its larvae. Conservation measures have been put in place and fish are being raised in a fish hatchery for reintroduction.
The Little Truckee River is a 34.3-mile-long (55.2 km) river that is a tributary to its larger counterpart, the Truckee River, north of Lake Tahoe. It drains the eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada, flowing through Sierra County and Nevada County in eastern California.
The Reno-Sparks Indian Colony in Nevada was established in the early 1900s by members of related tribes who lived near Reno for work; they became a federally recognized tribe in 1934 after forming a government under the Indian Reorganization Act.
The Anaho Island National Wildlife Refuge is a wildlife refuge on Anaho Island in Pyramid Lake, Nevada. The refuge was established by President Woodrow Wilson in 1913 as a sanctuary for colonial nesting birds. It is home to one of the two largest colonies of pelicans—American white pelicans—in the western U.S. Other birds found on the island include California gulls, Caspian terns, double-crested cormorants, great blue herons, black-crowned night herons, and snowy egrets.
Lahontan cutthroat trout is the largest subspecies of cutthroat trout and the state fish of Nevada. It is one of three subspecies of cutthroat trout that are listed as federally threatened.
The Tui chub is a cyprinid fish native to western North America. Widespread in many areas, it is a highly adaptable fish that has historically been a staple food source for native peoples.
The DSSAM Model is a computer simulation developed for the Truckee River to analyze water quality impacts from land use and wastewater management decisions in the Truckee River Basin. This area includes the cities of Reno and Sparks, Nevada as well as the Lake Tahoe Basin. The model is historically and alternatively called the Earth Metrics Truckee River Model. Since original development in 1984-1986 under contract to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the model has been refined and successive versions have been dubbed DSSAM II and DSSAM III. This hydrology transport model is based upon a pollutant loading metric called Total maximum daily load (TMDL). The success of this flagship model contributed to the Agency's broadened commitment to the use of the underlying TMDL protocol in its national policy for management of most river systems in the United States.
An hydrological transport model is a mathematical model used to simulate the flow of rivers, streams, groundwater movement or drainage front displacement, and calculate water quality parameters. These models generally came into use in the 1960s and 1970s when demand for numerical forecasting of water quality and drainage was driven by environmental legislation, and at a similar time widespread access to significant computer power became available. Much of the original model development took place in the United States and United Kingdom, but today these models are refined and used worldwide.
The Summit Lake Paiute Tribe of Nevada is a federally recognized tribe of Northern Paiute Indians in northwest Nevada. Their autonym in their language is Agai Panina Ticutta, meaning "Fish Lake Eaters." They are traditionally known as the "Fish Eaters."
Trout Creek is a small tributary of the Truckee River draining about 5.1 square miles (13 km2) along the eastern crest of the Sierra Nevada. It originates east of Donner Ridge and north of Donner Lake in the Tahoe–Donner Golf Course and flows through the town of Truckee, California, to its confluence with the Truckee River in Nevada County, California, just west of Highway 267.
Lake Tahoe Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Truckee River, at the outlet of Lake Tahoe in Placer County, California.
