Be A Watershed Hero!

 Between April and May, over 500 2^nd and 3^rd graders became Watershed Heroes across Humboldt, Lander, and Elko Counties!  Although field trip season looked a little different again this year in light of COVID-19, Nevada Outdoor School adapted our annual field trip to the Humboldt River to a school-based “field trip”.  On the school grounds, students were challenged to evaluate the role, function and importance of a healthy watershed to them personally and to their community.  Students left with a call to action, creating a Watershed Hero pledge, describing actions they will take to care for and respect the local watershed we all share here in rural northern Nevada, the Humboldt River Basin.  

 

A watershed is an area of land that drains water, sediment, and dissolved materials to a common water body, such as a river.  The size of watersheds varies, the largest watershed in the United States is the Mississippi River Watershed draining over 1 million acres.  A watershed contains both biotic (living) and abiotic (nonliving) components.  Humans influence and impact the structural and functional characteristics of watersheds.  These influences and impacts may be beneficial or disruptive to the watershed.  

The Humboldt River Basin Watershed is wholly located in northern Nevada.  The watershed spans from near Wells to the Humboldt Sink, not far from Lovelock.  While the distance between these two communities is about 250 miles, the meandering nature of the river causes it to measure about 330 miles.  The Humboldt River runs entirely within Nevada.  The flow of the Humboldt River is highly variable because it is entirely dependent on precipitation.  The source waters for the river derive from runoff from the Jarbidge, Independence, and Ruby Mountains in Elko County.  The Humboldt River is contained entirely within the Great Basin, meaning that the Great Basin retains the water and there is no outflow to another body of water such, as an ocean.

As we know from living in a desert, water is a precious commodity!  The quality (how good) and quantity (how much) of available water in the desert has health, recreational, and financial impacts on all who live here, human and non-human.  Because water cannot be created, water education is critical so that citizens learn to protect, conserve, and better manage water resources in our local region.   When we understand the interconnectedness of all living things, and our collective dependence of water, we become more united in the drive to keep water clean.  Though age-appropriate activities and games throughout our Watershed Heroes field trip, we motivate and empower students to choose to become proactive and caring citizens, if they choose. 

At Nevada Outdoor School, we love to get people outside, deepening their connection to and care for the natural world.  We work to influence positive outdoor behaviors by providing people of all ages the motivation, knowledge, and skills to practice responsible outdoor recreation.  We do this by teaching participants how to analyze a variety of possible actions, evaluate the potential impacts of those actions, and then to choose wisely to minimize the negative impacts of their actions when possible.

The 2^nd and 3^rd grade students who attended our Watershed Heroes field trip this spring deepened their connection to their local watershed and can now make choices that will respect and help protect that watershed. Even as kids, our actions matter!  By picking up trash, not allowing oil and soap to drain into the river, and being aware of erosion along streams, you too can be a Watershed Hero!  Go on Heroes, get outside and enjoy the Humboldt River Basin, just remember, your actions not only impact your local community, but everything down stream as well.

 

Listen to Your Mother, Nature That Is

In May, the tradition is to celebrate Mothers.  One thing all mothers have in common is that they want to be listened to and heard.  There is a lot of wisdom in what most moms have to say, and Mother Nature is no different.

Depending on which cultural context you are interested in, there is an origin story that relates to the creation and expansion of life.  Nature, derived from the Latin word natura, meaning birth or character was first used to describe the entirety of the phenomena of the world, and was further personified as Mother Nature.   Anywhere from a goddess and a mythical being, the concept of Mother Nature or Earth Mother has served to help humans have a “thing” on which to place considerations of the natural world.  In America, the term Mother Nature provides a parental figure-connection that affords some of us a comfort, as well as expectations, as to how to treat Earth, since she provides us sustainable life through plants, animals, water, and minerals.  It helps us see our role and connection into the larger natural family portrait.  Humans are not separate from nature; we are part of nature.

When we begin to see ourselves as part of nature, then it is easier for us to treat nature with care.  Using our human ears, we can sometimes hear far more than we will ever see.  Plus, to really listen, one must stop talking, and probably stop moving. The desire to listen to nature can be a great excuse and way to slow down, rest, and reflect.  

The human ear allows us to enjoy the sounds of nature.  Our ears are designed to capture auditory stimuli (sound waves) from the atmosphere and transfer that information into the brain for processing, which results in us hearing something.  We actually intake far more sound waves than we hear, because our brain does a great job at filtering out the noise. 

A fun activity to do is to sit and listen.  Whether you are in your office in town or out on the trail, take a few moments to simply stop moving and listen.  If you are inside, open the window, if you can.  Start to register all the sounds you are hearing.  Closing your eyes will also help you focus on your hearing.  Slow your breathing, and simply listen.  Do this for a few moments.  Then, open your eyes, move a bit, and do it again.  See if you hear more the second time.  In the 21^st century, within our busy lifestyles and noise-filled world we tend to ‘tune out’ so much of what is happening around us.  But when we start to listen and train our brain, Mother Nature is consistently speaking through her creations.  The wind through trees, songs of birds, and the chirps of crickets, throughout the day and night, Mother Nature is speaking.   

Humans and everything we create is part of nature, so wherever you are, you are in nature.   This perspective helps us connect with Mother Nature and has the potential to improve how we treat the natural environment within and beyond city limits.   Get outside, or simply open your window and listen, Mother Nature has something important to say to you.

Springing to Life

Now that we are knee deep in spring, it is time for us to trade in our winter coats for our raincoats and our snow boots for our rain boots! We may live in The Great Basin Desert; one of the hottest driest regions in the country, but that does not mean we experience a permanent dry spell. In fact, as we transition from spring to summer, we will begin to experience some of our wettest months!

Typically, during this time of year, the Ruby Mountains will receive the remnants of storms rolling in from the Pacific Coast. Between these storms and  warmer air temperatures,  snowfall will transition into rainfall.  Snow in the Ruby Mountains will begin to melt and provide fresh run-off to empty streambeds or shallow depressions on the valley floor. These low-lying areas are labelled as intermittent or ephemeral streams.

Unlike Ruby Lake or the Humboldt River, intermittent and ephemeral streams are not perennial, meaning they do not retain water or streamflow throughout the year. For further clarification, intermittent streams are seasonally flooded; they only flow during the spring in response to snowmelt and then dry up by the end of the summer. Ephemeral streams only flow in response to precipitation. According to the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, about 90% of our state’s streams are intermittent or ephemeral. Both are vital in our desert ecosystem as they provide nutrients and habitat for desert dwelling species.

Intermittent streams flowing from the south-facing slopes of the Ruby Mountains provide ideal breeding habitat for frogs, insects, and other macro invertebrates that are preyed on by fish. Every year frogs will migrate to these streams.  Seasonally-flooded shallow depressions are known as vernal pools, and they serve as mating grounds for many frog species. Their jelly-like egg sacs can be observed along the banks or edges attached to rocks, twigs, or debris.

Ephemeral streams are important sources of nutrients needed for growth in desert plants. During  the dry season, ephemeral streams accumulate layers of nutrient rich soil.  When it rains, these nutrients are carried downstream where they are deposited along the riverbank, replenishing nutrients for the riparian vegetation. One location you can locally observe ephemeral streams is in Elko’s Peace Park.

Rain or shine,  get outside and look for evidence of streamflow! While empty streambeds may not look like much during most of the year, now you know how important they are  for desert-dwelling species. Water is what allows the desert to spring to life!  

Let the Water Flow

 During this time of year, it is beautiful to look from the valley up and out to the mountains and see them covered in white.  As desert dwellers, we find comfort knowing that the snow in the mountains is the source of our water.  The snow that melts off each spring provides essential runoff to streams and reservoirs, while snow in the valley melts and recharges ground-water aquifers.  Did you know that the snowpack is carefully monitored and used for water predictions by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)?  The NRCS provides snowpack data and streamflow forecasts to help with water supply management, flood control, recreation, climate modeling, and conservation planning.  

 

River forecasting methods use ‘snow water equivalent’, temperature, and sunshine information to estimate how snow melt will flow into rivers.  Snow water equivalent is the depth of water that would cover the ground if the snow cover was in a liquid state.   It is also sometimes referred to as the water content.  The water content of snow can vary greatly.  Heavy, wet snow has a very high water content.  Four to five 5 inches of wet snow may contain about one inch of water.  Dry, powdery snow has a low water content, and it may take upwards of 20 inches of dry snow to equal one inch of water. 

The snowpack that accumulates each year in the mountains is a significant and vital part of the hydrologic (water) cycle.  How much water does snow contribute? It is hard to say exactly, because there are many variables to consider, but the general rule is that 1 inch of snow, on 1 acre of ground (660 feet by 66 feet), about a football field minus the end zones, is equivalent to 2,715 gallons of water.  To help put this into perspective, if The Ruby Mountain Wilderness is about 90,000 acres, with only one inch of snow covering the surface, there would be about 2.4 million gallons of water when melted!  The water cycle consists of precipitation, evaporation, condensation, and collection.  Therefore, not all of the snowpack melts into flowing water.  Some is lost to evaporation. 

Snowpack impacts humans, animals, and plants.  Plant growth is slowed during years of drought, due to the impact on soil moisture.  To overcome this consistent environmental hardship, typically, plants native to Nevada have long, deep tap roots and shallow lateral roots so that growth cycles can be completed, regardless of the annual snowpack.  Animals also have adaptations to overcome low snowpack years.  From hunting and foraging at night to avoid the desiccation (drying) due to the sunrays, to obtaining enough water from food, desert animals are naturally prepared to survive. 

According to the NRCS, the storms of February built up the snowpack in eastern Nevada quite nice and the snowpack ranges between 80 and 106%.    Get outside and enjoy the warming temperatures, while appreciating the water held in your local snowpack, it is good for human everywhere.