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Field Trip: Lake Tahoe to Pyramid Lake

This unique, daylong field trip will give you the opportunity to view Lake Tahoe, a clear, freshwater lake in the northern Sierra Nevada with an elevation of 6,225 feet (1,897 m) and an area of 191 square miles (489 km²), and follow its only outlet, the Truckee River, as it travels through metropolitan areas and ends at Pyramid Lake, a local desert terminus lake with a freshwater fishery, one of only three in North America. Pyramid Lake is located on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Reservation.
 
University of Nevada, Reno and DRI researchers, local conservation representatives, and tribal leaders will meet with field trip participants to describe the many challenges associated with the conservation, restoration and management of the waters associated with the Tahoe-to-Pyramid corridor.

The first stop on the tour will be at the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences, a LEED platinum-rated teaching and research facility at Lake Tahoe, followed by a stop at Kings Beach to view the lake and recap the major issues in the Tahoe Basin. The trip will continue eastward along the Truckee River to McCarran Ranch, where The Nature Conservancy is actively restoring a portion of the heavily managed Lower Truckee River. Following a brief stop at Derby Dam, one of the oldest dams in the West, the tour will end with a visit to Pyramid Lake, where stops will be made at the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe’s Fisheries Department water quality laboratory, hatchery and museum. 

Seating is limited and first-come, first-served, so please sign up early if you want to attend this interesting field trip. Cost $35.

Map of Area

Lahontan Basin Area Office Map of Truckee and Carson River Basins:
Bureau of Reclamation

Source: http://www.usbr.gov/mp/lbao/map.html