ARRA Simulus Crews

      For several months now Dayton Valley Conservation District has utilized a crew of 5 that has accomplished a variety of jobs for the district. The crew has been paid for by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act stimulus program. The crew has been a monumental force in accomplishing work that wouldn't be accomplished due to understaffing.

      There are two main projects that were completed so far. Clearing dead Perennial Pepperweed in preparation for herbicide application in the spring. Also the crew is working on a section of river using bio-engineering bank stabilization techniques that utilize willows to hold back soil. This project is located along a section of the old Rolling A Ranch in Dayton.

       The clearing of the dead Perennial Pepperweed is important because at 6' + tall it would hinder our efforts at applying herbicide. The sprayer booms are only effective on plant material 3' tall or less. 

    

        So far DVCD has been very pleased with the accomplishments of our hardworking crew . Even with all of this great progress there is still a staggering amount of work to be done in the future. Also the crew has generated more than $500,000 in matching funds from willows harvested for several projects. This money we recieved from ARRA to pay for the crew is used as matching funds for other grants that keep the district funded for additional restoration projects. We would like to continue the success we have had with the crew this past year and at this point we did not receive the funding we were hoping for to keep the crew running non stop this year. As of April 2, 2010 the crew is on a break for 5 weeks and will return to help with the spraying of noxious weeds in the area. If anyone knows of any other sources of funding that may work for our crew your help would be greatly appreciated. Hopefully we will be able to keep our crew and their jobs safe.

-Blake

River Wranglers participate in Conserve Carson River

-Linda Conlin-

SILVER SPRINGS--On a bright, sunny autumn day in late October, Silver Stage High School mentors traveled to the Rolling A Ranch in Dayton and prepared to greet their students, 4th graders from Silver Springs and Hugh Gallagher Elementary Schools.
They were teaching them about the Carson River watershed, using hands-on activities.
Conserve Carson River Work Day, an annual fall event, celebrated 14 years of work along the Carson River this year.
Students checked out Carson River water quality using chemical test kits. They learned about dissolved oxygen and how important it is for animal life. They tested the pH and temperature and measured the cloudiness of the river.
They used watershed maps and explored animals living in the Carson River watershed. Animal pelts from Nevada State Parks provided the opportunity to touch the fur and talk about animal behavior, what they eat and where they live. Students learned about their watershed and how the earth is divided into watersheds.
High school students had fun dressing up the elementary kids as bugs. Through this activity, they discovered how aquatic insects adapt to their environment to get the oxygen and food needed for survival. Aquatic insects tell scientists about water quality because some are so sensitive to pollution. If those sensitive insects aren't found in a sample, something may be wrong with the water for they need cold water with lots of oxygen to survive.
The 4th graders love making water cycle bracelets in the Incredible Journey station. Colorful beads, representing water in various locations in the water cycle, are collected and tell about the journey of a water droplet. Each student wore a bracelet depicting their Incredible Journey.
The station that students enjoy the most is the bioengineering station; bundling and planting willows on the streambank. With the help of the Dayton Valley Conservation District and the ARRA stimulus crew, students bundled willow cuttings. They laid bundles in trenches on the banks, covered them with soil and native seeds, and then pounded in stakes to firmly secure the bundles.

"When springtime comes," Richard Wilkenson, Dayton Valley Conservation District manager, told the students, "we should have willow trees sprouting up along the entire cutting. The roots hold down the soil and prevent erosion and that is good."
This River Wranglers project is sponsored by the Western Nevada RC&D, the Carson Water Subconservancy District, Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, Natural Resource Conservation Service, Dayton Valley Conservation District and the Smallwood Foundation.
Conserve the Carson River Work Days is a watershed event, happening along the Carson River from the headwaters in Alpine County, CA to the terminus of the river in Churchill County, Nevada. Senators Harry Reid and John Ensign are honorary chairmen for the event.
Local contributors include Hodges Transportation, Ergs, Inc., The Fernley Leader, J&B Cabinets, Lahontan Storage, Nugget Casino in Silver Springs, Silver Springs Airport, LLC, Silver Springs-Stagecoach Booster Club, Silver Stage Nighthawk Booster Club, Vaquero Supplement, Mason Valley News, John Gavin Realty and Law, Dayton Valley Veterinary Hospital, Dayton Valley Dental Care, Shamrock Site Services, Dayton Bobcat Booster Club, Dayton DustDevils Booster Club, the Dayton Courier, Lyon County Parks Department and Douglas High School Silk Screening Class.
River Wranglers want to thank Rebecca Jones, Silver Stage High School science instructor, for preparing her students to teach about the watershed.
Thanks also to the elementary teachers from Silver Springs Elementary School; Bridget Perez, Maxine Emm and Carlene Fulton and Hugh Gallagher Elementary School teacher, Karen Staffen. River Wranglers appreciate all of the parent volunteers and give special thanks to Shelly Hardy for volunteering at the chemistry station.
Citizens who are interested in learning more about River Wranglers, email nevadariverwranglers@yahoo.com.

About Us

Our goal is to achieve a sustainable, healthy river system that provides for abundant agricultural production, wildlife habitat, recreation opportunities, stable river banks, and high water quality conditions. To achieve cooperative relations where the private landowners, county, state, and federal agencies maintain their lands and work cooperatively and openly to solve watershed problems.We currently are involved in 12 NRCS Emergency Watershed Program Projects. These projects focus on restoration efforts following the Flood Event of January 1997 on the Carson River. 10 out of the 12 projects were completed before spring run-off this year. We hope to finish the 2 remaining projects this fall. Our group is also assisting with hands on bioengineering workshops that are being done cooperatively with other landowners, local groups, and state and federal agencies. We also intend to survey and design 5 more projects this summer and fall.

NEVADA CONSERVATION DISTRICTS

There are 28 Conservation Districts located across the State of Nevada. Conservation Districts in Nevada make up the state’s only grassroots forum for addressing local conservation issues. They are a primary point for coordination of local, state, and federal efforts to protect natural resources. Conservation Districts work with community members, land owners, agencies, and organizations to encourage Best Management Practices in conservation. Districts serve Nevadans by providing technical, financial and educational assistance to help our environment.

CONSERVATION EDUCATION - Carson River Workdays

For eleven (11) years now the DVCD, WNRC&D, and the River Wranglers have organized the annual Carson River Workday in Lyon County. This past year with assistance from Dayton High School, Fernley High School and Silver Springs High School students over 400 elementary school children participated in the annual event.
The annual event provides the opportunity for elementary school children to visit the Carson River and learn about the watershed they live in. The local high school students team up with approximately 3 to 6 elementary school children for the day and teach them about the many benefits the Carson River Watershed provides their local community.
As always a special thanks goes out to Linda Conlin, River Wranglers Coordinator, The Dayton, Fernley and Silver Springs High School Students and Faculty and the many volunteers that assist each year.

COOPERATIVE WEED MANAGEMENT

The DVCD continues to develop a cooperative weed management area in West Central Lyon County. This year the district received funding from the Nevada Department of Agriculture, CWSD, CTWCD and the WNRC&D to continue the districts weed control program.
The weed control program involves the identification and prioritization of specific noxious weeds to control. In order to carry this out the district relies on assistance from local private landowners for help with identification, location and herbicide application in controlling noxious weeds within the area. Along with controlling weeds the district has also been utilizing a GPS unit to map the known locations of noxious weeds in the area so that this information can be tracked on annual basis and submitted to NRCS for incorporation into the Nevada State Weed Map. This year the cooperative weed management area had assistance from over 15 different private landowners in spraying and mapping approximately 400 acres of noxious weeds. For more information on this cooperative weed management effort please contact the DVCD office at (775) 883-3525.
Since 2006-2008, the DVCD has also used money from the BOR Grant. This money has been used for purchasing weed abatement equipment and for hiring out crews for weed spraying.
State land dollars will be used on the Q1 Round V Rolling A property, to rehabilitate 350 acres of floodplain with native vegetation, and eradicating noxious weeds in 400 acres.

Carson River Monitoring Project

The DVCD along with R.O. Anderson Engineering, Inc., NDEP and finished monitoring several completed river restoration project sites. The project was initiated in 2000 and will continued through 2008. The monitoring project was initiated to evaluate ten restoration project sites located within an eight mile reach of the Carson River located in the Dayton Valley area of Lyon County, Nevada. The district in working with our partners has established an aerial topographical survey, annually surveys 48 cross-sections, has developed a localized hydraulic model, completes annually vegetation monitoring, soils monitoring, water quality sampling and photo point monitoring for this area of the Carson River.
The information gathered on an annual basis pertaining to this project will be utilized to provide up to date information on design criteria that is successful and applying that information to future river restoration projects. The project was completed December 2005 with a final report presented in October 2007.
The DVCD believes that this type of monitoring project will aid in providing state of the art river restoration information for the entire Carson River and other desert river systems in the arid west.