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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

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.

Friday, July 24, 2009

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.

DVCD RECEIVES QUESTION 1 FUNDING FOR 2007-2008

The DVCD will continue river restoration work on the Carson River in Lyon County, Nevada thanks to the Division of State Lands approving Question 1 funding for restoration projects in 2007 - 2009.
The DVCD along with assistance and support from Lyon County will be constructing another project which will focus on approximately 1,100 linear feet of streambank. The project designs will continue to focus on incorporating the use of rock structures and bioengineering treatments to reduce accelerated rates of erosion, establish riparian vegetation, improve wildlife habitat and water quality. The project will be funded by Question 1 funds, CTWCD, CWSD, Lyon County and private landowners. The Rolling A property will be managed by the DVDCD and will be maintained until 2027. River Restoration, floodplain rehabilitation and noxious weed abatement will be the districts primary focus As part of the grant there will be a trail with parking facility and interpretive kiosk.

CARSON RIVER RESTORATION WORK CONTINUES

The Dayton Valley Conservation District in 2003 completed Middle Carson River streambank stabilization and restoration project MCR 030. This project was located in the Dayton Valley area of Lyon County, Nevada. This project involved working with several Landowners along approximately 1,600 linear feet of streambank. The goals of the project is to reduce accelerated rates of erosion, enhance riparian vegetation, improve wildlife habitat and improve water quality overtime.
Construction of the project was completed during December of 2007. Construction involved re-grading existing vertical streambanks to 3:1 slopes and installing rock streambarbs, rock toe protection and rock refusal trenches to insure the integrity of the project and to encourage deposition of suspended sediments during high flow events, such as annual spring run-off.
During the fall and winter months bioenginnering treatments were installed utilizing dormant willow cuttings in the form of vertical willow bundles and pole plantings. Associated with the willow plantings the entire project area was seeded with creeping wild rye.
Durring This Project, 175 willow bundles were planted, 1100 feet of erosion control matting was installed, and approximately 4.5 acres was re-seeded. Th Bio-engineering portion of this project was completed in May 2008.
The Dayton Valley Conservation District would like to thank the Quilici Ranch and the Minor Ranch for their assistance with this project. The district would also like to thank State Lands Q1 program, Great Basin Conservation Crew Rapid Construction, Inc., R.O. Anderson Engineering, Inc., CWSD, CTWCD, NDEP, NDF, NRCS, WNRC&D, Lyon County and the River Wranglers for supporting this project.

Carson River Workdays Crew

Carson River Workdays Crew