Posts tagged: Nevada
Posted by Heather Emmons, Nevada Public Affairs Officer on June 08, 2016 at 11:25 AM
A look at the latest streambank stabilization project completed through a partnership between the Walker River Paiute Tribe and NRCS Nevada.
In the Great Basin, on the eastern slope of the Sierras, lies the small town of Schurz, Nevada, which is surrounded by the Walker River Paiute Tribe Indian Reservation. As the reservation’s name implies, the Walker River meanders through the area, making its way through Schurz, and eventually spills into its terminus Walker Lake at the southern tip of the reservation. At high flows, the river chooses its own course as it meanders through the soils. Picture an inner tube ride at your local water park: as you start making your way through the tunnels, you pick up speed and start bouncing higher and higher from one side to the other as you splash through the course.
With the Walker River’s high velocity, it carves away at embankments made of sandy loam soil—a soil perfect for local area farmers to grow their alfalfa, but easily erodible when faced with the power of the river. The river pushes off of sand bars created by soil deposits and then cuts into the area of private landowners and farmers, placing their livelihoods and even their families in jeopardy. Through its Environmental Quality Incentives Program, or EQIP, the Nevada NRCS teamed up with the Walker River Paiute Tribe to help them control the sedimentation issue. Read more >>
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