university of nevada reno

Lake Tahoe will be thrust in the spotlight again when scientists, public agencies and elected officials meet Aug. 13 for the 16th annual Lake Tahoe Summit at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course. To be discussed with great interest is the protection and health of Lake Tahoe's fragile environment and economy.
“The health of the environment and the health of the economy at Tahoe are linked,” Derek Kauneckis, political science professor and researcher at the University of Nevada, Reno said. “And the collaborations that have been established at the Lake have set the stage for future efforts.”

The public is invited to be entertained and educated with Bill Nye the Science Guy Sept. 6, the first of several presentations in the annual Discover Science Lecture Series at the University of Nevada, Reno. The College of Science and Associated Students of the University of Nevada are bringing Nye to the University’s Lawlor Events Center at 7 p.m. All tickets are $5 per person, available through the Lawlor box office.

The University of Nevada, Reno, in cooperation with the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office, has sent a team of archaeologists to excavate the site of one of Nevada’s most important early hospitals. St. Mary Louise Hospital in Virginia City opened in 1876 and served the mining community until the early 20th century.

The Lake Tahoe Science Consortium collaborated with University of Nevada, Reno’s Department of Art to create “Visualizing Change,” a photographic art expedition intended to convey concepts in environmental restoration at Lake Tahoe to the scientific community and general public. The exhibit is located in the Prim Desert Research Library at Sierra Nevada College at Lake Tahoe’s Incline Village. It features photography and oil painting contributions from eight noted artists and is free and open to the public through July 27.

Two area observatories will offer the public an opportunity to see a celestial event with the planet Venus taking center stage in front of the sun. Just weeks after the solar eclipse, another adventure is unfolding in the sky, and the Jack C. Observatory at Western Nevada College in Carson City and the MacLean Observatory on the Redfield Campus at the University of Nevada, Reno will again offer front row seats to the show.

The erratic year-to-year swings in precipitation totals in the Lake Tahoe, Carson City and Reno areas conjures up the word “drought” every couple of years, and this year is no exception. The Nevada State Climate Office at the University of Nevada, Reno, in conjunction with the Nevada Drought Response Committee, announced Thursday a Stage 1 drought (moderate) for six counties and a Stage 2 drought (severe) for 11 counties.
Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada are no strangers to drought, the most famous being the Medieval megadrought lasting from 800 to 1250 A.D. when annual precipitation was less than 60 percent of normal. The Reno-Tahoe region is now about 65 percent of annual normal precipitation for the year, which doesn’t seem like much, but imagine if this were the “norm” each and every year for the next 200 years.

CARNELIAN BAY — Results of a new U.S. Geological Survey study found that faults west of Lake Tahoe, Calif., referred to as the Tahoe-Sierra frontal fault zone, pose a substantial increase in the seismic hazard assessment for the Lake Tahoe region of California and Nevada, and could potentially generate earthquakes with magnitudes ranging from 6.3 to 6.9. A close association of landslide deposits and active faults also suggests that there is an earthquake-induced landslide hazard along the steep fault-formed range front west of Lake Tahoe.

Go birding with an expert. Kirk Hardie, Co-Executive Director of the Tahoe Institute for Natural Science will lead a bird-watching walk on Saturday, June 16, 2012 (8 – 10 am, $5 donation suggested), beginning at the UC Davis Tahoe City Field Station. Bringing binoculars is recommended.

The upcoming Lake Tahoe Science Conference in Incline Village, Nev. will feature presentations from the Tahoe Resource Conservation District (Tahoe RCD) and its partners. Will Anderson of Tahoe RCD’s Watershed Resources Program will present on modeling of storm events, and Jim Brockett will display photographs highlighting aquatic invasive species control projects underway in Lake Tahoe by Tahoe RCD and its partners.

GPS technology developed and implemented at the University of Nevada, Reno will be the centerpiece of a major test this year by NASA to pinpoint the location and magnitude of strong earthquakes along the West Coast of the United States. The project was announced by NASA today.

The Nevada State Demographer’s Office, located at the University of Nevada, Reno College of Business, has released its 2011 population estimates. The state gained an estimated 17,152 people from July 2010 to July 2011, an estimated increase of 0.6 percent, about equivalent to the increase of 0.7 percent the prior year. Two years ago, the state lost 27,677 people, a decrease of about 1.0 percent.

For reasons that remain unclear among many in town, Caltrans wants to raise the speed limit by 5 mph through portions of South Lake Tahoe and Meyers. On Tuesday, city leaders and the community will hear presentations by Caltrans representatives regarding future plans.

The following is from Claire Fortier, the mayor of the City of South Lake Tahoe. Mayor Fortier has launched a regular "Monthly Message from the Mayor" report, which summarizes the accomplishments of the South Lake Tahoe City Council. Here is her first report:

RENO, Nev. – Kate McGee has joined 88.7 FM KUNR – Reno Public Radio – as a broadcast journalist, coming to northern Nevada from the East Coast. She recently graduated from Fordham University in the Bronx, N.Y., with a dual bachelor's degree in American studies and history. She started her public radio career at Fordham’s WFUV Radio as a reporter, anchor and producer, where she covered everything from Mayor Mike Bloomberg to stickball tournaments.

RENO, Nev. - Scientists from the University of Nevada, Reno helped renowned environmental artists Helen Mayer Harrison and Newton Harrison create an exhibition on display at the Nevada Museum of...

By Mike Wolterbeek
Scientists from the University of Nevada, Reno helped renowned environmental artists Helen Mayer Harrison and Newton Harrison create an exhibition on display at the Nevada Museum of Art in downtown Reno that predicts the potential effects of climate change on the Sierra Nevada mountains.

“The exhibition by the Harrisons helps people see how climate change may alter natural areas that many of us enjoy,” Thomas Albright, professor of geography in the University’s College of Science, said.

By Claudene Wharton
The Department of Anthropology announces the publication of a new book, “An Archaeology of Desperation: Exploring the Donner Party’s Alder Creek Camp.” The book is a collaboration between anthropology scholars from the University of Nevada, Reno and other academics.

When it comes to invading clams, Lake Tahoe might not be a very good place to make babies. That's the encouraging conclusion of new research by scientists at the University of Nevada, Reno who found that cold temperatures and lack of food combine to discourage reproduction of Asian clams in the lake.