Truckee River Watershed: South Evans Creek

On the Friday before Christmas, we headed to South Evans Creek to do some 'sploring.South Evans Creek drains from the foothills on the western edge of Reno. The headwaters emerge from alpine springs in vast meadows surrounded by dry forests, and trickle down canyons, through residential developments, through Bartley Ranch Park and into Dry Creek and Boynton Slough, where the water eventually ends up in the Truckee River.In the upper South Evans Creek watershed, common plant-life includes Incense cedar, Sugar pine, red and white fir, Tobacco bush, rushes, sedges, lupine, phlox, and Arrowleaf balsamroot.Down in the lower part of the creek, you'll find Desert peach, Mormon tea, dogwood, Russian olive, broom snakeweed, Indian paintbrush, cattail, Medusa head grass, tansy mustard, and clover.Wildlife found is similar across the entire watershed, and includes:  black bear, bobcat, red fox, rattlesnake, bald eagle, golden eagle, barn owl, cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, pacific chorus frog, and monarch butterfly.