Here in the Truckee Meadows, 80% of our drinking water comes from the Truckee River. With our watershed stretching from Spanish Springs and Sugarloaf Peak to Virginia City and Washoe Lake - so much of our groundwater flows into our river. If you live or spend time in the Truckee River Watershed, your actions matter.
Our River-Friendly Living Program is divided into four branches – providing many options to care for the Truckee River: through our Individual Actions, Yards, Neighborhoods, and Voices and Hands recommendations. Explore the River-Friendly Living section of this website and our blog library to learn how you can make a difference!
River-Friendly Individual Actions
Learn about individual actions you can take to care for the Truckee River at home, on the go, and when you visit the river.
River-friendly Neighborhoods
Learn how Homeowners Associations and new housing developments can care for the Truckee River.
River-friendly yards
Learn how to design and maintain your yard in the ways that care for the Truckee River.
River-friendly Voices & Hands
Learn how to use your voice and get involved in the community to care for the Truckee River.
The River-Friendly Living Demonstration Garden in Lake Park showcases landscaping features, native plants, and sustainable techniques for Northern Nevadans to improve their home gardens while saving time and money. We installed the garden in 2024 in partnership with the City of Reno, Friends of Lake Park, US Environmental Protection Agency, Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, Western Regional Water Commission, and the Truckee River Foundation.
Centered in Lake Park, our free River-Friendly Living event series includes plant identification walks, gardening workshops, seed swaps, and more – hosted at the Demonstration Garden. Join us at an upcoming event or sign up for our newsletter to stay in the loop about our future happenings.
From 2026-2027, One Truckee River will be working to reduce pollution loads into Alum Creek, which flows into the Truckee River near Betsy Caughlin Donnelly Park. To accomplish our goals, one aspect of our work will be to teach nearby homeowners how to reduce runoff from their yards into Alum Creek and the Truckee River. We’ll begin by building a new 0.5 acre River-Friendly Living Demonstration Garden featuring a rain garden, native and pollinator-friendly plants, and informational signage. We’ll also conduct public outreach to the surrounding communities, including both a public awareness campaign and building relationships with neighborhood HOAs and their member families.
In addition to our Alum Creek River-Friendly Living programming, our projects will include urban restoration work in the adjacent areas.
In 2025, we surveyed hundreds of local landscapers, nurseries, and Northern Nevadans like you to learn more about the choices community members are already making at home. We’ve learned that while the terms we use to talk about River-Friendly Living aren’t (yet!) widespread, Northern Nevada homeowners are interested in many of the home-gardening ideas we promote: choosing smaller lawns paired with easy-to-care-for landscaped areas, using less synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and watering wisely. They’re already asking their nurseries and landscapers about drought-tolerant plants, pollinator-friendly plants, and strategies for reducing the time, money, and water they’re putting towards yard maintenance and care. 78% of survey takers want to make changes to their yards. Some of the barriers they face include lack of personal time, cost of making changes, soil quality, problematic weeds, need to update irrigation systems, and desire for more free and low-cost resources and support.
By focusing on what motivates our watershed’s residents, we’re developing a strategic pilot program that takes a multi-faceted approach to educating and encouraging residents in key neighborhoods to make beneficial changes to their yards.
River-Friendly Living is big news. Check out our recent coverage:
Lake Park in northwest Reno gets 13 new trees and a new bench - 2News Nevada, October 25, 2025
Learn more about River-Friendly Living – and changes you can make in your yard to save time, water, and money while protecting the Truckee River.
