Enjoy these Virtual Workshops!
Taking a virtual workshop is a great way to grow your River-Friendly knowledge and dive deeper into the areas that interest you most! We invite you to check out the resources below: a brief introduction to River-Friendly Yards followed by a series of (about) 45-minute videos.
Intro to River-Friendly Yards
Have just a minute? Before diving into the Virtual Workshops below, check out this quick overview of what River-Friend Yards are all about – and start thinking about small changes to explore making at home.
Intro to River-Friendly Living
Landscape architect Carrie Jensen shares how we can all care for the Truckee River and its water quality through our yards, our neighborhoods, our individual actions, and our voices and hands. This workshop includes information about our watershed, non-point source pollution, storm events, and why your actions can have huge benefits for our river and throughout our region.
Truckee River Watershed History: Past Pollution and Future Protection
Carrie Jensen sums up the history of the Truckee River watershed, which includes the Lake Tahoe basin, Truckee Meadows communities, and the area around Pyramid Lake. This workshop includes the perspectives of the Paiute, Washoe, and Shoshone tribes, their traditional stewardships of the river, and later industrial impacts from silver mining, lumber extraction, paper making, sewage management, and urban development. Early environmental protection measures and current conservation needs are also discussed.
River-Friendly Yards: Your Yards and the Truckee River
No matter where in the Truckee River watershed you live, a River-Friendly Yard can help protect water quality. Carrie Jensen begins with a discussion about impermeable surfaces, point- vs non-point source solution, sediments, stream incisions, and pollutants of concern to gardeners. Then, she dives into practical, easy-maintenance changes you can make at home – such as keeping water and sediments on site, reducing pesticides and fertilizers, improving irrigation systems, choosing water-wise plants, buffer planting, removing impermeable surfaces, and more!
Promoting Pollinators: In Your River-Friendly Yard
Insect species are the basis of our food chains and support our birds, flowering plants, and essential crops. Learn about key species (like butterflies and bees) with declining populations, why they’re struggling, and how you can create better habitat through your yard. Carrie Jensen outlines how to provide food, water, and shelter for insects through diverse plant-selection and landscaping choices and includes specific recommendations that are likely to be successful here in Northern Nevada. She also dives into native vs non-native species, problematic pesticides, embracing fallen leaves and dormant plants, and building nesting spaces.