The Truckee Meadows is a valley in Northern

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, named for the

Truckee River The Truckee River is a river in the U.S. states of California and Nevada. The river flows northeasterly and is long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 20, 2012 Th ...

, which collects and drains all water in the valley. Truckee Meadows is also colloquially used as a name for the Reno–Tahoe-Fernley CSA area, even though the metro area includes areas outside this valley. The name for the valley in the Washo language is Welganuk.

Location

Per the

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

, The Truckee Meadows is one of a series a north-south trending basins bounded by the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primar ...

on the western edge of the

Great Basin The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California. It is noted fo ...

. The Truckee Meadows covers approximately in western Nevada. It is bounded on the west by the Carson Range, on the east by the

Virginia Range The Virginia Range is a mountain range of western Nevada, primarily within Storey County, and extending east into Lyon County. The range is named after James Finney, "Old Virginny", an early discoverer of gold associated with the Comstock Lode ...

and Pine Nut Mountains, on the south by the Steamboat hills, and by

Peavine Peak Peavine Peak, the highest point on Peavine mountain, is located in Washoe County Nevada, at the northwest corner of the Truckee Meadows and about due east of the California state. It forms one of the most dominant geographical features in the ...

to the north. Steamboat Creek is the main tributary supplying the Truckee River through the Truckee Meadows. Steamboat Creek, flows northward into Steamboat Valley. Steamboat Valley is considered part of the Truckee Meadows. The Spanish Springs Valley drains into the Truckee Meadows area from the north.

Colloquial usage

Truckee Meadows has been used interchangeably with the

Reno metropolitan area The Reno–Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of two counties in Western Nevada, anchored by the cities of Reno and Sparks, part of Greater Reno-Tahoe- Fernley CSA. As of the ...

, However, the metro area's official definition includes all of Washoe County and Storey County. Several Reno suburbs are located in separate valleys, including Lemmon Valley, Golden Valley, Sun Valley, Nevada, Cold Springs valley and

Washoe Valley The Washoe Valley is a geographical region in the United States covering in southern Washoe County in the state of Nevada. Located between Reno and Carson City, it is named for the Washoe people, Native Americans who lived there before the arr ...

Flora

Along Steamboat Creek of the Truckee Meadow, the most common plants, include lush grasses like the Great Basin wild rye (''Leymus cinereus'') and tule (''Scirpus sp.''). Riparian vegetation of the meadow include black cottonwood (''Populus trichocarpa''), willow species (''Salis sp.''), and silver buffaloberry (''Shepherdia argentea''). At elevated and better-drained valley margins grows the typical sagebrush-grass zone. Common plants in this habitat consisted of

big sagebrush ''Artemisia tridentata'', commonly called big sagebrush,MacKay, Pam (2013), ''Mojave Desert Wildflowers'', 2nd ed., , p. 264. Great Basin sagebrush or (locally) simply sagebrush, is an aromatic shrub from the family Asteraceae, which grows in ari ...

(''Artemisia tridentate''), rabbitbrush ('' chrysothamnus sp.''), greasewood ('' Sarcobatus vermiculatus''), horsebrush (''Tetradymia glabrata''), and spiny hopsage (''Grayia spinosa'') Common bunch grasses included wheatgrass (''

Agropyron spicatum ''Pseudoroegneria spicata'' is a species of grass known by the common name bluebunch wheatgrass. This native western North American perennial bunchgrass is also known by the scientific synonyms ''Elymus spicatus'' and ''Agropyron spicatum''. The g ...

''), bluegrass (''Poa sp''.), Great Basin Wild rye (''Elymus cinereaus''), Indian ricegrass (''Achnatherum hymenoides''), squirreltail ('' Sitanion hystrix''), and needle and thread ('' Stipa comate'').

History

In 1857, pioneer rancher Peleg Brown, a Rhode Island native arrived in the Truckee Meadows with his brother, Joshua. The two brothers introduced alfalfa to the area and built their home ( Damonte Ranch House) 150 years ago which still stands today. The house is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

, which caused the Nevada Department of Transportation to divert the construction of Interstate 580 and

U.S. Route 395 U.S. Route 395 (US 395) is a U.S. Route in the western United States. The southern terminus of the route is in the Mojave Desert at Interstate 15 near Hesperia. The northern terminus is at the Canada–US border near Laurier, where the road ...

freeway around the property to preserve the home and ranch.

Geology

The Truckee Meadows is a valley in western Nevada located within the western Great Basin. Named for the Truckee River, which flows through the valley from west to east, this area contains archaeological evidence of aboriginal human occupation. The Truckee Formation, is the oldest deposit of the valley and yields very little water to wells. Most of the discharge of water is by

evapotranspiration Evapotranspiration (ET) is the combined processes by which water moves from the earth’s surface into the atmosphere. It covers both water evaporation (movement of water to the air directly from soil, canopies, and water bodies) and transp ...

and by seepage to ditches and streams. Some water in the area is unsuitable for many uses because of its poor chemical quality. Water in the Steamboat Springs area is hot and has high concentrations of chloride and dissolved solids. Both water draining areas of bleached rock and ground water from areas of leached rock have high concentrations of sulfate and dissolved solids.

References

{{Coord missing, Nevada Landforms of Washoe County, Nevada Valleys of Nevada