Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID NV_2025_Boisrame

How do forest treatments affect water quantity in the Truckee watershed?

Institute: Nevada
Year Established: 2025 Start Date: 2026-01-01 End Date: 2026-12-31
Total Federal Funds: $48,332 Total Non-Federal Funds: $48,332

Principal Investigators: Gabrielle Boisrame

Project Summary: Much of Nevada's water comes from snow in mountain forests. Wildfires in these forests can pollute drinking water and cause other damage. There have been large efforts to reduce fire risk. These include using logging and prescribed fire to remove some of the trees. Fewer trees could mean more rain and snow reaches the ground and flows to rivers. Logging and burning can also cause problems if they make it harder for water to seep into the ground. Sometimes removing trees leads to more water stored as snow, but sometimes less. We will measure snow and soils in thinned forests and compare them to nearby forests with more trees. Experts with the U.S. Forest Service and Truckee Meadows Water Authority will help guide our work within the Truckee River watershed, which supplies water to the Reno area. Our goal is to find out if thinning the forest increases the amount of water people can use downstream.