Drought in the West A Photographic Essay     
Reno/Truckee Meadows
Interactive Cartograph: Clickable place names, horizontally scrollable.
Bucks Lake ↓ ↓ Whites, Thomas Creeks & Alexander Lake
Webber Lake Cold Stream/Sierraville Creek → Sierra Valley (Alfalfa) → Feather River (North Fork) → Lake Oroville Brown, Davis & Franktown Creeks
↘ ↗ ↓
Little Truckee River
Little Truckee River
Steamboat Creek ← Washoe Lake ← Ophir Creek ← Tahoe Meadows
Independence Lake → Independence Creek ↗ ↘
↓ Davis/Davies & Merrill Creeks Lake Tahoe ↓
↙ ↖ Rock Lake ← (Upper) Price Lake
Stampede Reservoir → Little Truckee River 3 → Boca Reservoir → Little Truckee River 4 → Truckee River ← Donner Creek ← Donner Lake
↖
Prosser Creek ← Prosser Dam
Stampede Reservoir: 2.2015
All content, including images © Billy Howard, 2015. —All Rights Reserved— High resolution versions available upon request to witness@diresituation.photos. Larger.
Stampede Reservoir (when full: capacity = 226,500 acre feet, surface area = 3,340 acres, shoreline = 25 miles) is Reno's 2nd largest fresh water reservoir after Lake Tahoe. Stampede Dam (earthen, 1970, created for fishing opportunity by the US Bureau of Reclamation and stocked as a California Department of Fish and Game target fishery for hatchery catchables) impounds the Little Truckee River (sources Webber Lake and Independence Lake) which empties into Boca Reservoir (earthen, 1939) for storage before becoming a tributary to the Truckee River.

Timberlines in the distance indicate the average level of the reservoir which sports speed boats and water skiers in normal years.

Image taken on lakebed.



 

Location on Stampede lakebed where media were taken.


VIDEO: Stampede Lakebed, 360° video. Note scant snow on peaks.

The ground was damp from recent rain, but the proliferation of terrain plants indicates the lakebed had been dry since last summer.

Timberline in the distance marks water level in normal years.