Water, Hot and Cold I

 

I recently completed work on a small project in northwestern Nevada. As one of my colleagues, a young African scholar, likes to say…the project is in the land of cowboys and Indians. The study site is a thermal wetland composed of a number of seeps and springs that flow from the earth at the base of the foothills of the massive Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. These majestic mountains tower thousands of feet above the springs and the adjacent valley to the east. The waters of the springs are heated to a very hot 38C by the fault they sit atop. My task was to develop an ecological description of the site, including the flora and fauna, describe the human impacts to the site, and suggest some remediation and restoration activities.  I had a lot of help in this project from professionals and nonprofessionals who volunteered their time to conduct plant and bird surveys and assist in other ways.  These springs are only a remnant of a much larger system, part of which has been developed into a privately owned recreation facility with hot water…water to release the pain and tensions of life from those who submerge their often aging bodies into the steamy waters. The light odor of hydrogen sulfide permeates the mists that rise into the air of the cool desert mornings.  On the adjacent coldwater slough migratory waterfowl slide onto the surface of the spreading waters of the nearby river, with their origins high among the adjacent peaks.  Wetland is probably too grand a name for this small, shallow lagoon adjacent to the slough.  At one time, however, before the resort and the levee that separates the thermal springs from the slough were constructed, it is likely that this was a much more extensive landscape feature.

Baugh, T., D. Petite, L. J. Schmidt. River Fork Ranch Thermal wetland. Natural Areas Journal 34(3): 381-384.

Baugh, T., D. Petite, and J. Woods.  (In press). Natural Areas Journal River Fork Thermal Ranch- Biota.

(Continued in the next post)

Water In Home Places

 

 

We are very fortunate at Hidden Springs where our home is perched over a number of springs that fill a pool that may hold as much as 5,000 gallons.  Those springs and pool are at the lower end of the land we steward.  Even with natural springs we have brought water into closer proximity to our home.  Visitors to our front door are greeted with a small pool fed by a trickle of recirculated water that sounds like the tinkling of tiny crystal bells. The window in the studio of my artist wife Penny (http://artjourney-penny.blogspot.com) looks out over what we call the Studio Gardens complete with an ornamental pond, water lilies and other plants, frogs, and the frequent raccoon or two. One additional ‘water feature’ is located on the slope below the window in my study.  I can’t see it but I often see the other residents of Hidden Springs who come to water there.  During the late summer of 2013 an Eastern Whitetail doe had her fawn in the rhododendrons within a few feet of the house.  For the first few days, while her fawn was growing steady legs she took water from the small pool below the Study window.  It may be that the oldest recorded water gardens, or perhaps water features, were in what is called the Cradle of Civilization in Mesopotamia thousands of years ago. But the idea either spread rapidly or occurred almost simultaneously involving Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, China, India, Japan, Rome, Persia and a number of other places among the evolving peoples of Earth.  What is it that we look for in these often quiet places and still waters?