Truckee River Watershed Council

WHO WE ARE & WHAT WE DO

The Truckee River Watershed Council (TRWC) has been strategically reversing damage and restoring resilience to forests, meadows, and streams for 30 years. We bring years of experience, data-driven decisions, a robust scientific process, and relationships across agency jurisdictions. The Truckee River region is threatened. Native fish species are at risk. Forests are at risk of catastrophic fire. Sensitive invertebrates are declining. Meadows are drying up. We can trace this to 150 years of mining, grazing, logging, rail and highway expansion. The Truckee River is impaired (polluted) by excessive sediment as determined by the State of California and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. We actively address these challenges, improving the health and resiliency of the Truckee River watershed. Because of the work we do, water in the Truckee River watershed is cleaner, fish and bird populations have started to stabilize, meadows are wetter longer into the season, and forest stands are more resilient. Our work reduces risk of wildfire, flood, and drought and can be described in 3 areas of impact:

1) Projects - We spearhead large-scale restoration projects to reverse historic land use impacts to increase forest, meadow, and stream resiliency, and increase our community’s ability to mitigate climate change impacts such as fire, flood, and drought. Each year, our projects restore hundreds of acres of forests, meadows, and wetlands and miles of streams.

2) People - We work with landowners, individuals, and businesses to implement our work. And, volunteers also help us with on-the-ground assistance.

3) Policy - We advocate for beneficial flows in our rivers and streams.

PROGRAMS AND VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

Truckee River Day- Approximately 400 volunteers each year participate in completing restoration projects, planting hundreds of native trees, enhancing fish habitat, building trails, pulling invasive weeds that will allow native plants to thrive.  NEED: 20 new Group Leaders for Truckee River Day Oct 2026.

Adopt-A-Stream- We monitor 20 sites with 60 volunteers who participate monthly in water quality monitoring across our watershed. NEED: 10 Team Leaders for 2026.

River Talks - River Talks are hour long presentations about past and present threats to the Truckee River and how you can help restore it. Volunteers can host their own River Talk as an "Ambassador". NEED: 25 Ambassadors in the next 6 months. Ambassadors bring 8-10 of their own guests, we bring the presentation

It takes a dedicated team. Thank you to all the public agencies with land along the Truckee River. Thank you to the funders who are making this work possible - the donors of the Truckee River Watershed Council, California Wildlife Conservation Board, Community Foundation of Northern Nevada – Truckee River Fund, and the Truckee River Legacy Foundation.