UNR AND DRI NEWS RELEASE
Report highlights the research being done to preserve Lake Tahoe
The University of Nevada, Reno and DRI have a strong, continuing commitment to increase public understanding of the Tahoe Basin, its water resources and the practices that will protect them into the future. As part of the annual Tahoe Summit Aug. 17 to highlight the projects and progress of research and remediation, the two institutions have created an informational poster, Preserving Tahoe, that will help bring Tahoe issues and research into classrooms.
“An important responsibility of our public research institutions is not only to create scientific knowledge but also to promote a clear understanding of the science as it applies to inter-relationships among people, living organisms and their environment,” said Mike Collopy, assistant vice president for research; executive director, Academy for the Environment; and director, Office of Undergraduate Research at the University of Nevada, Reno.
This year, in addition to producing a research summary that includes profiles of the researchers and their work being done at Lake Tahoe, Collopy and his colleagues developed the informational poster so that educators could teach students about environmental science in the Lake Tahoe Basin. The poster project is designed for middle and high school classrooms.
“University research is important, but it is also exciting work and we hope to convey that excitement to budding scientists,” Collopy added. “These unique original images are not only designed to inform students, but also to engage them.”
The illustrated infographic gives a bird’s-eye view of the Lake Tahoe Basin, with drawings and explanations on wildlife, hydrology and watershed restoration research.
“Our two institutions serve Nevada and the Tahoe Basin by extending expertise, knowledge and program leadership in the area’s atmospheric processes; groundwater and surface water interaction; storm-water monitoring; the modeling and predicting of wildfire; soils and nutrient cycling as it relates to impacts on water quality; the study of the impact of fire on soils; invasive plants and water quality; and species diversity including aquatic ecology,” said Jim Thomas, Ph.D., DRI senior director for the Center for Watersheds and Environmental Sustainability.
The illustrations and artwork were created by Ron Oden, a talented Tahoe-based artist and designer. Oden, a former graphics director for the Reno Gazette-Journal, is well known for his detailed and illuminating information graphics that appeared in the newspaper for more than a decade.
The researchers will distribute 5,000 Preserving Tahoe posters this fall throughout Washoe County and northern Nevada schools.
