See for yourself how we're using art to restore Eastern Sierra rivers:
- Watch a cool video
- Visit River Fork Ranch and McCarran Ranch preserves
- Get involved as a volunteer
- Explore the exhibition this December at the Nevada Museum of Art
You've heard about The Nature Conservancy's restoration projects on the Truckee and Carson rivers: reshaping riverbeds, removing invasive weeds, planting native trees, building sculptures ... Wait. What? Building sculptures?!
That's right. While people in Nevada have created art for centuries that reflects nature—think of ancient petroglyphs and Black Rock City—we're using art to restore nature.
The Conservancy, with support from the J. Robert Anderson Memorial Fund, is teaming up with the Nevada Museum of Art’s Center for Art + Environment and environmental artists Daniel McCormick and Mary O’Brien on an innovative way to restore the Eastern Sierra's rivers for the animals and people that need them.
THE NATURE OF ART
It all started in spring 2014 at the River Fork Ranch Preserve, where the artists worked with Conservancy scientists to create large, living sculptures from native willows harvested on the preserve. Hundreds of community and corporate volunteers gathered and bundled willow cuttings, then planted them near the river's edge.
The resulting sculptures—up to 350 feet long—are designed to sprout and grow, creating important habitat for willow flycatchers, monarch butterflies and other wildlife. They also improve water quality by reducing erosion and filtering pollutants.
The installation will continue in the fall at the McCarran Ranch Preserve on the Truckee River east of Reno. Sculptures created here will slow down damaging floodwaters while others enhance habitat areas.
AT THE MUSEUM
This December, an art exhibition about the project opens in Reno, at the Nevada Museum of Art's Center for Art + Environment. The exhibition will explore the ongoing aspects of these projects that allow the artists to inquire into present day relationships between community, land and water, and to investigate ways in which they influence each other. The museum is also archiving the project.
A COMMUNITY EFFORT
People like you are key to The Nature of Art. Volunteers build the sculptures with their own hands—and outreach is far from over.
The Nature of Art provides community to individuals, partners and corporations through signature volunteer events and educational talks. To date, volunteers from Starbucks Roasting Plant, Harrah’s Caesars Entertainment, General Electric, local schools and other community groups have pitched in to build the sculptures. Thank you!
If you'd like to get involved, please contact us at firstname.lastname@example.org.
Watch a video to learn more about the sculptures that are helping us restore McCarran Ranch and River Fork Ranch.
Images on Flickr show the installation of watershed sculptures at our preserves.
We invite you visit the River Fork Ranch Preserve to witness the creation of the watershed sculptures, which can be seen from the East Brockliss Trail Loop.
Learn more about getting involved with our volunteer projects across the state to make a difference for conservation.
We're celebrating 30 years of conserving Nevada's lands and waters for nature and people. Join the celebration.