Carson River Watershed

The Carson River is a lifeline connecting several communities in two states. Its precious water supports our watershed’s environment, economy, and quality of life. It meanders nearly 200 miles, from the snowpack in California’s High Sierra through green alpine meadows, wide valleys, rock-lined canyons, cottonwood galleries, and high-desert sagebrush plateaus to the intermittent lake beds and wetlands in Nevada’s Carson Sink. The river basin’s natural resources have always attracted human settlement, as shown by the rural and urban communities, tribal lands, irrigated agricultural areas, historic sites, parks, and open space and recreation areas the river travels through and near.

Walk Through the Watershed!

Carson River Watershed Map

Water draining from nearly 4,000 square miles of land into the river creates the Carson River Watershed. The river itself is terminal, or endorheic, meaning that it does not flow to an ocean. Clear Creek is an important tributary of the Carson River – find out more.