The Nevada Sagebrush

Dying-lake symposium to be held at university

By: Tiana Ross

Monday, October 26, 2009 - 11:04 PM

Event Details

What: Terminus Lake Symposium
Where: The Joe Crowley Student Union
When: Tuesday at 9 a.m.
Cost: The seminar costs $25 for students.

If left untended, the ecosystem of Walker Lake might cease to exist.

The alkaline levels are rising at Walker Lake, which was deemed a terminus lake because water sources flow into it but not out, which threatens parts of its ecosystem, according to experts.

Numerous lakes in Nevada and around the world are classified as terminus.

To address solutions to terminus lakes, the first International Symposium on Terminus Lakes will be at the Joe Crowley Student Union Tuesday and Wednesday. During this event, many scientists will showcase their latest research techniques for closed basin/terminus lakes and the implications of this research. The event will be composed of four major sessions.

Wallace S. Broecker, a geochemist at Columbia University and father of the term “global warming,” will give the keynote address at 9 a.m. Tuesday to kick off the Walker Basin session. Several other scientists will also reveal their findings from the Walker Basin Project at the session.

The University of Nevada, Reno and the Desert Research Institute have been running the Walker Basin Project for two years and have grabbed the attention of scientists throughout Northern Nevada and abroad, said Mike Collopy, assistant vice president for research and director of the Academy for the Environment.

“The primary focus was to better understand the ecosystem in general,” he said.

Scientists running the program hope to find an efficient way of adding water to Walker Lake to help improve prospects for endangered fish and to enhance crop growth in the basin, Collopy said.

Aside from Walker Lake presentations, scientists will be sharing research on closed-basin lakes in Antarctica, Uzbekistan and other areas around the globe. There will also be a session on the Dead Sea.

Mike Wolterbeek, a UNR spokesman, said that registration is open to anyone up until the day of the event. Fees are $25 for students and $150 for general admission. The fees will cover admission to the event and the cost of continental breakfast and morning and afternoon refreshments. Students are strongly encouraged to participate in the symposium.

“We are (hosting) the event on campus because we want students to be involved,” Wolterbeek said.

The symposium will finish with a field trip on Thursday. Participants in this daylong adventure will go to Lake Tahoe and then follow the Truckee River to Pyramid Lake, a desert terminus lake.

Registration for the field trip costs $35 per person and seating is limited.

Tiana Ross can be reached at news@nevadasagebrush.com.