| Pyramid Lake | |
|---|---|
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 Thetufa formation that gives Pyramid Lake its name. | |
  Pyramid Lake Location in Nevada Show map of Nevada Pyramid Lake Pyramid Lake (the United States) Show map of the United States | |
| Location | Washoe County,Nevada, United States |
| Coordinates | 40°03′45″N119°33′49″W / 40.06250°N 119.56361°W /40.06250; -119.56361 |
| Lake type | endorheicsalt lake |
| Etymology | pyramidal limestone columns |
| Primary inflows | Truckee River |
| Catchment area | 1,825.8 sq mi (4,729 km2) |
| Max. length | 29.8 mi (48.0 km) |
| Max. width | 8.7 mi (14.0 km) |
| Surface area | 188 sq mi (490 km2) |
| Max. depth | 356 ft (109 m) |
| Water volume | 23,660,000 acre-feet (29.18 km3) |
| Surface elevation | 3,796 ft (1,157 m) (1980 data)[1] |
| Islands | Anaho Island |
| References | GNIS ID: 856349[1] |
| Reference no. | 18 |
Pyramid Lake is thegeographic sink of the basin of theTruckee River, 40 mi (64 km) northeast ofReno, Nevada, United States.
Pyramid Lake is the biggest remnant of ancientLake Lahontan, the inland sea that once covered much of western Nevada.[2] It is approximately 27 miles (43 km) long and 11 miles (18 km) wide, with a perimeter of 71 miles (114 km), covering 112,000 acres (45,000 ha) acres entirely enclosed within thePyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Reservation.[3]
Pyramid Lake is fed by theTruckee River, which is mostly the outflow fromLake Tahoe. The Truckee River enters Pyramid Lake at its southern end. Pyramid Lake is anendorheic lake, with water leaving only byevaporation or sub-surface seepage. The lake has about 10% of the area of theGreat Salt Lake, but it has about 25% more volume. Thesalinity is approximately 1/6 that ofsea water. Although clear Lake Tahoe forms the headwaters that drain to Pyramid Lake, the Truckee River delivers moreturbid waters to Pyramid Lake after traversing the steep Sierra terrain and collecting moderately high silt-loadedsurface runoff.
The north and east sides of the lake have been restricted to the public and non-Tribal members since 2011, when the Tribal Nation made the decision to close these areas due to the desecration of sacred sites. When visiting, it is recommended to take note of the Tribal protocols and restricted areas.[2]
InNorthern Paiute language it is called Kooyooe (Cui-ui) Panunadu or Kooyooe Pa'a Panunadu after thecui-ui fish, which helped sustain the populations around the lake.[4] In fact, a major band ofNorthern Paiute (endonym: Numu) people whose ancestors lived around the lake call themselves the Kooyooe Tukadu, "cui-ui eaters."[5]
InWasho the name of the lake isáʔwaku dáʔaw, meaning "trout lake."[6]
The English name of the lake, given to it by explorerJohn C. Frémont, comes from the impressive cone- or pyramid-shapedtufa formations found in the lake and along the shores.[7]
A remnant of thePleistoceneLake Lahontan (~890 feet or 270 meters deep), the lake area has long been inhabited by thePaiute, who ancestrally fished theTui chub,Cui-ui, andLahontan cutthroat trout from the lake.[8] TheShoshone andWasho also regularly fished in the lake. According to traditional narratives, the Washo specifically were given fishing rights in Pyramid Lake after assisting the Paiutes in defeating a nearby tribe of giants.[9]
Archeological evidence shows that human populations lived in this area between 9500 B.C.E. and 1400 A.D. Excavations have uncovered tools, weapons, clothing, food, and mummified bodies in the area.[10]
John C. Frémont was the first non-indigenous person to map the lake.[7] The name comes from a large rock formation that resembles abent pyramid.
In the 19th century, two battles were fought near the lake, major actions in thePaiute War. In the 1960s, a marker was placed commemorating these battles.[11]
Because of water diversion beginning in 1905 byDerby Dam through Truckee Canal toLahontan reservoir, the lake's existence was threatened, and the Paiute sued the Department of the Interior. By the mid-1970s, the lake had lost 80 feet (24 m) of depth, and according to Paiute fisheries officials, the lake's life was seriously under threat. According to documentary filmmakerJohn Pilger, the irrigation scheme for which water was diverted was an economic failure.[11]
Pyramid Lake is located in southeasternWashoe County in western Nevada. It is in an elongated intermontane basin between theLake Range on the east, theVirginia Mountains on the west, and thePah Rah Range on the southwest. TheFox Range and theSmoke Creek Desert lie to the north.
In a parallel basin to the east of the Lake Range isWinnemucca Lake, now a dry lake bed. Prior to the construction of theDerby Dam in 1905, both lake levels stood at near 3,880 ft (1,180 m) above sea level.[17] Following the dam's completion, the water levels dropped to 3,867 ft (1,179 m) and 3,853 ft (1,174 m) for Pyramid and Winnemucca, respectively.[18] In 1957, the Pyramid Lake level was at 3,802 ft (1,159 m) and the dry Winnemucca Lake bed at 3,780 ft (1,150 m)[19] had been dry since the 1930s.
Pyramid Lake is the largest remnant of ancientLake Lahontan, which covered much of northwestern Nevada at the end of the lastice age. It was the deepest point of Lake Lahontan,[20] reaching an estimated 890 feet (270 m) due to its low level relative to the surrounding basins.
Sutcliffe is on the west shore of Pyramid Lake alongState Route 445.Nixon is on the Truckee River to the southeast of the lake onState Route 447.[21]
The largest tufa formation,Anaho Island, is home to a large colony ofAmerican white pelicans and is restricted for ecological reasons. Access to the Needles, another spectacular tufa formation at the northern end of the lake, has also been restricted due to recent vandalism.[22]
The Pyramid (39°58′48″N119°30′06″W / 39.98000°N 119.50167°W /39.98000; -119.50167), also known as Fremont's Pyramid and Pyramid Island, is a small island near the southeastern shore of the lake.[23] It is located approximately 1.2 miles (2 km) northeast ofAnaho Island and slightly less than six miles (9.5 km) from the community of Sutcliffe. The white band seen to the east of the island is composed ofcalcium carbonate which came from when the lake was at or near its overflow point.[24]
Major fish species include theCui-ui lakesucker, which is endemic to Pyramid Lake, theTui chub andLahontan cutthroat trout (the world record cutthroat trout was caught in Pyramid Lake). The former isendangered, and the latter isthreatened. Both species were critical to thePaiute people in pre-contact times.[8] The Lahontan cutthroat was called "Hoopagaih" by the Paiute people.[25] As they are both obligate freshwater spawners, they rely on sufficient inflow to allow them to run up the Truckee River to spawn, otherwise theireggs will not hatch.[14]
Diversion of the Truckee forirrigation atDerby Dam beginning in 1905 reduced inflow and the lake level to such an extent that stream flow is rarely sufficient for spawning. The Truckee Canal diverts water used to irrigate croplands in Fallon. The dam lacksfish ladders, which prevents upstream spawning. By 1939 theLahontan cutthroat trout (the "salmon-trout" as described by Frémont) became extinct in Pyramid Lake and its tributaries. They were replaced with hatchery trout from outside the watershed.[26]
However, in 1979 a remnant population of the original Pyramid Lake cutthroat trout was discovered in a small brook onPilot Peak, on the Nevada/Utah border, by Dr. Robert Behnke ofColorado State University while he was looking for theBonneville cutthroat trout, another subspecies of thecutthroat trout. The fish were tiny and in poor condition, but Behnke identified the fingerlings as the missing Pyramid Lake variety.[27][28]
Subsequent DNA testing of a museum specimen has shown his identification to be correct. The fish had been dumped in the creek in the early 20th century. A brood stock was raised at theU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Lahontan National Fish Hatchery inGardnerville, Nevada, and a successful reintroduction effort was mounted by the USFWS and thePyramid Lake Paiute Tribe. As of 2017, 24 pound Pyramid Lake Lahontan cutthroat trout are again being caught from the Lake's waters.[26][29]
The fish are doing very well, according to the USFWS project head Lisa Heki. The fish have also been placed in California'sFallen Leaf Lake, upstream of Pyramid Lake, and elsewhere. Fish populations are now sustained by several tribally-run fish hatcheries and state and federal agencies.[30] The Pyramid Lake Lahontan cutthroat trout is one of the largest inland trout species in the world.[31]
The following data are for thecensus-designated place (CDP) of Sutcliffe, NV, located on the shore of Pyramid Lake.
| Climate data for Sutcliffe, NV | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 65 (18) | 73 (23) | 76 (24) | 92 (33) | 99 (37) | 103 (39) | 105 (41) | 103 (39) | 98 (37) | 90 (32) | 79 (26) | 73 (23) | 105 (41) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 44.3 (6.8) | 47.7 (8.7) | 55.2 (12.9) | 61.5 (16.4) | 70.0 (21.1) | 79.8 (26.6) | 88.8 (31.6) | 87.4 (30.8) | 78.5 (25.8) | 65.5 (18.6) | 53.2 (11.8) | 45.0 (7.2) | 64.7 (18.2) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 29.0 (−1.7) | 31.2 (−0.4) | 35.8 (2.1) | 40.0 (4.4) | 47.5 (8.6) | 55.4 (13.0) | 63.3 (17.4) | 62.8 (17.1) | 55.3 (12.9) | 45.2 (7.3) | 36.3 (2.4) | 29.6 (−1.3) | 44.3 (6.8) |
| Record low °F (°C) | 9 (−13) | −4 (−20) | 10 (−12) | 22 (−6) | 28 (−2) | 36 (2) | 46 (8) | 43 (6) | 29 (−2) | 14 (−10) | 14 (−10) | −8 (−22) | −8 (−22) |
| Averageprecipitation inches (mm) | 1.35 (34) | 0.76 (19) | 0.70 (18) | 0.44 (11) | 0.63 (16) | 0.56 (14) | 0.17 (4.3) | 0.18 (4.6) | 0.26 (6.6) | 0.46 (12) | 0.85 (22) | 0.95 (24) | 7.31 (185.5) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 2.0 (5.1) | 1.3 (3.3) | 0.7 (1.8) | 0.2 (0.51) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0.1 (0.25) | 0.3 (0.76) | 0.9 (2.3) | 5.5 (14.02) |
| Source:http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMAIN.pl?nv7953 | |||||||||||||
At 8b thehardiness zone of the lake area is the highest in northern Nevada.[32]
Because of the endangered species present and because theLake Tahoe Basin comprises the headwaters of the Truckee River, Pyramid Lake has been the focus of several water quality investigations, the most detailed starting in the mid-1980s. Under direction of theU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a comprehensive dynamic water qualitycomputer model, theDSSAM Model was developed[16] to analyze impacts of a variety of land use andwastewater management decisions throughout the 3,120-square-mile (8,100 km2)Truckee River Basin.Analytes addressed includednitrogen, reactivephosphate,total dissolved solids,dissolved oxygen and nine other parameters. Based on the use of the model, some decisions have been influenced to enhance Pyramid Lake water quality and aid the viability of Pyramid Lakebiota. Another contaminant of interest ismercury, introduced to Pyramid Lake from the Truckee River.[33] It is suggested that mercury remediation efforts be carefully considered such thatmethylmercury production is not enhanced.[33]
Salinity increased from 0.5 to 0.7 ounces per US gallon (3.7 to 5 g/L), and thepH level is about 9. Temperature ranges between near freezing (32 °F (0 °C)) to over 68 °F (20 °C).[34]
Pyramid Lake was used as a stand-in for theSea of Galilee in the 1965 biblical film,The Greatest Story Ever Told.[35] Also, in 1961, part ofThe Misfits was filmed nearby.[36]
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