Some definitions:

Here are some definitions for the purpose of making this website easier to navigate: 

Northwestern Nevada (click here for map) -- A seven-county area plus Carson City (formerly Ormsby County) in the northwest part of Nevada. Except for an area on the California border, the land and climate are similar, and, except for the urbanized/suburbanized area, is sparsely populated with a few towns. Its area is about 30,000 square miles and its population is about 560,000. See the map below.

The climate of northwestern Nevada is distinguished, Goldilocks-style, from that of northeastern Nevada ("too cold") and from that of southern Nevada ("too hot"); it is "just right."

The urbanized/suburbanized area (click here for map) -- An area of higher population density bordered by the North Valleys and Spanish Springs to the north, the Sierra Nevada to the west, Gardnerville to the south, and a group of desert mountains to the east. It is about 5 to 10 miles east-to-west and about 60 miles north-to-south, probably about 400 square miles. It has probably 80 percent of the population of northwestern Nevada. There is an entire page about the urbanized/suburbanized area on this page.

The urbanized/suburbanized area is basically all the land in a number of nearly contiguous valleys near the western edge of  northwestern Nevada, bounded by desert mountains owned by the Federal Government or as part of Indian Reservations (in other words, this area cannot expand). This area is drained by the Truckee River, the Carson River, and their tributaries. 

Woody plant -- A plant with hardened, dead ("woody") stems; herbaceous plants have soft stems. Trees, shrubs, vines and some ground covers are woody plants. Zinnias are not woody plants; maples are.

Introduced woody plants -- Woody plants which are not native to the area. They originate from North America, Europe, Africa and Asia.

The land:

Northwest Nevada, except for the part in the Sierra Nevada, is an arid, cool desert with low humidity, thin alkaline soils with little organic matter, frequent winds and with an elevation of from 4000 feet to 8000 feet plus. Look here for a report which might be written before 1820.

The people:

160 years ago, when Caucasians first passed through Nevada, the population was a few thousand Indians. Since that time there has been a tremendous amount of immigration, until now the population of northwestern Nevada is about 560,000 and is still growing. There is a report about the history of northwestern Nevada between 1820 and the present.

There are three types of counties in northwestern Nevada. Humboldt and Pershing Counties are mostly rural and, from 1940 to 2000, increased in population by about 187 percent. Churchill, Lyon and Storey Counties are mostly rural, but each has towns which are bedroom communities for the urbanized/suburbanized area (Reno, Sparks and Carson City environs). They increased in population from 1940 to 2000 by about 590 percent. Douglas County, the southernmost part of Washoe County Carson City are the urbanized/suburbanized area and increased in population by about 1170 percent. 

What are the reasons for the tremendous increase in population of these counties? They could include the natural scenic beauty of the area; the proximity of incredibly scenic Lake Tahoe with its winter skiing and summer hiking and biking and other recreational activities; a climate with four seasons yet lacking the muggy summers and grim, leaden-sky winters of the northeastern U.S.; and the relative ease of driving from both the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas. They could also include economic factors such as the plethora of casinos, a great job market, cheaper housing for retired people and lack of a state income tax.

For whatever reasons, people have settled here in droves.

The plants:

Here is a list of woody plants native to northwestern Nevada. When the people came, they were not content to see the native plants "at the edge of town;" they either brought or bought plants more suited to their former homes. People from the eastern U.S. planted elms, oaks and maples; people from the midwest U.S. planted cottonwoods, for example. Some of the trees they brought have become problem trees.

Many adventurous souls bought plants they had never heard of, possibly for the novelty or to see if they would grow here. And grow here they did. In the urbanized/suburbanized area alone, there are hundreds of thousands of trees and millions of shrubs. A spectator looking east from 7500 feet elevation along the Mount Rose Highway (Nevada 431) sees a sea of green.

Fifty years ago there was not the great variety of plants available we see today; this is obvious from looking at landscapes of homes of that vintage. Somewhere around 20 years ago introduced woody plants blossomed in diversity, and today there are available for sale a large number of different woody plants, as shown in the table of plant variety:

Plant variety

Yet it takes some adaptation by the plants and some improvement of the planting environment by people to keep introduced woody plants thriving. The table below illustrates the differences between our native environment and that of the eastern U.S. woods, where a large number of introduced woody plants are native: