Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge...

is sustained by groundwater discharging from a series of large springs at the base of the east side of the Ruby Mountain range in northern Nevada.

Adult male Cinnamon Teal (Spatula cyanoptera).

Adult male Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis).

Adult male Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis).

The Great Basin...

in Nevada and Utah includes the most remote and loneliest part of the western US, and all the rivers are internally drained, that is, have no outlet to the oceans.

Endless mountain ranges, endless empty valleys.

There’s copper in them thar hills: Variegated mine dump at Ruth, Nevada.