Climate change in Nevada

Despite these conservation efforts, local water consumption remains 30 percent more than in Los Angeles, and over three times that of San Francisco metropolitan area residents.

Hotter, drier weather could increase the frequency and intensity of wildfires, threatening both property and forests.

Drier conditions would reduce the range and health of ponderosa and lodgepole pine forests in the northern and western areas of the state, and increase their susceptibility to fire.

A warmer climate would increase evaporation and shorten the snow season in the mountains, resulting in earlier spring runoff and reduced summer streamflow.

These threats, coupled with increasing human demands on water resources, could severely reduce the number and quality of wetland habitats, which are already stressed and ephemeral.

This would degrade habitat essential for migrating and breeding birds, and could further stress rare and endangered fish species.

Many desert-adapted plants and animals already live near their tolerance limits, and could disappear under the hotter conditions predicted under global warming.