World renowned for its crystal clear, azure water, Lake Tahoe
straddles the Nevada-California border. However, the lake’s
clarity has declined in the last 40 years due to accumulated
effects of development.
At 1,645 feet, Lake Tahoe is the second deepest lake in the
United States and the 10th deepest in the world. Lake Tahoe sits
6,225 feet above sea level, and is 22 miles long and 12 miles
wide.
Approximately 40 percent of the Tahoe Basin’s rain and snow fall
directly into the lake, contributing to Lake Tahoe’s legendary
clarity. The remaining precipitation drains through granitic
soils, which are relatively sterile and create a good filtering
system.
The lake’s vitality is threatened by several factors
including invasive species (trout and bass), stormwater
runoff and increasing temperatures as a part of ongoing climate
change. Meanwhile, drought conditions have led the lake to be the
driest it has been in a century.
A South Lake Tahoe man is suing the California Tahoe
Conservancy (CTC) after his home was filled with water for 80
days this past winter. Damian Sowers, a lifelong local who
lives on El Dorado Avenue, can now only visit the home his
parents built 60 years ago. The house was filled with 16″ of
water that came in from the Upper Truckee River during the
heavy 2022-23 winter. The CTC started a restoration project in
the Upper Truckee River Marsh in 2020 to correct old grazing
and farming methods that straightened the river to have a drier
meadow. The two-year-long project brought back water to the
meadow, creating a healthier environment. Sowers said he
believes in the project and is a proponent of the restoration,
but he says the way it was done with check dams was
ill-conceived and the project’s floodplain alterations were
miscalculated by more than an order of magnitude.
While out enjoying an afternoon on one of Lake Tahoe’s sandy
beaches over the past few years, you might have noticed large
mats of decomposing algae washing up or floating nearby. The
lake’s famed blue waters are facing another threat while the
battles of climate change and invasive species wage on — and
it’s all very much connected. Nearshore algae blooms are
a burgeoning ecological threat to Tahoe. Not only do they
impact the experience for beachgoers, but they also degrade
water quality and, in some cases, pose a threat of
toxicity. Over the last 50 years, the rate of algal
growth has increased sixfold, according to U.C. Davis Tahoe
Environmental Research Center’s 2022 State of the Lake
Report.
Agencies restoring the Taylor and Tallac marsh areas have
completed the installation of bottom barriers to remove 17
acres of invasive plants as part of the comprehensive
restoration of one of the last natural wetlands in the Lake
Tahoe Basin, the USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin
Management Unit and Tahoe Regional Planning Agency announced
today. The collaborative project that began in December 2021 is
one of the largest aquatic invasive species control projects
ever undertaken in the Tahoe Basin.
The Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) provided a $2.27 million
grant to the 40 Acre Conservation League, California’s only
Black-led conservation group, for the Tahoe Forest Gateway
Leidesdorff Property in Placer County, a cooperative project
with the Sierra Nevada Conservancy. The conservation group
acquired approximately 650 acres of land near the Tahoe Lake
area for the purposes of wildlife-oriented education and
research, wildlife habitat preservation, restoration and
management. The WCB approved approximately $163.5 million in
grants to 37 projects at its Aug. 24, 2023, quarterly meeting
that will help restore and protect fish and wildlife habitat
throughout California. The grants will also provide new and
improved public access, recreation and educational
opportunities.
Six trees were found “poisoned” at a private beach in one
of Tahoe’s most exclusive neighborhoods recently, spurring
an investigation and pointing to the area’s long history of
tree violations. According to the Tahoe Daily
Tribune, the mystery began in July 2022, when Incline Village
General Improvement District staff members found six other
trees at Burnt Cedar Beach that smelled like fuel. The latest
poisonings bring the total of poisoned trees at Burnt Cedar
Beach to 12. Representatives from the Incline Village Parks and
Recreation department told SFGATE that the restricted beach,
which is outfitted with a pool, swimming cove and full-service
bar, is only accessible to residents and their guests.
When the July Fourth crowds cleared out from Tahoe’s beaches
this year, visitors left thousands of pounds of trash behind —
Zephyr Shoals alone had 8,500 pounds of rubbish. The next day,
volunteers flocked to the beaches, picking up broken coolers
and lawn chairs, plastic cups and aluminum cans. But more
rubbish, unseen by the volunteers, hid just beneath the sand.
Across Tahoe’s beaches, scraps like bottle caps, bits of
Styrofoam and cigarette butts remained. … Traditional
methods for rounding up litter in the water and on the
lakeshores are no longer sufficient, according to the League to
Save Lake Tahoe, a nonprofit group dedicated to protecting the
Tahoe Basin. Enter the BEBOT and the PixieDrone, zero-emission
robots designed specifically to clean sandy beaches and the
surfaces of lakes.
Strolling on the Lake of the Sky Trail, U.S. Forest Service
officer Daniel Cressy marveled at the wildlife that first
attracted him to Lake Tahoe. A bald eagle nestled into the top
of a Jeffrey Pine looking out over the shimmering blue of North
America’s largest alpine lake, and rising in the distance was
Mount Tallac, a 9,739-foot peak that he’s skied many times.
Then, along the path, Cressy spotted a tree with “J&B”
carved into its trunk. … That small stain of
civilization epitomized the growing tension between the
millions of tourists who provide economic sustenance to the
High Sierra paradise and the effort to preserve the natural
splendor that draws them, a clash that came into sharp focus
this week with a weeklong visit from world’s most powerful
tourist, President Joe Biden.
Researchers with UC Davis’ Tahoe Environmental Research Center
have been tracking water clarity for more than 50 years. But
the method for taking those measurements can be traced back to
the 1800s in Vatican City. Advertisement It was then that Papal
scientist Father Angelo Secchi developed the Secchi Disk: a
small weighted plate that is used to gauge visibility as it’s
lowered deep into open water. “Angelo Secchi was possibly the
greatest scientist nobody’s ever heard of,” Brother Guy
Consolmagno, the current director of the Vatican Observatory,
said. UC Davis TERC staff still use the Secchi Disk every 10
days, monitoring changes in Lake Tahoe year-round.
The 2023 Tahoe State of the Lake report was released for public
viewing, and Tahoe Environmental Research Center Director
Geoffrey Schladow was able to present the findings at the
Granlibakken Thursday, July 20. The report informs
non-scientists about the important factors impacting the health
of the basin, and provides the scientific details for
preservation and management within Lake Tahoe. The 2023
report summarizes data collected during 2022 in the context of
the long-term record of research done in Lake Tahoe.
Researchers at UC Davis have been continuously monitoring the
lake since 1968.
On average, more than 60 percent of
California’s developed water supply originates in the Sierra
Nevada and the southern spur of the Cascade Range. Our water
supply is largely dependent on the health of our Sierra forests,
which are suffering from ecosystem degradation, drought,
wildfires and widespread tree mortality.
This tour ventured into the Sierra to examine water issues
that happen upstream but have dramatic impacts downstream and
throughout the state.
Sixty percent of California’s developed water supply
originates high in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Our water
supply is largely dependent on the health of our Sierra forests,
which are suffering from ecosystem degradation, drought,
wildfires and widespread tree mortality.
We headed into the foothills and the mountains to examine
water issues that happen upstream but have dramatic impacts
downstream and throughout the state.
GEI (Tour Starting Point)
2868 Prospect Park Dr.
Rancho Cordova, CA 95670.
Lake
Tahoe, the iconic high Sierra water body that straddles
California and Nevada, has sat for more than 10,000 years at the
heart of the Washoe tribe’s territory. In fact, the name Tahoe
came from the tribal word dá’aw, meaning lake.
The lake’s English name was the source of debate for about 100
years after it was first “discovered” in 1844 by people of
European descent when Gen. John C. Fremont’s expedition made its
way into the region. Not long after, a man who carried mail on
snowshoes from Placerville to Nevada City named it Lake Bigler in
honor of John Bigler, who served as California’s third governor.
But because Bigler was an ardent secessionist, the federal
Interior Department during the Civil War introduced the name
Tahoe in 1862. Meanwhile, California kept it as Lake Bigler and
didn’t officially recognize the name as Lake Tahoe until 1945.
Sixty percent of California’s developed water supply
originates high in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Our water
supply is largely dependent on the health of our Sierra forests,
which are suffering from ecosystem degradation, drought,
wildfires and widespread tree mortality.
This 25-minute documentary-style DVD, developed in partnership
with the California Department of Water Resources, provides an
excellent overview of climate change and how it is already
affecting California. The DVD also explains what scientists
anticipate in the future related to sea level rise and
precipitation/runoff changes and explores the efforts that are
underway to plan and adapt to climate.
30-minute DVD that traces the history of the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation and its role in the development of the West. Includes
extensive historic footage of farming and the construction of
dams and other water projects, and discusses historic and modern
day issues.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, displays
the rivers, lakes and reservoirs, irrigated farmland, urban areas
and Indian reservations within the Truckee River Basin, including
the Newlands Project, Pyramid Lake and Lake Tahoe. Map text
explains the issues surrounding the use of the Truckee-Carson
rivers, Lake Tahoe water quality improvement efforts, fishery
restoration and the effort to reach compromise solutions to many
of these issues.
This 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, illustrates the
water resources available for Nevada cities, agriculture and the
environment. It features natural and manmade water resources
throughout the state, including the Truckee and Carson rivers,
Lake Tahoe, Pyramid Lake and the course of the Colorado River
that forms the state’s eastern boundary.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to Nevada Water provides an
overview of the history of water development and use in Nevada.
It includes sections on Nevada’s water rights laws, the history
of the Truckee and Carson rivers, water supplies for the Las
Vegas area, groundwater, water quality, environmental issues and
today’s water supply challenges.
A new look for our most popular product! And it’s the perfect
gift for the water wonk in your life.
Our 24×36 inch California Water Map is widely known for being the
definitive poster that shows the integral role water plays in the
state. On this updated version, it is easier to see California’s
natural waterways and man-made reservoirs and aqueducts
– including federally, state and locally funded
projects – the wild and scenic rivers system, and
natural lakes. The map features beautiful photos of
California’s natural environment, rivers, water projects,
wildlife, and urban and agricultural uses and the
text focuses on key issues: water supply, water use, water
projects, the Delta, wild and scenic rivers and the Colorado
River.
Lake Tahoe is one of the world’s most beautiful yet vulnerable
lakes. Renowned for its remarkable clarity, Tahoe straddles the
Nevada-California border, stretching 22 miles long and 12 miles
wide in a granitic bowl high in the Sierra Nevada.
Tahoe sits 6,225 feet above sea level. Its deepest point is 1,645
feet, making it the second-deepest lake in the nation, after
Oregon’s Crater Lake, and the tenth deepest in the world.
Lake Tahoe is one of the Sierra Nevada’s crown jewels, renowned
for its breathtaking clarity. The high-altitude, clear blue lake
and its surrounding basin, which lie on the California-Nevada
state line, is a spectacular natural resource that provides
environmental, economic, recreational and aesthetic benefits.
