Photo: Peter Spain, tahoespain.com |
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Our 2023 Accomplishments & 2024 Objectives |
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In 2023, with your support, we took strides for Tahoe's future, tackling pollution and combating invasive species in innovative, effective ways. We partnered with the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California for hands-on ecosystem projects, we rolled out our beach-cleaning robots further and more frequently, and we broadened opportunities for volunteering.
Your support helped us bring about meaningful changes. As we step into 2024, we are excited to share our goals to unlock federal funding, raise the bar for beach management, and more in 2024 to protect the Lake.
Thank you for donating, volunteering and spreading the word to Keep Tahoe Blue.
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Restoring Tahoe’s native ecosystems, such as its meadows and creeks, is like mending a broken leg – it makes the whole body feel and work better. It also makes the Basin able to bounce back after fires, droughts, extreme storms, and other climate change impacts. With your help and support, we restore Tahoe through hands-on projects and by streamlining the permitting process that can delay restoration work.
In 2023, we welcomed new sites and partners to our long-running Tahoe Forest Stewardship Days events, including the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, Nevada Tahoe Conservation District, and Incline Village General Improvement District. Together with hundreds of volunteers, we removed conifers that were siphoning the water out of Meeks Meadow, improved beaver dam habitat at Saxon Creek on the South Shore, and pulled invasive plants from a stream in Incline Village. The result is a healthier, more connected Lake Tahoe.
Our CEO, Dr. Darcie Goodman Collins, helped bring together California's environmental agencies for the first time to talk restoration. They workshopped ways to remove bureaucratic hurdles that delay restoration work, so important projects can happen faster.
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Preserving Tahoe’s Federal Funding Lifeline |
We’re dedicated to building the Basin’s ecological resilience so it can withstand climate change. Achieving that goal in Tahoe’s complex regulatory environment takes resources and collaboration.
With support from you, our generous donors and supporters, our in-house team of policy experts meets regularly with legislators in Sacramento, Carson City and Washington DC to recruit them as vocal champions for Lake Tahoe.
In the federal arena this year, we have a singular focus – to pass the Lake Tahoe Restoration Reauthorization Act. When it becomes law, this key piece of legislation will ensure that more than $300 million of previously authorized but unallocated funds can still flow to Tahoe, so critical environmental improvement projects can be completed.
Through legislative efforts like this, we leverage your donations to unlock millions of dollars in public funding for Tahoe agencies to protect and restore this precious ecosystem.
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Taking a Bite Out of Tahoe’s Litter Problem |
In 2023, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of our “Keep Tahoe Red, White & Blue” July 5th Cleanup by hosting the most partners and sites in the event's history. Since the first of these annual cleanups, we’ve analyzed our litter data and happily tracked a decade-long trend toward cleaner beaches. Last year, one extreme outlier distracted from that progress. At Zephyr Shoals, our volunteers, partners, and staff removed 6,300 pounds of litter, but found very little trash at our five other sites.
Our robotic beach-cleaning program grew in 2023. Together with ECO-CLEAN Solutions, we added a second BEBOT and began cleaning full beaches, powered by support from partners, including the Tahoe Beach Club and City of South Lake Tahoe. With wider use, the BEBOT removed more of the trash hidden beneath the sand that would otherwise find a permanent home in the Lake.
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Raising the Bar for Beach Management |
Over the past decade, we've been thrilled to see Tahoe beaches become progressively cleaner, thanks to cleanup events, public awareness, and land managers who have taken steps to prevent impacts. Yet, more work is needed to create the litter-free Tahoe we all want.
Building on two years of coordination and planning, the League, USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (USFS), and USFS's concessionaire businesses are partnering in a new “Tahoe Blue Beaches” program in 2024. The program focuses on improved education (outreach and signage), engineering (trash facilities, bathrooms, and parking) and enforcement (making sure rules are followed). USFS has updated concessionaire permits to prevent litter problems of the past, and the League looks forward to publicly recognizing beaches and businesses that take these extra steps to Keep Tahoe Blue for the future.
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New Tech for Containment and Control |
Aquatic invasive species (AIS) throw a wrench in Lake’s Tahoe’s native ecology and threaten to turn its beautiful water from blue to green. To protect water quality, the League works to contain and control AIS.
In 2023, we combined forces with the Tahoe Keys Marina and ECO-CLEAN Solutions to introduce a motorized, aquatic skimmer – the PixieDrone – to capture invasive weed fragments and stop them from continuing to spread out of the Tahoe Keys Marina and into Lake Tahoe.
The League also funded a mobile, solar-powered cleaning station for non-motorized watercraft like kayaks and paddleboards. The CD3 – short for “clean, drain, dry dispose” – gives paddlers and anglers a free tool to make sure their gear is AIS-free. The Tahoe Resource Conservation District and Tahoe Regional Planning Agency positioned the CD3 at popular spots around the Basin during the summer. The new tool will help slow the spread of AIS that are already in the Lake and prevent new introductions, like the New Zealand mudsnail that was discovered in Tahoe last year.
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Protecting Tahoe’s Waters for the Long Term |
In 2024, a decade of work culminates with the completion of the Tahoe Keys Control Methods Test (CMT). This innovative, science-based program was designed to evaluate a wide range of methods for tackling aquatic weeds in the Tahoe Keys, which is ground zero for the Lake’s aquatic invasive species infestation. The lessons and data provided by the CMT will guide aquatic weed management for the entire Lake for the long term.
The CMT’s insights will also be combined with public outreach and the use of novel technologies like the PixieDrone, bubble curtains, and CD3 machine to ratchet up containment and control of aquatic invasive species right away.
The goal is simple: to protect the clear water we all enjoy by stopping the aquatic weed invasion at the source.
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Sustainability for the Slopes |
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Wax on, eco-style! Our mountainFLOW glide wax is a plant-based powerhouse for your winter rides.
It offers buttery smooth performance in two temperature ranges, cool (15°-30° F) and warm (25°-40° F).
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Ski sustainably and crush those slopes, not the planet! All proceeds benefit our efforts to Keep Tahoe Blue.
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