In The News – Unlocking Tahoe’s dirty secret: Data from a multiyear monitoring project
March 6, 2024 | Member Submitted
Originally Published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune 03/05/24, Submitted
INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. – Clean Up The Lake, the environmental non-profit responsible for the 72-mile cleanup of Lake Tahoe, has recently completed a two-year monitoring effort on the lake. CUTL conservation dive teams revisited 20 litter hotspots in the 0 to 25-foot depths along the Nevada shoreline that were identified during the 72-mile cleanup of Lake Tahoe in 2021.
The primary purpose of this project was to survey these nearshore zones along the Nevada shoreline to observe changes in litter accumulation and perform surveillance for aquatic invasive species (AIS) that may have progressed since 2021. By revisiting places that were already cleaned, the data collected helped determine the status of litter accumulation in Lake Tahoe, its rate of change since the 72-mile cleanup, and the efficacy of CUTL!s SCUBA-enabled cleanup methodology.
A secondary purpose of this monitoring project was to perform 40 additional deep dive surveys between the 35 and 70-foot depths near each hot spot location to better assess litter loads and AIS at deeper depths.