15th Annual Snapshot Day of Lake Tahoe

More than a hundred trained volunteers will continue a 15 year tradition with a one-day hands-on effort to capture a snapshot of the health of Lake Tahoe’s watershed on May 16 at Lake Tahoe Community College.

“Snapshot Day creates the opportunity for people of all ages and experience levels to take part in protecting our watershed,” said Jesse Patterson, deputy director for the League to Save Lake Tahoe.

The League to Save Lake Tahoe will host Snapshot Day on the South Shore with presentations by Richard Booth from Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board and Krissy Harman from Tahoe Resource Conservation District.

South Shore monitoring will complement efforts happening simultaneously throughout the Truckee River Watershed from its tributaries upstream of Lake Tahoe to its end at Pyramid Lake in Nevada. Incline Village General Improvement District will host Snapshot Day on the North Shore, Truckee River Watershed Council will coordinate activities in Truckee, and Nevada Division of Environmental Protection will host monitoring efforts in Reno.

Volunteers will gather at 9 a.m. on May 16 at Lake Tahoe Community College to learn about the importance of water quality monitoring and the trends of data from the past 14 years of Snapshot Day. Community members within teams will then take their new knowledge out into the field to test the water quality of streams and rivers all across the south shore.

Thanks to the hard work of Tahoe Resource Conservation District staff, data from this year’s event will be included in a public database with information from the previous 14 years as well as in an annual report. To reference any of the data please visit tahoetruckeesnapshotday.org or Tahoe Resource Conservation District offices.

“This is citizen science at its best,” said Patterson. “As we try to better understand and protect Lake Tahoe, we are so fortunate to be able to build on a record of volunteer-collected data stretching back 14 years.”

If you are interested in volunteering at this event, please sign up online at tahoetruckesnapshotday.org or contact Savannah Rudroff with the League at 530.541.5388 or by email at savannah@keeptahoeblue.org. At the south shore location, there will be a free lunch provided to all volunteers.

WHO: All interested members of the public are invited to attend. Admission is free.
WHAT: 15th Annual Snapshot Day
WHEN: Saturday, May 16, 9 am to Noon.
WHERE: Lake Tahoe Community College
WHY: Learn about watershed health and how to help protect the Tahoe Truckee watershed
WEBSITE: www.tahoetruckeesnapshotday.org