LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. – Clean Up The Lake (CUTL) has announced the release of its Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) Video Identification Toolkit, a high-resolution, field-ready resource designed to help divers, shoreline users, and water professionals accurately identify invasive species in Lake Tahoe and freshwater systems worldwide.

Thanks to the support of The Martis Fund, Martis Camp Foundation, and three separate funds held at The Tahoe Community Foundation, the organization developed this toolkit for users both underwater and above the surface. This new resource supports early detection and prevention by making species identification more accessible to a wide audience, from scientific divers and agency staff to educators, environmental volunteers, and the general public.

“Aquatic invasive species are among the most significant ecological threats facing Lake Tahoe. Once introduced, these species can spread rapidly, disrupting nearshore habitats, altering food webs, and contributing to long-term declines in water clarity and biodiversity,” said Jenny Uvira, CUTL programs manager. “This resource is a new tool on our regional belt to support that effort in the Tahoe basin and abroad to protect our underwater environment.”

A Cinematic Approach to a Visual Challenge

The full toolkit and press package is available at this link, and on Friday, 4/3/26, it will be hosted live at www.cleanupthelake.org/ais.

“The inspiration behind the Toolkit was to bring film and television-level cinematography and image quality into a field that is inherently visual: identifying species based on how they look in real conditions,” said CUTL Founder & CEO Colin West.

Existing identification resources developed by agencies and research partners have been foundational to AIS management, yet many rely solely on imagery and text. West added, “We saw an opportunity to build on that strong foundation by introducing high-resolution, motion-based visuals that reflect how species are actually encountered underwater by dive contractors and citizen scientists alike.”

Filmed in 6K–8K resolution, the Toolkit combines studio-controlled macro cinematography with real-world underwater footage captured by CUTL’s scientific dive team. This approach allows viewers to:

  • See fine morphological detail up close, including subtle features used for identification, captured both in studio settings on land and in macro footage filmed as deep as 50 feet in Lake Tahoe.
  • Understand how species appear and move in their natural environment, where divers and survey teams are often the first line of detection
  • Have academically sourced and verified species information curated by an environmental scientist on both habitat and morphological ID characteristics to support these visuals.

By bridging cinematic production with scientific applications, the Toolkit enhances existing efforts and provides an additional layer of clarity for those working to protect freshwater ecosystems.

Phase One of the AIS Video Toolkit & Species Included

Phase One of this toolkit documents key invasive species established in Lake Tahoe and other nearby lakes, including Eurasian watermilfoil, Curlyleaf pondweed, Freshwater invasive clams (AKA: Asian clams), the New Zealand mudsnail, and signal crayfish—alongside the notorious high-risk golden mussel for early detection awareness.

CUTL Operations Manager Klemen Robnik, who helped set up logistics for filming all these species, said: “The resource also includes native species comparisons, including Richardson’s pondweed, elodea (waterweed), coontail, ramshorn snail, and the western pearlshell mussel.”

He further noted that these are included to improve identification accuracy and reduce misreporting. Designed for real-world application, the Toolkit combines wide-angle habitat context shots and information, mid-range views of species in their habitat underwater showing natural movement of both freshwater animal and plant species, and macro-level detail of orphological features both underwater and filmed in a studio setting. By complementing existing resources, it supports consistent identification, reinforces Clean, Drain, Dry practices, and strengthens coordination across agencies, researchers, and the broader global scientific community.

Project Support

This project was made possible through the generous support of The Martis Fund and Martis Camp Foundation, along with funding from the Community Impact Fund, Ashley Quinn Fund, and the Foresight Fund, all held at the Tahoe Community Foundation. 

“We are grateful to our partners for believing in us enough to bring this new idea to life and to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency for their support in providing a number of specimen samples used for studio filming,” said West. 

Clean Up The Lake hopes to build on this innovative resource and continue growing it in the coming years to help reinforce the fight against aquatic invasive species here in the Tahoe basin and abroad.