LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. – Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) is kicking off a 30-day map challenge with the first challenge to find out where Tahoe’s largest trees are located.
Each point on the map represents a tree with a trunk over three feet in diameter. The larger the point, the wider the tree.
Across the Tahoe Basin, more than 84,000 trees have estimated trunk diameters greater than 36 inches, showing where old-growth giants remain and new ones are emerging. One can zoom out on the map and see where the biggest groupings of large trees are located.
Explore the interactive map and learn why these trees matter at https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/4e25e9df3e8b44a2af96894af1ac4670
After silver was discovered in Virginia City in 1859, the Comstock era stripped most of Tahoe’s old-growth forests to supply the mines in Virginia City and power the steam engines for trains and ships on Lake Tahoe. The remaining barren mountainside in the Lake Tahoe Basin began new growth of the trees we now see, and the big trees are finally coming back.
Follow along all month for more fascinating maps from TRPA’s cartographers.
Map created using LiDAR data from the USDA Forest Service Remote Sensing Lab.