Over 8,100 pounds of trash removed from Donner and Tahoe by Clean Up The Lake dive teams

Clean Up the Lake dive teams have removed 8,183 pounds of trash from Donner Lake and Lake Tahoe, most from the summer of 2020.

The team completed a circumnavigation of Donner Lake, covering every inch of eight-mile shoreline at depths up to 25 feet. They removed all they could find in that area, resulting in 5151.5 pounds. They removed 3,032 pounds of trash from the depths of Lake Tahoe.

A portion of the Lake Tahoe trash came from a six mile clean up of Nevada’s Lake Tahoe sub-surface shoreline yielding 2,238 pounds of Trash from popular areas like Nevada Beach, Zephyr Cove, Secret beach and areas near Incline Village. This cleanup was funded by the License Plate Grant from Nevada Division of State Lands & a sub-grant by NV Department of Environmental Protection and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Clean Up the Lake, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, has worked with staff & volunteers this summer to further develop their strategic approach of SCUBA clean ups that involve teams of divers, free divers & snorkelers, surface support on kayaks, zodiacs, jet skis and of course boats.

Clean Up The Lake’s Founder & Executive Director Colin West is leading these dives to remove this trash while working with microplastics research teams from UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC) and Desert Research Institute (DRI) to better understand the issue at hand so that in the future the organization can do more than pick up the trash, but address the plastic & litter issue at its root.

During this summer’s clean ups, West and his team used an archeological surveying software called the Wildnote App. This allowed divers to GPS pinpoint areas of interest such as trash hot spots, areas with heavier items that need a winch or crane to be removed, and also historical items that are left behind where the organization ensures to later notify proper authorities with the GPS data and photographs.

“In comparison to next year’s 72 mile SCUBA clean up of Lake Tahoe, these smaller scale clean ups gave us the opportunity to practice our crab & fine tune our strategies, while also removing a substantial amount of trash from both Lake Tahoe and Donner Lake,” said West. “Our organization now feels even more ready for what awaits us on the 72 mile SCUBA clean up next year."

This past week Clean Up the Lake, UC Davis TERC and DRI began the process of sorting and categorizing 2,248 pounds of trash. They will then use the data to develop eductitional programs, better inform policy makers, spread public awareness on items that need to be reduced so they do not make back into the lake and so much more.

As a non-profit organization, Clean Up the Lake depends on donations to continue fighting the good fight. They give thanks to the Truckee Community and local businesses like Mountain Hardware & Sports and Truckee Tahoe Lumber Company who sponsored their efforts. Clean Up The Lake also has an Adopt a Mile program where individual or business donors can sponsor one full mile of Lake Tahoe’s clean up
efforts and explore other partnership & donation opportunities. Be a part of the solution and visit www.cleanupthelake.org/donate to pledge your support.