aquatic invasive species

Litter. Dog poop. Unsafe fires. Bear safety. These are just some of the issues impacting our Region. Today, the Lake Tahoe Outreach Committee unveiled the Take Care™ campaign to help reduce these impacts and promote a more responsible use of our great outdoors.

The campaign was designed for use in outreach efforts by public agencies, private businesses and nonprofit organizations in the Region. Aimed at residents and visitors, the campaign is a series of reminders that poke fun at the mistakes we all make when we’re not paying attention.

A Tahoe Talks Brown Bag Lunch Series recently launched offers a monthly forum for people to discuss and learn more about ways to strengthen communities, make towns safer for bicyclists and pedestrians, and help protect Lake Tahoe’s amazing natural resources.

Lunches are held monthly at Lake Tahoe Community College. They cover topics ranging from transportation to the economy and the environment, and offer a comfortable, low-key setting for people to discuss and learn about those issues. The events are free to the public.

Jesse Patterson of the League to Save Lake Tahoe will be the guest speaker during March Tahoe Talks. He will speak on "Volunteer Monitoring: How to Facilitate Change through Observation."

Top experts will converge at Lake Tahoe in September for the annual meeting of the Western Regional Panel on Aquatic Nuisance Species, hosted by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

Taking place September 2-4, the annual meeting brings together officials from across the country in the fight against western expansion of aquatic invasive species. Participants will learn from informative lectures and discussions to foster coordination of aquatic invasive species management among western states. This event is open to the public.

The partnership between California and Nevada that created the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency turns 45 years old today, marking nearly a half-century of progress in the protection and restoration of Lake Tahoe and its treasured environment.

President Richard Nixon signed the Bi-State Compact creating TRPA on Thursday, December 18, 1969. Nixon’s signature followed the compact’s ratification by Congress and its approval by both states’ legislatures and former governors Ronald Reagan in California and Paul Laxalt in Nevada.

As the keynote speaker at last month’s National Workshop on Large Landscape Conservation in Washington, D.C., U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell emphasized the central role collaboration must play for America to protect its natural resources, balance economic needs, and address emerging environmental challenges such as climate change.

“We are moving into an era of epic collaboration,” Jewell said, explaining that regional partnerships across jurisdictional boundaries are more important than ever for the federal department that manages 20 percent of our nation’s land.

“A breakdown can pave the way for a breakthrough,” California Governor Jerry Brown said at the Lake Tahoe Summit on August 19.

The governor was speaking about the challenges people face in looking beyond their differences for common ground, whether that’s working to craft the $7.5 billion water bond California voters will consider in November or working across state lines to protect and restore Lake Tahoe.

Aquatic invasive plants have already made Lake Tahoe home and while control efforts are underway, there is still not enough information about the current locations of infestations.

To fight this threat we need more “Eyes on the Lake." The newest effort of the Lake Tahoe Aquatic Invasive Species Program has returned for summer 2014.

Join us for this FREE training where volunteers can learn how to identify and report on aquatic invasive plants found in Tahoe’s lakes and streams, and help protect our pristine Lake.

It will cost boaters $10 more to have their boat inspected prior to being launched in Lake Tahoe this summer.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) Governing Board approved the fee update for the watercraft inspection program to help sustain boater services after a reduction in their federal funding.

The changes the TRPA approved this week:

* The decontamination fee will increase from $25 to $35 dollars only charged to boaters who don’t arrive at the inspection station Clean, Drained and Dry. All other fees will remain the same.

The reauthorization of the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act was introduced yesterday in the U.S. House of Representatives, following the Senate’s introduction of the bill in August.

Scientists today presented research findings and recommendations to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board that address Lake Tahoe’s aquatic nearshore environment and the heightened interest in understanding factors contributing to its apparent deterioration.

It has been 17 years since President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore stood on the shores of Lake Tahoe and issued a challenge. They urged the frequently fractious perspectives in the region to come together in support of the restoration of Lake Tahoe.

Lake Tahoe organizations whose collaborative work over the past 15 years has been a driving force for advancing Lake Tahoe restoration efforts applauded congressional leaders Thursday for introducing a $415 million reauthorization of the federal Lake Tahoe Restoration Act.

Tahoe Keepers will hold an appreciation event with complimentary food and drink for registered Tahoe Keepers at the Live at Lakeview summer music series from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. on June 27, 2013.

The first 75 Lake Tahoe Keepers to check in will receive a voucher to Lakeview Café.

In June, several Lake Tahoe agencies are kicking off a new volunteer effort called “Eyes on the Lake” in which water recreationists of all types will be identifying and reporting on the locations of aquatic invasive plant species that threaten Lake Tahoe.

Roadside stations for Lake Tahoe boat inspections and watercraft decontamination are officially open at three locations — Meyers, Spooner Summit and Alpine Meadows — with stations at Northstar and Homewood to open May 23.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s Governing Board approved an annual update to the Aquatic Invasive Species Watercraft Inspection Program during their January meeting on Wednesday. The approval keeps nearly all boater fees the same and improves efficiency of service at watercraft inspection stations around the Lake Tahoe Basin in an effort to keep the $1.4 million inspection program in the black, according to agency officials.

Rubber barriers bound for the lakebed of Lake Tahoe’s Emerald Bay are being assembled at the University of California, Davis, as part of the biggest Asian clam control project in the lake’s history.

The invasive clams threaten the lake's health and famed clarity.

UC Davis scientists, staff and students are unfolding the long, black mats and enhancing them with rebar, brass grommets and valves that will hold the barriers in place underwater and enable scientific analysis of the project.

The Lake Tahoe Federal Advisory Committee (LTFAC) is scheduled to meet from 9 a.m. until noon on Thursday, October 11, 2012, at the Tahoe Environmental Research Center, 291 Country Club Drive, Incline Village, NV, 89451. LTFAC will address issues related to federal activities at Lake Tahoe.

Items on the agenda include an update on Biomass in the Lake Tahoe Basin, Aquatic Invasive Species in Lake Mead, and public comment. Members of the public interested in finding out more about the LTFAC are welcome to attend this meeting.

Following a stellar boating season at Lake Tahoe, this Thursday, Sept. 20 will be the last day of operations for the Northstar and Homewood boat inspection stations. Boat inspections and decontaminations will still be available at the Alpine, Spooner and Meyers stations until Sept. 30, 2012.

Nine beautiful West Shore gardens and educational talks on conservation landscaping topics highlight the fifth annual Conservation Landscape Tour, one of the signature events produced by the sustainable landscaping experts with the Tahoe Resource Conservation District. Maps for the tour can be picked up on Sunday, August 19 between 1 and 3 pm at the corner of Wilson and Pine Streets in Tahoma, Calif.

Lake Tahoe Basin residents and visitors are invited to help remove one of Tahoe’s most prolific aquatic invasive weeds, Eurasian watermilfoil, during a community volunteer event at Baldwin Beach on Sunday, July 15.
The project is a partnership of the League to Save Lake Tahoe, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, and the U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit. Preventing the introduction and spread of aquatic invasive species is a top priority for all three agencies.

The Tahoe Resource Conservation District (Tahoe RCD) will hold conservation events that highlight environmental projects and stewardship opportunities in the Lake Tahoe Basin communities. These gatherings are part of the 2012 Community Watershed Partnership (CWP), a holistic program which provides a place for education, participation, and involvement in your local watershed.