Cleanups

LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. - Busy summers come with lots of litter. Help the League to Save Lake Tahoe keep the Tahoe that we love clean by participating in Tahoe's Trash Pickup Challenge all September long. You can join them at in-person events, cleanup remotely or do both.

Every Saturday in September is a cleanup day. Join them by tidying up in your neighborhood, local happy place or one of the litter hot spots listed in the signup form. If Saturdays don’t jive with your calendar, don't let that stop you! You can clean up any day, any time.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - With months of people being under "Stay at Home" orders, and if the past few days are any indication, this holiday weekend will be busy at Lake Tahoe as people get out in the fresh air, hike, bike, go to the beach and get on the water.

The July Fourth holiday at Lake Tahoe will look a bit different this year with firework shows canceled, social distancing, the requirement of face coverings in public places and growing concerns about responsible recreation.

Thursday June 18 | 9 - 9:45 am
Tuesday, June 23 | noon - 12:45 pm
Wednesday, June 24 | 4:30 - 5:15 pm

Be a part of the solution by joining Tahoe Blue Crew and taking action to remove litter from your Lake Tahoe community! Through our Zoom training you will learn how to become a Tahoe Blue Crew Leader and how execute your own Blue Crew experiences.

Head to keeptahoeblue.org/events for more information and to register today!

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LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Everyone has seen the pictures, piles of broken plastic sleds left behind in the snow, trash left behind on the beaches and even pet waste disposal bags left along the trails.

Shared on social media, these photos of irresponsible people enjoying the beauty of Lake Tahoe have spread like runny pancake batter. The reason most visit and live around the Lake Tahoe Basin is for the natural beauty everywhere one looks. The majestic peaks and pine-tree filled mountains, the crystal blue water, beaches lining much of the 72-mile circumference of the pristine Lake Tahoe.

It’s the terrible ‘c’ word, cancer. Almost everyone has someone in their lives battling or who has lost the fight against cancer. It takes a toll on everyone. Personally, I have a cousin who was recently diagnosed with colon cancer and he likely has less than two years with his family.

7/10/19 Update - The stats in this story are updated with recalculated totals.

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Today, 402 people volunteered along the shoreline of Lake Tahoe to protect this national treasure. As part of a lakewide cleanup organized by the League to Save Lake Tahoe (Keep Tahoe Blue), participants removed 1240.25 pounds of litter that would have harmed the Lake’s ecology.

Cigarette butts are the most commonly gathered items at beach and other clean-ups around Lake Tahoe. At the League to Save Tahoe's most recent cleanups this month (the Tahoe City Cleanup and the South Lake Tahoe Bike Path Cleanup) over 4,500 cigarette butts were collected. Last year more than 27,600 cigarette butts were collected in and around Lake Tahoe by the League alone.

LAKE TAHOE, Nevada – Five people were recognized at the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) meeting Wednesday for their commitment to protecting and enhancing Lake Tahoe’s unique natural environment.

Since 2011, TRPA has awarded the Lake Spirit Awards to individuals from both the North and South Shores who are either citizens or agency representatives/environmental scientists.

Building trails, promoting climate change awareness, organizing beach cleanups, and preserving cultural resources are some of the ways this year’s award winners show their dedication to Lake Tahoe.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - 499 volunteers hit the beaches of Lake Tahoe Thursday as part of the annual July 5 Beach Cleanup crew. Each year, volunteers hit the beaches to pick up trash left over by holiday revelers.

This year they removed 1,458 pounds of litter from five beaches: Commons Beach in Tahoe City, Kings Beach, Kiva Beach, Nevada Beach and Regan Beach in South Lake Tahoe. Not only did they comb the six miles of beach, but they also sorted and counted the items collected.

A $5,000 matching gift by Tahoe Blue Vodka has led to over $10,000 raised to support the League to Save Lake Tahoe’s beach and community cleanups.

“We can’t thank Matt Levitt and Tahoe Blue Vodka enough for their continued support for our efforts to protect Lake Tahoe’s shoreline,” said Darcie Goodman Collins, PhD, the League’s executive director. “Our beach cleanups are a central part of our efforts to engage Tahoe’s community, and this gift brought the community together to help provide the funds we need.”

Littering in Tahoe is a big problem. Everywhere you go, there is trash and no one picks it up. People don't throw their trash in the garbage; they leave their trash on the ground and it makes its way into the lake. Other people who pass by it don't pick it up either. The problem started with the tourists who come to the beaches and throw their trash anywhere and they think that it won’t do anything to our lake. Tourists don’t take care of nature and our lake as much as the locals here. Some locals leave their trash everywhere as well.

As we celebrate Earth Day this April, let’s remember how important environmental stewardship is to the health of Lake Tahoe, and how important our individual actions are.

Over the last two decades, public, private, and nonprofit partners have made significant progress conserving and restoring Lake Tahoe’s environment through the Environmental Improvement Program.

South Lake Tahoe-based Tahoe Blue Vodka has donated $5,000 to the League to Save Lake Tahoe, with encouragement to community members to match their contribution to support the League’s beach cleanups. League supporters surpassed the match, raising over $10,000.

The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics and its Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers team are partnering with the Lake Tahoe Outreach Committee and other Lake Tahoe organizations to host community events and educational activities June 6-13. As visitors flock to the outdoor recreation wonderland that is Lake Tahoe the trails, beaches and forests are experiencing an increase in use and the associated impacts of trash, trail erosion and shoreline degradation.

History shows time and time again our greatest accomplishments at Lake Tahoe are achieved when people work together. In the past, Tahoe was known as a place where unproductive interactions between stakeholders led to a stunning decay in our environment and our economic vitality, creating a region that seemed frozen in time.

We face major environmental challenges at Tahoe, including the uncertainties of climate change. And as Albert Einstein said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

After the July 4th festivities, our beaches are thrashed with trash. This trash can hurt wildlife and lake clarity. Be a part of the solution and help us this day to keep our beaches clean.

We will provide refreshments, cleanup bags, gloves, and hand sanitizer. Please bring your reusable water bottle, gloves if you have them, sunscreen, your friends and family, and a smile!

Each attendee will receive a raffle ticket for great prizes from Keep Tahoe Blue and our partners.

Join us at one of the following sites:

Kiva/Tallac Historic Site - South Shore Sponsored by BakPocket Products

Thousands flocked to Lake Tahoe beaches for the 4th of July and left behind thousands of pounds of trash. Several groups have been participating in the Adopt a Beach cleanup program that is getting volunteers out to clean up the mess, both trash and fireworks debris.

The League to Save Lake Tahoe had over 120 volunteers participate in their annual Keep Tahoe Red, White & Blue Beach Cleanup. They cleaned at Commons Beach in Tahoe City, Nevada Beach and Zephyr Shoals on the East Shore, and Kiva, Regan and El Dorado beaches on the South Shore for a total of about 3 miles of shoreline.

Looking for an enjoyable way to contribute to the Lake Tahoe community, either as a local or as a visitor?

Adopt-a-Beach is one of the nicest and easiest ways to protect this valuable and beautiful treasure and they're looking for several volunteers to help this summer. This program is sponsored by the City of South Lake Tahoe, Lake Tahoe Visitor's Authority, U.S. Forest Service, League to Save Lake Tahoe, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and South Tahoe Refuse.

While tragic in nature as to what happened at the Globe event ( I can actually relate to what the parents are going through having lost one of my own) the lawsuits will likely begin. Doesn’t matter who, if anyone, is at fault you can bet there'll probably be one.

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