Water Quality

Students from Logos Christian Academy in Fallon gathered recently at the edge of the Carson River with water quality professionals for the 8th annual Snapshot Day at Ft. Churchill State Park.

Volunteers from the Bureau of Land Management, the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection and the River Wranglers came out to the river on October 18 to give students, grades 5 through 8, a chance to gain hands on experience with the science of river ecosystems.

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

The legislation, sponsored by Nevada Congressman Mark Amodei, co-sponsored by California Representative John Garamendi, and Nevada Representatives Joe Heck, Dina Titus, and Steven Horsford, would continue another 10 years of federal government investment in the Tahoe Environmental Improvement Program.

Carson City Manager Larry Werner will retire effective Dec. 19, city officials announced Tuesday. Werner has served in the role of city manager since February 2008.

“For me, this has been a wonderful experience and I would not have traded it for anything,” said Werner in a letter to the Carson City Board of Supervisors. “Although I do feel some regret in making this decision at this time, I have no concerns about the management of the City because you have the best staff, department directors and elected officials that I’ve ever had the opportunity to work with.”

Lyon County has been awarded $11.9 million in grant and loan funds through USDA Rural Development Nevada to build a waste water collection system for nearly 500 users who are currently on septic tanks near Dayton. The project aims to reduce nitrate problems.

Here is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada, Northern California and the Sierra. This report is for the week of Aug. 28 through Labor Day. Don't forget, California's second free day of fishing without a license will be Saturday, Sept. 7.

Here is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada, Northern California and the Sierra. this report is for the week of Aug. 21-27.

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.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency is marking this year’s Lake Tahoe Summit by highlighting the Environmental Improvement Program’s 15 years of achievement restoring and protecting Lake Tahoe’s fragile ecosystem.

Launched at the 1997 Presidential Forum at Lake Tahoe by then President Bill Clinton, and Vice President Al Gore, the Environmental Improvement Program (EIP) is a partnership of more than 50 federal, state, and local agencies, private interests, and the Washoe Tribe.

From Tahoe’s mountaintops to the lake’s sandy bottom, scientists from the University of Nevada, Reno continue to study and find solutions to the breadth of issues that face the entire Lake Tahoe Basin. Their research is making a tangible contribution to the decisions, policies and practices that guide the basin’s environmental health.

Register is underway to attend the Carson River Watershed Bus Tour. The Carson Water Subconservancy District will host its annual 2-day bus tour of the Carson River Watershed on June 13 and 14, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day.

Come join this highly educational and informative event. Continuing Education credits will are available for AICP planners, teachers and engineers.

The members of the newly formed five-member Sagebrush Ecosystem Team, an interagency multidisciplinary entity, were announced recently.

For the first time since 1987, Lake Tahoe has a new regional plan for development and land use.
Twelve of the 14 voting members of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency's governing board voted in favor of the new plan, with one member voting against it and another abstaining, according to TRPA spokesman Jeff Cowan.

Business interests say the plan is an overdue overhaul of regulations that will jump-start Tahoe's tourism economy while also protecting its environment.

Closing out a multi-year process to update the Lake Tahoe Regional Plan, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board is scheduled to vote Wednesday, Dec. 12 on the updated plan and supportive environmental documents at Harveys Resort convention center in Stateline.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. with brief statements by state leaders whose leadership resulted in key compromises allowing the plan to move forward, according to TRPA officials.

Boaters heading to Lake Tahoe in the next six weeks may experience a short delay when entering Emerald Bay due to an Asian clam control project that will be taking place there.

A team of partners from the Lake Tahoe Aquatic Invasive Species Program is scheduled to begin implementation of the largest Asian clam control project in the history of Lake Tahoe on October 15, with plans to treat an area of up to 5 acres at the mouth of Emerald Bay.

Here is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada, Northern California and the Sierra. This report is for the week of August 29 to Sept. 4.

Lake Tahoe planning leaders gave their approval Thursday to a paradigm changing project at the South Shore, which would allow for a high-end resort complex at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course, the site of the American Century Championship.
The governing board of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency unanimously approved the Edgewood Tahoe Lodge and Golf Course realignment project that will make way for the 154-room lodge. Construction could begin in 2014, according to the Tahoe Daily Tribune.

Natural forces and human actions have affected the lake s clarity, physics, chemistry and biology since 1968, when UC Davis first began continuous monitoring of Lake Tahoe.

After more than a year in the making, the official opening of Bonanza Park in South Lake Tahoe on Saturday brought community members and families together in celebration of a cooperative public and private agreement made possible by city leaders and Edgewood Companies.
South Lake Tahoe Mayor Claire Fortier and Edgewood's CEO and president Chuck Scharer gladly cut the ribbon after months of negotiations allowing for future property and building rights in exchange for the public park.

The July 4th Holiday and fireworks celebrations always bring an influx of boaters to the Lake Tahoe Basin. With sunny skies and warm temperatures predicted for the 4th of July holiday week, boaters are urged to Clean, Drain and Dry their boats before arriving at one of 5 roadside inspection stations in the Tahoe to avoid delays and decontamination fees.

More than 350 scientists, environmental policy makers and economic stakeholders will discuss Lake Tahoe and its environmental and economic future at the annual Tahoe Science Conference “Environmental Restoration in a Changing Climate” May 22 to 24 at Incline Village.
The conference, this year being held at Sierra Nevada College, features a scientific poster session and the opening of “Visualizing Change, a photographic exhibition,” on Tuesday evening followed by two full days of seminars and workshops covering more than 20 topics in three main areas:

Roadside stations for inspections and decontaminations of motorized boats and watercraft are officially open for the 2012 boating season at five locations entering the Lake Tahoe Basin.
“Boat inspections are critical to maintaining the health of Lake Tahoe and our local recreation-based economy,” said Ted Thayer, TRPA’s Aquatic Invasive Species Coordinator. “Through the efforts of the Tahoe Resource Conservation District’s well-trained inspectors and other private and public partners committed to the Lake, we expect to have another successful season.”

Several environmental gains over the last five years have been made at the Lake Tahoe Basin, according to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s “Threshold Evaluation Report” released Wednesday, which highlights water quality as a continued area of concern.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency announced the schedule of public meetings and workshops for public input on the Regional Plan Update draft and environmental documents for Lake Tahoe being released later this month.

The study of climate change through Earth history has produced a wealth of information on the operation of the ocean-atmosphere system during climate transitions as well as the feedbacks that impact the magnitude and rate of climate change on the planet. A public lecture on Thursday at the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences will address some of what has been found.

Lake Tahoe clarity improved in 2011, but overall has remained nearly stable since 2000, according to a summary issued by UC Davis scientists who study the lake. Data released today by the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency reported the average annual clarity level for 2011 at 68.9 feet, a 4.5-foot improvement over 2010, when average clarity levels were the second-worst on record.

Recognized for stewardship and care taken in the building and construction of developments around Lake Tahoe, the 22nd annual Best in the Basin awards were announced Tuesday by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.
The TRPA, which sets policy for development around Lake Tahoe, will recognize the winners, listed below, during the 2011 Best in the Basin awards presentation during the meeting of its Governing Board on Wednesday, Feb. 22 in Stateline. Go here for the agenda.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency received a positive ruling in the opening stages of the lawsuit challenging the Homewood Mountain Ski Area Master Plan that was filed by the Sierra Club and the Friends of the West Shore, a Lake Tahoe environmental group.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Executive Director, Joanne S. Marchetta, will host a “fireside chat” at Lake Tahoe Community College on Wednesday, February 8 from 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. on “21st Century Environmentalism and the Regional Plan Update.”

The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit has approved a project that will reduce wildfire risk to communities on Lake Tahoe's South Shore and restore the health of the area's forests. The South Shore Fuel Reduction and Healthy Forest Restoration Project will thin trees and brush on more than 10,000 acres of national forest system land from the Nevada state line to Cascade Lake.