Water Quality

The July 4th holiday and fireworks celebrations always bring a welcomed 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 the roadside inspection stations in Tahoe to avoid delays and decontamination fees.

Here is the Carson City area road report for the week of June 29 through July 5, 2015: Division Street will be closed between Sophia Street and William Street for sidewalk improvements as well as Sophia Street just west of Division Street.

Work will occur from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. each day and detours will be in place. The JAC bus stop on Route 2A on Division Street just south of Sophia Street will be temporarily closed.

A $1.2 million road project to reduce erosion, preserve water quality and enhance storm drains along Highway 50 in south Carson City and west along Spooner grade will begin this month, the Nevada Department of Transportation announced Tuesday.

The official opening of the new Kings Canyon/Waterfall Trailhead will be celebrated Wednesday, June 24, at 8:30 a.m. Located at the western end of Kings Street, the new facility on Carson City Open Space and U.S. Forest Service land provides multi-use road and trail access for off highway vehicles, bikes, hikers and equestrians.

We face some big, daunting environmental restoration challenges here at Lake Tahoe. But helping our environment every day can be as simple as riding a bike, walking, or taking transit. And the hundreds of people who participated in the Tahoe Bike Challenge this June, including many of our employees at the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, are showing how big of an impact our individual actions can have.

On June 19, the League invites the public to our Summer Kickoff party, featuring the grand re-opening of our Fritzi & David Huntington Environmental Education Center in South Lake Tahoe. Featuring cutting-edge interactive displays, our Education Center’s overhaul will improve our ability to educate and engage the public about how to protect Lake Tahoe and the threats facing the Lake.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board on Wednesday unanimously approved Tahoe Transportation District’s plans to realign State Route 89 access at Fanny Bridge through Tahoe City as part of a community revitalization project.

The final hurdle in a process that began in 2013 was cleared Thursday for Heavenly Mountain Resort at Lake Tahoe with final approval by the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board for the Epic Discovery Project, a year-round outdoor recreation plan to straddle the resort's Nevada and California border.

Heavenly Mountain Resort has sought approval for expansions to its on-mountain summer activities, as part of Vail Resorts’ Epic Discovery program. The Epic Discovery plan was submitted in July 2013 and has undergone a comprehensive environmental and public review.

The Nature Conservancy, working with federal, state and local agencies, as well as a private landowner, are collaborating on a forest restoration project designed to reduce the risk of catastrophic fires, protect onsite and neighboring structures, protect water supplies for people and enhance wildlife habitat near Carson City.

Depending on the weather, prescribed fires around the Lake Tahoe basin may resume beginning Monday, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

Roadside stations for inspections and decontaminations of motorized boats and watercraft entering Lake Tahoe are officially opening for the 2015 boating season beginning May 1, the Tahoe Resource Conservation District announced Thursday.

Here is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada and Northern California. This report is for the week of April 22 and beyond. Opening weekend for fishing on most California waters is Saturday.

The University of California, Davis and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency recently released their yearly water clarity readings for Lake Tahoe. The good news: Mid-lake water clarity improved significantly in 2014, with an average reading of 77.8 feet. That’s 7.5 feet greater than the average reading for 2013, and almost 14 feet greater than the 64.1 feet measured in 1997, Lake Tahoe’s lowest recorded clarity.

Here is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada and Northern California. This report is for the week of April 8, 2015 and beyond. Opening day for fishing on most California waters is Saturday, April 25.

Clarity levels at Lake Tahoe in 2014 showed the biggest improvements in more than a decade, according to researchers Tuesday at the University of California, Davis, who have studied the lake for the last half century.

The improvements are in part due to continuous work from the Lake Tahoe community to lower pollutants to the lake. They were also influenced by the drought, as reduced precipitation meant fewer contaminants flowed into Lake Tahoe, particularly during the summer, when clarity levels were the highest recorded since 2002.

Here is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada and Northern California this first week of April, 2015. Opening Day for California fishing is April 25.

In what would give Heavenly Mountain Resort more latitude for expanded activities, the Governing Board of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency on Thursday unanimously approved the resort's proposed Epic Discovery Project to allow new year-round outdoor recreational opportunities on already developed portions of the ski area on U.S. Forest Service land.

Here is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada and Northern California. This report is for the week of March 25, 2015 and beyond.

Here is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada and Northern California. This report is for the week of March 18, 2015 and beyond.

Here is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada and Northern California. This report is for the week of March 11, 2015 and beyond.

There’s a lot to be learned by studying others’ successes. At the Tahoe Talks Brown Bag Lunch this February, a design engineer for the Federal Highway Administration discussed how modern roundabouts are being used to improve traffic and make roads safer for drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians, as well as where they would make the most sense at Lake Tahoe.

The final environmental impact report on Heavenly Mountain Resort's Epic Discovery Project has been completed and is now ready for public review. The new project, located at Heavenly Mountain Resort, will expand their summer activities to include more canopy tours, hiking and biking trails as well as interpretive activities.

On Wednesday, February 18, David C. Antonucci, author, historian and regional expert on Lake Tahoe, Mark Twain, and the Olympic Games at the Lake, will speak to the Carson City Leisure Hour Club on “Snowball’s Chance: Remembering the 1960 Olympics”.

CARSON CITY, Nev. – Nevada will soon receive 60 percent of its allocated settlement amount of more than $1 billion to be used by the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection for contaminant cleanup efforts in Nevada.

As the incoming Chair of the 15-member Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board, this promises to be a hopeful and exciting year. 2015 will be full of opportunities, but also challenges, for the continued protection of Lake Tahoe.

The number one priority among our challenges is funding shortfalls. Federal and state funding that has paid for environmental restoration and protection efforts at Lake Tahoe for years is drying up and new approaches need to be pursued.

The Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District and the U.S. Forest Service will continue prescribed fire operations this week on Kingsbury Grade near Buchanan Road, Ski Run Boulevard near Heavenly, Luther Pass and Spooner Summit. Operations will last through the next several weeks as conditions allow.

Forty-five years ago, in December 1969, President Richard Nixon signed a unique Bi-State Compact approving California and Nevada’s plan to create the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. It was the first such undertaking of its kind, uniting two states, six local jurisdictions, and the federal government in a shared mission to protect Lake Tahoe’s sensitive environment from overdevelopment.

That effort has shaped the Tahoe we know and love today, and will help shape the Tahoe that we bequeath to future generations.

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.

The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection presented its annual Wendell McCurry Excellence in Water Quality Award to Peggy Roefer Oct. 8, 2014, in recognition of her leadership role in protecting and improving water resources in Southern Nevada.