World renowned for its crystal clear, azure water, Lake Tahoe
straddles the Nevada-California border. However, the lake’s
clarity has declined in the last 40 years due to accumulated
effects of development.
At 1,645 feet, Lake Tahoe is the second deepest lake in the
United States and the 10th deepest in the world. Lake Tahoe sits
6,225 feet above sea level, and is 22 miles long and 12 miles
wide.
Approximately 40 percent of the Tahoe Basin’s rain and snow fall
directly into the lake, contributing to Lake Tahoe’s legendary
clarity. The remaining precipitation drains through granitic
soils, which are relatively sterile and create a good filtering
system.
The lake’s vitality is threatened by several factors
including invasive species (trout and bass), stormwater
runoff and increasing temperatures as a part of ongoing climate
change. Meanwhile, drought conditions have led the lake to be the
driest it has been in a century.
As crowds head to cool off in the water early this summer,
authorities at Discovery Park, Folsom Lake and other capital
region waterways are taking steps to prevent incidents such as
the ones that have occurred recently at other Northern
California watering holes. There have been various incidents
reported since Memorial Day involving fights and other unruly
crowds at Northern California waterways that have led to
arrests, injuries, and even death. … In Stanislaus County on
Sunday, 75 to 80 people had a confrontation with deputies who
were patrolling near Woodward Reservoir. At least six people
were arrested.
Wildfire smoke covered as much as 70 percent of California in
recent years — wreaking havoc not only on land, but also in the
state’s vast freshwater ecosystems … according to [a UC
Davis] study published on Wednesday
in Communications: Earth & Environment. … What
[researchers] found was that while wildfire smoke does change
light, water temperature and oxygen levels, it does so to a
different extent — depending on lake size, depth, smoke cover
and nutrient levels. Subsequent decreases in photosynthesis and
respiration rates can then influence everything else, [said
Adrianne Smits, the lead author of the study] “Food webs, algal
growth, the ability to emit or sequester carbon — those are
dependent on these rates,” she added. “They’re all related, and
they’re all being changed by smoke.”
At its recent Countywide Plenary for Water, El Dorado Water
Agency (EDWA) brought together water and utility managers,
business and community leaders, non-profit organizations, and
staff from local, state, and federal agencies to collaborate on
sustainably managing our watershed. Rebecca Guo, General
Manager of EDWA, kicked off the Plenary by highlighting the
Programmatic Watershed Plan which identified resource
management strategies to address watershed threats as well as a
new report on the valuation of ecosystem goods and services in
the upper American River watershed. The valuation report found
that the working landscapes (including working and natural
lands) within the watershed are an incredibly valuable asset
worth more than $1.6 trillion over a 100 year period.
Jade Stevens stands at the edge of a snowy cliff and takes in
the jaw-dropping panorama of the Sierra. Peaks reaching more
than a mile high form the backdrop to Bear Valley, a
kaleidoscope of green pastures mixed with ponderosa pines,
firs, cedars and oak trees. Stevens, 34, is well aware that
some of her fellow Black Americans can’t picture themselves in
places like this. Camping, hiking, mountain biking, snow
sports, venturing to locales with wild animals in their names —
those are things white people do. As co-founder of the 40 Acre
Conservation League, California’s first Black-led land
conservancy, she’s determined to change that perception. Darryl
Lucien snowshoes near Lake Putt. The nonprofit recently secured
$3 million in funding from the state Wildlife Conservation
Board and the nonprofit Sierra Nevada Conservancy to purchase
650 acres of a former logging forest north of Lake Tahoe.
On average, more than 60 percent of
California’s developed water supply originates in the Sierra
Nevada and the southern spur of the Cascade Range. Our water
supply is largely dependent on the health of our Sierra forests,
which are suffering from ecosystem degradation, drought,
wildfires and widespread tree mortality.
This tour ventured into the Sierra to examine water issues
that happen upstream but have dramatic impacts downstream and
throughout the state.
Sixty percent of California’s developed water supply
originates high in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Our water
supply is largely dependent on the health of our Sierra forests,
which are suffering from ecosystem degradation, drought,
wildfires and widespread tree mortality.
We headed into the foothills and the mountains to examine
water issues that happen upstream but have dramatic impacts
downstream and throughout the state.
GEI (Tour Starting Point)
2868 Prospect Park Dr.
Rancho Cordova, CA 95670.
Lake
Tahoe, the iconic high Sierra water body that straddles
California and Nevada, has sat for more than 10,000 years at the
heart of the Washoe tribe’s territory. In fact, the name Tahoe
came from the tribal word dá’aw, meaning lake.
The lake’s English name was the source of debate for about 100
years after it was first “discovered” in 1844 by people of
European descent when Gen. John C. Fremont’s expedition made its
way into the region. Not long after, a man who carried mail on
snowshoes from Placerville to Nevada City named it Lake Bigler in
honor of John Bigler, who served as California’s third governor.
But because Bigler was an ardent secessionist, the federal
Interior Department during the Civil War introduced the name
Tahoe in 1862. Meanwhile, California kept it as Lake Bigler and
didn’t officially recognize the name as Lake Tahoe until 1945.
Sixty percent of California’s developed water supply
originates high in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Our water
supply is largely dependent on the health of our Sierra forests,
which are suffering from ecosystem degradation, drought,
wildfires and widespread tree mortality.
This 25-minute documentary-style DVD, developed in partnership
with the California Department of Water Resources, provides an
excellent overview of climate change and how it is already
affecting California. The DVD also explains what scientists
anticipate in the future related to sea level rise and
precipitation/runoff changes and explores the efforts that are
underway to plan and adapt to climate.
30-minute DVD that traces the history of the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation and its role in the development of the West. Includes
extensive historic footage of farming and the construction of
dams and other water projects, and discusses historic and modern
day issues.
This beautiful 24×36-inch poster, suitable for framing, displays
the rivers, lakes and reservoirs, irrigated farmland, urban areas
and Indian reservations within the Truckee River Basin, including
the Newlands Project, Pyramid Lake and Lake Tahoe. Map text
explains the issues surrounding the use of the Truckee-Carson
rivers, Lake Tahoe water quality improvement efforts, fishery
restoration and the effort to reach compromise solutions to many
of these issues.
This 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, illustrates the
water resources available for Nevada cities, agriculture and the
environment. It features natural and manmade water resources
throughout the state, including the Truckee and Carson rivers,
Lake Tahoe, Pyramid Lake and the course of the Colorado River
that forms the state’s eastern boundary.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to Nevada Water provides an
overview of the history of water development and use in Nevada.
It includes sections on Nevada’s water rights laws, the history
of the Truckee and Carson rivers, water supplies for the Las
Vegas area, groundwater, water quality, environmental issues and
today’s water supply challenges.
A new look for our most popular product! And it’s the perfect
gift for the water wonk in your life.
Our 24×36-inch California Water Map is widely known for being the
definitive poster that shows the integral role water plays in the
state. On this updated version, it is easier to see California’s
natural waterways and man-made reservoirs and aqueducts
– including federally, state and locally funded
projects – the wild and scenic rivers system, and
natural lakes. The map features beautiful photos of
California’s natural environment, rivers, water projects,
wildlife, and urban and agricultural uses and the
text focuses on key issues: water supply, water use, water
projects, the Delta, wild and scenic rivers and the Colorado
River.
Lake Tahoe is one of the world’s most beautiful yet vulnerable
lakes. Renowned for its remarkable clarity, Tahoe straddles the
Nevada-California border, stretching 22 miles long and 12 miles
wide in a granitic bowl high in the Sierra Nevada.
Tahoe sits 6,225 feet above sea level. Its deepest point is 1,645
feet, making it the second-deepest lake in the nation, after
Oregon’s Crater Lake, and the tenth deepest in the world.
Lake Tahoe is one of the Sierra Nevada’s crown jewels, renowned
for its breathtaking clarity. The high-altitude, clear blue lake
and its surrounding basin, which lie on the California-Nevada
state line, is a spectacular natural resource that provides
environmental, economic, recreational and aesthetic benefits.