California Tahoe Conservancy: Progress Report

The Tahoe Basin contains a rich diversity of fish, wildlife and native plants. Canada geese and other waterfowl feed in the basin's marshes and meadows. Ospreys nest on lakeside snags; bald eagles roost in the winter forest. Rainbow, brook and brown trout dart about in the basin's streams. Deer frequent the meadow areas. Hundreds of brick-red kokanee salmon crowd Taylor Creek on their fall spawning run, and huge Mackinaw swim in the depths of Tahoe itself.

Diversity of Wildlife
The basin provides habitat for more than 290 bird, animal and fish species, and more than a thousand different plant species. Included are 16 species of imperiled wildlife -- the endangered bald eagle and peregrine falcon; the osprey, goshawk, and spotted owl; and the once abundant Lahontan cutthroat trout, now extinct in the lake and just recently reintroduced in the basin.

The unique Tahoe yellowcress is an endangered plant species found only in the Tahoe Basin, and the future of ten other Tahoe plants is precarious to one degree or another, in the opinion of State and Federal regulatory agencies.

Diversity of Habitat
The diversity of wildlife reflects the diversity of habitat in the basin -- forests and meadows, marshes and dry brushy hillsides, streams and lakes, sparse alpine tundra and dense growth along waterways.

This wide variety of habitat is important in itself, for not only do different species use different areas; even creatures of the same species may use one kind of habitat for one purpose, and another kind for a different need. The bald eagle needs lofty crags and tall trees for roosting and nesting, but it also needs open streams and shallow lakeshore for its foraging. The osprey needs forest snags to nest on, but also open waters in which to fish.

Fragile Habitat Altered
While the Tahoe Basin remains a significant area for wildlife, its fragile habitat areas have been adversely altered by human activity. Habitat and animal travel routes have been reduced, fragmented and degraded by urbanization. Even in areas of less intensive development, the natural landscape has been significantly modified by residential subdivisions and the construction of roads and houses. Resource management practices varying from clear-cutting to aggressive fire suppression have also had profound effects.

The end result has been the destruction or degradation of much of the marshland, meadow, and riparian habitat upon which more than 80 percent of Tahoe wildlife depends. Currently, these habitats constitute only five percent of the basin.

Stream habitat is affected by all silt and debris, which make it less suitable for trout and other aquatic creatures, and for the spawning of the kokanee salmon an other fish that run streams each spring or fall from the lake. Offshore fish habitat has also been degraded by disturbance to near shore areas.

The basin's forested habitat has also been degraded, for much of Tahoe's forest is now made up of second-growth trees, mainly of the same age and species. Such forest areas often lack the diversity needed to support healthy wildlife populations.

This lack of forest diversity made the basin's forests particularly susceptible to the recent drought and resulting insect infestation, so that now 25 to 40% of the forests are dead and dying.

This destruction has greatly increased public safety, water quality, and wildlife concerns. On the positive side, however, the need to remove and replace the dead trees has created many opportunities to enhance forest health through better forest management practices.

To address these situations, the Conservancy has established a wildlife enhancement program, with projects carried out either by the Conservancy itself or through grants to other public agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service, the California Department of Parks and Recreation, and the City of South Lake Tahoe.

The program has three major objectives. First, to preserve, through acquisition, a wide variety of habitat types, plus the corridors animals need to they can move from one area to another. In this part of the program, special emphasis is placed on the preservation of marsh, meadow, and riparian habitats which support species that are endangered, threatened, rare or listed in some other category of special concern.

A second objective is to upgrade existing habitat by such methods as using prescribed fire to restore habitat diversity by creating a mosaic of vegetation types and ages, and enhancing meadow habitat for deer and other animals and birds by restoring diverted natural water sources and removing invading lodgepole pine. Other approaches are to restore stream channels and build resting pools, create habitat "edges" and revegetate eroded areas, even to purposely leave snags and downed logs for creatures that depend on them for perches, nesting or cover.

Still other projects are concerned with increasing the diversity of forested areas through application of prescribed fire, thinning, revegetation, and reforestation, and with improving habitat for eagles, goshawks, pileated woodpeckers, and other forest wildlife. There are stream enhancement projects, which involve the creation of new stream channels, the planting of willow and other plants to provide shade and cover, creation of pools and riffles and new spawning areas, and stabilization of stream banks. There are also projects to place artificial reefs in Tahoe itself, to help increase food, cover and spawning areas for the fish in the lake.

Recognizing that the long-term success of the program depends on public understanding and support, the Conservancy has set interpretation as a third objective. To foster better awareness of Tahoe's wildlife resources, such things as informational signing, shelter displays, self-guided nature trails and wildlife viewing platforms are made an integral part of projects and of the wildlife program as a whole.

The Conservancy's Wildlife Enhancement Program also sponsors many scientific and educational activities to foster awareness of Tahoe's wildlife resources.

To keep abreast of ongoing scientific research for example, the wildlife program hosts an annual biologists' forum, so biologists and other resource managers can share valued knowledge gained from the implementation of projects and ongoing research.

Since its inception, the Conservancy has authorized the expenditure of $4.9 million for 26 wildlife projects. These projects include the restoration of over 1,340 acres of critical habitat in the Cold Creek, General Creek, Washoe Meadows, and Meeks Creek areas of El Dorado County, and in the Upper Ward Creek, Blackwood Creek, and Carnelian Canyon areas in Placer County.

Conservancy-funded projects will also result in the restoration of 15.5 miles of stream habitat in Cold, Taylor, Ward, Angora, General, and Blackwood Creeks, and in the Upper Truckee River. Two artificial reefs were installed at the southern end of Lake Tahoe and one of these has recently been enlarged. Bald eagle perches are being installed in tree tops near Taylor Creek, the peregrine falcon is being reintroduced, and osprey nesting platforms have been build on the tops of trees near Baldwin and Kiva beaches. More than 158 acres of forest, meadow, and stream habitat - all key parcels needed to keep travel corridors open for deer -- have been preserved through acquisition of parcels by the Conservancy in the Upper Ward Creek, Cascade Creek and Carnelian Canyon areas.

The first project in the Lake Tahoe Basin to comprehensively address riparian habitat is currently underway, funded by a Conservancy grant to the U.S. Forest Service.

Under this project, all 11,500 acres of riparian habitat on the California side of the basin are being assessed for their relative habitat value. Enhancement and restoration projects will then be developed for these areas, on a priority basis. Similar activities are also being conducted in Nevada.

The comprehensive approach will allow restoration efforts to be implemented on a ecosystem level, benefitting a range of species, rather then focussing on a single species, as has been the approach in the past.

The project in California primarily addresses enhancement needs on land holdings of the Conservancy, the California Department of Parks and Recreation, and the U.S. Forest Service. It is jointly directed by a steering committee involving all three agencies. The U.S. Forest Service is responsible for direct management of the project with support from the University of Nevada in Reno.