In an Effort to Save Lake Tahoe
Passionate activists gathered Saturday, April 16th, to rally against pollution within Lake Tahoe. In an act to celebrate Earth Day, the Tahoe Resource Conservation District sponsored the festival at Bijou Community Park.
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Over 400 activists attended and participated in the rally. Most, wore eco-friendly apparel made with no animal products or even animal byproducts. All came to support the steps being taken to reduce our ecological footprint.
An ecological footprint is the human demand of earth’s resources that are becoming less capable to regenerate, which has become a problem in recent years at our beloved Lake Tahoe.
Environmental troubles in the Lake Tahoe Basin have been documented throughout a 20-year scientific study, presented in the 1,200-page Lake Tahoe Watershed Assessment. This data shows an alarming amount of phosphorous and nitrogen runoff, among many other pollutants that are contributing to the algae buildup.
Increased algae growth nourished by nitrogen and phosphorous will result in a loss of clarity for the lake. Beautiful blue Lake Tahoe is known for its clarity up to 70 feet deep. But over the years, the runoff will turn the lake a murky green, resulting in a loss of clarity.
This is harmful for animals in the surrounding area. Birds will be affected the most, since their main source of food is fish. For the birds hovering over the water it will make it more difficult for them to catch a meal, eventually leaving young birds to starve.
“We have a decade or two left to do something or we lose the water quality of Lake Tahoe forever” said Charles Goldman, emeritus professor of Limnology, department of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of California Davis.
Sarah Ford, Tahoe Resource Conservation District media coordinator, emphasized activism during the Earth Day festival opening ceremony. One of the most important steps to making change in the environment is by spreading awareness.
Over 60 exhibitors participated in spreading awareness, the largest number in Tahoe Resource Conservation District Earth Day festival history.
The previous year of 2010, “We only had 40 to 45 booths. We were able to increase our participation numbers this year, which we are happy about,” said Ford.
The exhibitor’s goal was to catch the attention of participants, educate them on their organizations’ plan of action, and hope that their plan will motivate and inspire participants to get out and make a difference in their own way.
The exhibitors ranged in a wide variety from food vendors to businesses and non-profit organizations. All proposed unique and alternative ways to preserve and improve the environment.
Keep Tahoe Blue is one of many organizations that focus on saving Lake Tahoe. Their motto is “The League to Save Lake Tahoe”.
The league, in concert with several of Tahoe’s conservation and community organizations, has worked tirelessly drafting hundreds of policy suggestions for a regional plan update that places the environment as paramount in Tahoe.
Rather than focusing on incentivizing growth, the conservation alternative reins in urbanization at Tahoe and builds a foundation for sustainability.
The plan focuses on four main concepts: restoration, regulation, redevelopment and renovation.
“ The League to Save Lake Tahoe is a non-profit environmental organization so we are a watch dog that looks over what happens in the Lake Tahoe basin to make sure it is in the best interest of the lake clarity” said Cozette Savage, Keep Tahoe Blue representative.
In the ongoing battle to keep the lake clean, one controversy is the proposal for an abundance of Tahoe shoreline boat facilities that add onto the detrimental pollution.
According to Blue Water president Russell Long, who holds a doctorate in developmental ecology, the jets release petrochemicals that float on the surface micro layer and settle within the shallow ecosystem. The long-legged birds, standing in 6 inches of water, cannot see their food or prey below the surface.
The League to Save Lake Tahoe sees boats that are powered by jet engines as part of the problem. The league supports an outright ban on the watercrafts until the industry will produce machines that meet EPA standards.
Unlike other boats, jets travel at high speeds in shallow water, churning up sediment and vegetation in areas normally full of algae, larvae and zooplankton. Jet engines dump 25 to 40 percent of their fuel directly into the lake.
The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) has failed to meet 75% of its environmental protection goals set in 2010. The repercussion caused by this failure has been viewed through a job poorly done by the TRPA.
The TRPA in 2010 pushed through a proposal to allow an abundance of new boat facilities to open along the Lake Tahoe shoreline.
Tahoe residents and environmental activists banded together to collect 2,000 signatures and score a legal triumph for Lake Tahoe. A federal district court judge in September 2010 overturned the plan to allow the abundance of new boat facilities along the lake’s sensitive shoreline.
The plan would have created more than 60,000 additional boat trips per year on the lake.
Regulations by the TRPA need to be enforced to see a significant difference in the clarity of Lake Tahoe.
The exhibitors, along with putting forth proposals on how to save the environment, posted sign up sheets for people who would like to volunteer their time to work with the environmentalists.
“ I have stopped at all of the booths and they have been all educational” said Angela Stevens, Earth Day participant. “The people working the booths have a lot to say, sign up lists for volunteer events and community awareness, so as for someone who just moved here is has been good.”
Educating and spreading awareness on environmental issues will bring attention to the problem. With help of others, that problem can be improved and one day fixed with hard work.
There are a lot of problems within Lake Tahoe’s ecosystem. They will not just go away, or fix themselves. There is always help and work needed to save the environment. It only takes one person to make a difference, so do your part.