Working Groups: Higher Education & Research

Research Institutions Will Share Space in New Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences
The $24-million Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences will be constructed this year on the campus of Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village. It will be a world-class facility for research and teaching on the preservation of alpine lakes and their watersheds.

The new center will house offices and laboratories of the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC) and of the Desert Research Institute; exhibits and educational programs in the UC Davis Thomas J. Long Foundation Education Center; offices, laboratories and classrooms for Sierra Nevada College students; and conference space for 150 people.

New Tahoe Environmental Research Center

Geoffrey Schladow, a UC Davis civil and environmental engineer who has conducted extensive research at Lake Tahoe, has been named the founding director of the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center.
Schladow was named director to lead UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center.

Schladow is an expert in how the currents and waves in lakes and estuaries affect the deposition of particles that induce algae growth and cause Lake Tahoe's legendary clarity to decline. He is developing a computer model to link meteorological and remote-sensing information that eventually will give Tahoe decision makers a new management tool.

Construction of the building is slated to begin as soon as May 2005 with the building scheduled for completion in the late summer or fall 2006.

In 1994, UC Davis began fundraising to build the modern research facilities that Tahoe scientists needed. Donors from around the world gave $13 million, including $2.6 million from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. The Thomas J. Long Foundation gave $2 million for a public education center. Of the $13 million raised by UC Davis, $9.5 million will go to the Tahoe Center building. The rest will fund renovations of the former Tahoe City fish hatchery, to be used as a field station to support the research and education activities of the main center at Sierra Nevada College.

A $725,000 appropriation for the project, proposed by U.S. Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada and supported by U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, was approved early this year by Congress and the president. Sierra Pacific Power has committed $200,000 to the project for improved energy efficiency aspects of the design. Sierra Nevada College will raise $9.5 million, plus an endowment of $3 million.

The 45,000-square foot building is intended to be a model of environmentally sound design. It is expected to qualify for a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver Rating as administered by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Desert Research Institute Hires New CWES Executive Director

The Center for Watersheds and Environmental Sustainability was created in 1999 as part of a reorganization of the Desert Research Institute’s (DRI) approach to interdisciplinary research.

The Desert Research Institute recently announced the selection of Jim Thomas, Ph.D., as the new executive director of the Center. Thomas began Jan. 3.

Thomas received his Ph.D. from the University of Nevada, Reno in 1996. He was a research hydrologist at the U.S. Geological Survey in Carson City for nearly 20 years before joining DRI in 1999. Thomas' area of research is water chemistry, applying water chemistry to understanding geochemical and hydrologic processes. His research almost always includes the use of isotopes in conjunction with water-chemistry data.

UNR Academy for the Environment

The University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) has announced plans to link all its environmental teaching and research programs under an umbrella organization, the Academy for the Environment. It will not be a new college, but an academy that will bring together more than 100 faculty, dozens of research programs and hundreds of students pursuing a wide variety of environmental programs across the university. Michael Collopy, Ph.D., professor and chair of UNR’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, was appointed interim executive director for the academy in November.

last modified: April 12 2005

Research Buoys on Lake Tahoe
UC Davis' Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Tahoe Research Group, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California have installed a network of research and monitoring buoys on Lake Tahoe. These research platforms are equipped with several types of lake, atmospheric and weather monitoring equipment for the purpose of informing scientists and the public about midlake conditions throughout the year . Visit http://laketahoe.jpl.nasa.gov for up-to-date lake information.

The data collected on wind speed and direction, air and water temperature, humidity and several other variables are transmitted automatically to land-based stations for downloading into databanks. Additionally, the buoys are used to collect data on atmospheric deposition of nutrients from snow, rain, and dust, as well as air particulate and gas samples. Perhaps the most important function of the buoys, however, is their role not on a local or regional scale, but on a global one. They and their surface reflectance temperature measurements are part of the NASA earth-observing system satellite and remote sensing program. Lake Tahoe was chosen as a "validation site" for the satellites because it provides a large surface area with a relatively uniform temperature (compared to a terrestrial landscape) and because its 6,000-foot elevation reduces the amount of interference to the satellite sensors when collecting data caused by atmospheric moisture, cloud cover, dust, etc.

These studies are directed by Simon Hook, Ph.D., of NASA; Geoff Schladow, Ph.D., of UC Davis; and John Reuter, Ph.D., and Charles Goldman, Ph.D., of the Tahoe Research Group and their many colleagues. Routine monitoring, maintenance, repairs, sampling and inspections are done by Bob Richards aboard the UC Davis boat "R/V John Le Conte." For more information contact Richards, Tahoe Research Group, (530) 583-3279.

last modified: August 30 2004

Nevada Tahoe Water Supplier Association (NTWSA)
The Nevada Tahoe Water Supplier Association (NTWSA) formed to ensure Compliance with the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act on the Nevada shore of Lake Tahoe. The NTWSA is a collaborative of water suppliers on the Nevada side of the Tahoe Basin. These agencies pull water out of the lake to supply local residents’ drinking water. Because the water is quite pure, for most of these suppliers, costly water filtration processes are not required. This is due to the consistently low turbidity, and low occurrence or absence of bacteria and viruses in our water supply, Lake Tahoe. The drinking water is treated with ozone and chlorine to kill bacteria and viruses.

The Safe Drinking Water Act’s Surface Water Treatment Rule requires that these utilities develop a “Watershed Control Program” (WCP) to protect their water source from future contamination that may affect human health and to make regular reports to show that additional filtration equipment is not needed.

Because local agencies and property owners are doing so much to protect the lake’s water quality, some of the requirements of standard watershed control programs are already being met. However, one important missing component of our current watershed control programs is the control of pathogens that may harm human health. Because of this, the WCP will be most useful in preventing these types of water quality problems. The main threats likely to affect drinking water are pathogens, such as coliform bacteria, cryptosporidium, and Giardia; and viruses. For this reason, the NTWSA watershed control program addresses sources of these kinds of contaminants, such as leaking sanitary sewers, pet waste, and improper disposal of human waste, such as from boats, hikers or recreationists.

The NTWSA is composed of staff from Kingsbury General Improvement District, Edgewood Water Company, Zephyr Cove Utility Company (Douglas County), Glenbrook Utility Company, and the Round Hill General Improvement District. Incline Village General Improvement District is both a participating member and staffs the association. NTWSA also collaborates with local nonprofits and federal agencies, most notably, the Nevada Tahoe Conservation District. For more info contact Sarah Tone, IVGID Waste Not, (775) 831-8603 or wastenot@ivgid.org.

last modified: August 30 2004

Tahoe Goes High-Tech With TIIMS
What is TIIMS? The Tahoe Integrated Information Management System (TIIMS) is a bi-state, multi-agency information management system developed to house and disseminate wide-ranging information about Lake Tahoe Basin planning and restoration efforts via the Internet. TIIMS is an interactive Web site that provides tools to discover, access, use, analyze, map and contribute data and information about Lake Tahoe. TIIMS also supports agency coordination and communication by providing online workspaces, calendars, and meeting tools. TIIMS provides a valuable public outreach component and offers educational materials, photographs, and information on how to become involved in Lake Tahoe Basin restoration efforts.

Why is TIIMS Needed? Managing the Lake Tahoe Basin’s resources requires the involvement of numerous, federal, state and local agencies. Each year, these entities collect, analyze, and publish enormous quantities of environmental information to meet their environmental objectives. The restoration and planning objectives of the different agencies within the Basin frequently overlap, and therefore, it is to the agencies’ benefit to share their data and information. During meetings, workshops, and in most reports on basin status, statements often are made that there is a need for the data being collected by various groups to be well-integrated and readily available to researchers and decision-makers.

Who is supporting TIIMS? TIIMS is truly a collaborative effort among many federal, state and local agencies. The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA), with support from other key agencies and organizations, has taken on the lead role and is overseeing the day-to-day tasks involved in the development and implementation of the system. Numerous agencies have contributed financial resources, technical expertise, and essential data and information resources, as well as dedicated many labor hours to ensure TIIMS’ success.

What Resources are Required for Development and Where Do We Stand? There are four types of resources needed to ensure the success of TIIMS:

Financial resources to fund the development of the system
Stakeholders who are willing to provide their technical expertise
Tools that will support TIIMS
Information content for the system

The system is funded through the development of the Prototype, although additional resources are needed to support content development. At present, limited resources are available to support work after the prototype is completed. Additional financial resources are needed for the production phase and to support building the institutional framework, continue public outreach, and move production into the operations and maintenance phase. Stakeholders who are willing to provide their time and technical expertise or participate in a workgroup also are needed. Organizations that have existing technical tools (e.g., analytical procedures, QA/QC programs, database designs) that could be used to support TIIMS are encouraged to share these materials. Among its other features, TIIMS will serve as a technology exchange. And finally, information content for the system itself is needed. TIIMS needs metadata, data, and information – from fact sheets, reports and brochures that detail Lake Tahoe restoration efforts, to databases and more complex model output. TIIMS will only be as good as the information that is available through it.

It is the hope of all the TIIMS partners that this collaboration will grow to include more organizations in the Basin. To find out more about TIIMS and how you can get involved, contact Tricia York, TRPA, (775) 588-4547, or e-mail tyork@trpa.org.

Visit the TIIMS Web site online
Oct. 31, at http://www.tiims.org.

last modified: August 30 2004

UC Davis and Sierra Nevada College Will Build Tahoe Research & Education Facility
In a historic partnership, University of California, Davis, and Sierra Nevada College announced that an urgently needed Tahoe environmental research and education facility will be built on the Sierra Nevada College campus in Incline Village, Nevada.

The Desert Research Institute and the RAND Corp. will be collaborators in the $24 million project, which will be called the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences. The project is an unusual collaboration of public and private institutions in two states, supported by federal, state, private and foundation funding. Under development for a decade, the new facility will be an international leader for science and teaching on the preservation of alpine lakes and their watersheds.

The new building will house offices and laboratories of the UC Davis Tahoe Research Group and the Desert Research Institute; exhibits and educational programs in the Thomas J. Long Foundation Education Center; offices, laboratories and classrooms for Sierra Nevada College students; and conference space for 300 people.

"This is a terrific outcome for the Tahoe Basin and all of us who love it," said Charles Goldman, the UC Davis scientist who has led Tahoe studies for 44 years. "In this one place, we will be able to conduct the research needed to keep the lake healthy and blue, educate the next generation of Tahoe scientists, teach our children about the basin's natural resources, and inform the public officials who decide the basin's future," Goldman said.

The Tahoe Center will be located in the heart of Sierra Nevada College's 18-acre Lake Campus, in Incline Village on the southwest corner of Highway 28 and Country Club Drive. The building will have about 45,000 square feet of floor space, including the Thomas J. Long Education Center, which will feature exhibits about the Tahoe environment, conference space, classrooms, research offices and laboratories. Construction of the building could begin as soon as summer of 2005, after it has been approved by the Sierra Nevada College Board of Trustees and the University of California Regents. The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency has already approved Sierra Nevada College's plan for a research and teaching building on the designated site.

A community celebration at the site is being planned for later this year. For more information, contact Sylvia Wright, UC Davis News Service, (530) 752-7704, swright@ucdavis.edu.

last modified: August 30 2004

Lake Tahoe is Losing Water Clarity
Lake Tahoe waters have been losing transparency at an average of about one foot each year since the late 1960s.

Lake Tahoe’s exceptional clarity is a result of the absence of suspended sediment and free-floating, single-celled algae in the water. Given undisturbed conditions, the lake’s water quality would change so slowly the changes would be undetectable over a human lifetime. Human settlements and logging activities that began in the late 1880s have contributed to the rapidly declining clarity. Lake Tahoe’s clarity has decreased by more than 33 percent since the 1960s and is steadily declining at the rate of one foot a year. Scientists say that the rate of water quality deterioration at Lake Tahoe has been steady for so long it may become irreversible in 10 years.

Lake Tahoe’s water quality problems are not caused by industry or by wastewater treatment plants. The causes of water pollution are the daily activities of the thousands of residents and visitors in the Lake Tahoe watershed. We all need to learn to reduce our impact on the environment—impacts like erosion, over-fertilization, spills, leaks, and disturbances of soils and stream environment zones.

last modified: December 27 2005

TMDL: A Water Quality Restoration Plan
A TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) is a water quality restoration plan, mandated by the federal Clean Water Act, designed to reduce the amount of pollution contributing to the decline of Lake Tahoe's clarity (see figure at right). Technically, a TMDL is defined as the amount of a specific pollutant that a water body can receive and still meet water quality standards. Research at Lake Tahoe has shown that it is the load or mass (kilograms per year) of fine sediment and nutrients, and not simply their concentration (milligrams per liter) in stream flow or runoff, that affects the long-term clarity trend.

TMDLs provide a framework mandated by the federal Clean Water Act to scientifically understand and control the sources of pollutants that impair lake clarity. In order to establish the TMDL, two years of research and monitoring data (see box to right) will be collected, interpreted, and combined with a wealth of historical data. The TMDL will form the basis for a comprehensive and collaborative lake clarity restoration plan. Once completed in 2007, it is anticipated that the TMDL will greatly enhance our scientific understanding of lake processes and help guide the implementation of existing projects and programs such as the Environmental Improvement Program, as well as small-scale individual projects.

For more information visit http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/rwqcb6/TMDL/Tahoe/Tahoe_Index.htm on the Internet or contact Dave Roberts at DRoberts@rb6s.swrcb.ca.gov.

New Research and Monitoring Projects

• Reconstruction of historic meteorology – UC Davis
  
• Loading of fine sediment – Collective effort
  
• Stream channel erosion – USDA National Sedimentation Laboratory
  
• Groundwater – U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
  
• Sewer line exfiltration – U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
  
• Storm water runoff monitoring - Tahoe Research Group (TRG), Desert Research Institute (DRI)
  
• Statistical analysis of loading related to land use characteristics – Hydrokios Consulting, DRI, TRG
  
• Watershed modeling – Tetra Tech Inc. and others
  
• Biologically available phosphorus – University of Nevada, Reno
  C
• haracterization and fate of lake particles – UC Davis
  
• Application of Clarity Model – UC Davis
  
• Storm water BMP evaluations and implementation feasibility – Geosyntech Consulting
  
• Establish air quality monitoring network – California Air Resources Board (CARB), TRPA and others
  
• Characterization of air quality emission sources – CARB
  
• Modeling of atmospheric deposition to Lake Tahoe – CARB
  
• Near-shore water quality – DRI
  
• Data management – TRPA
  

last modified: February 20 2003

Tahoe Environmental Research Center Proposed
Researchers at the University of California, Davis, were the first scientists to raise the alarm that cobalt-blue Lake Tahoe was turning green. In the 1950s, UC Davis converted the 1924 Fish Hatchery at Tahoe City into makeshift labs to conduct the scientific studies needed in the basin. Since then, the pioneering research done by UC Davis, UNR and other public organizations has helped us to understand the basin’s ecological problems and their causes. If we are to restore the basin’s health, yet continue to live, work and play here, more advanced research is needed. Policy makers are asking for scientific information to help them balance environmental protection with human activities, and to help them identify the most beneficial, efficient use of tax dollars.

To identify the best solutions, Tahoe scientists urgently need a modern research center. UC Davis has raised $13 million in private funds to build such a center and has identified a building site in Lake Forest. In addition to the new research center, the university will restore the old Fish Hatchery and convert it to a public education center.

The new research center would be located on one acre within a 4.7-acre site about one-quarter mile southeast of the hatchery. Before UC Davis chose this site, it established strict criteria for the center location. After two years of examining more than 20 plots of land, a parcel owned by California State Parks proved to be the only one that met those criteria and that was environmentally acceptable. The woods, beach and existing footpaths on the property will remain free and open to the public.

last modified: February 20 2003

Fish Species of the Lake Tahoe Basin
Lake Tahoe Report #151
January 9, 2006
By John Cobourn and Heather Segale

In terms of lakes, Tahoe is a relatively harsh environment for fish. It was cutoff from other bodies of water many thousands of years ago, so as it evolved, only seven species of fish evolved in it. However, since the introduction of humans and human intervention at Lake Tahoe, that number has changed.

According to Brant Allen, fisheries biologist with the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center, “The original native game fish was the Lahontan cutthroat trout, which is no longer in the lake. But, there are still six native species of fish swimming in Tahoe.” The Lahontan cutthroat trout, named for the distinctive red streak under its chin, once topped Lake Tahoe’s food chain and weighed as much as 40 pounds. This fish thrived in the Tahoe Basin and migrated the length of the Truckee River between Tahoe and Pyramid Lake.

The native fish that still survive in Lake Tahoe include:

· The mountain whitefish (Prosopium willaimsoni) is Lake Tahoe’s only native game fish. It lives near the bottom to a depth of about 100 feet.

· The Lahontan redside shiner (Richardsonius egregious) is a native minnow that is abundant in the shallow shorezone and can usually be seen in large numbers around marinas and rock crib piers. It grows to 3 to 4 inches long.

· The Lahontan speckled dace (Rhinichthys osculus) is another native minnow that grows to about 2 to 3 inches long. It is difficult to find, as it seeks the cover of rocky substrate on the bottom of the lake.

· The tui chub (Gila bicolor) is a bottom-oriented chub that feeds on zooplankton or sediments on the bottom of the lake.

· The Tahoe sucker (Catostomus tahoensis) is a bottom feeder that grows to about 16 inches long.

· The Paiute sculpin (Cottus beldingi) grows to about 3 inches long. It lives under rocks and is rarely observed in less than 10 feet of water.

The native Lahontan cutthroat trout went extinct in Lake Tahoe in 1939, due in part to overfishing, competition with nonnative species, and the development of dams. In particular, Derby Dam below Reno and Sparks and the Tahoe Outlet Dam in Tahoe City isolated the Tahoe population of cutthroat trout from other populations within the historic range.

Beginning in the late 1800s, when the effects of human environmental changes had reduced the numbers of Lahontan cutthroat in the lake, humans began introducing nonnative fish species in hopes of increasing Tahoe’s yield of game fish. These introductions included lake trout from the Great Lakes, Chinook salmon, Atlantic salmon, golden trout, Arctic grayling, Great Lakes whitefish, brook trout, brown trout, and rainbow trout. Of these fish species, the lake trout, brown trout, brook trout, and rainbow trout were able to establish self-supporting populations in the Tahoe Basin.

In the 20th century, additional introductions of nonnative invertebrates and fish further altered the Tahoe Basin ecosystem. Using the best available science at the time, exotic species were introduced with the intention of adding a recreational component or supporting an existing fishery. Unfortunately, not all of the species behaved as expected in the clear, cold waters of the Tahoe Basin.

After 70 years of alteration, the aquatic ecosystem now supports nonnative lake trout (Mackinaw) as the top predator. They are accompanied by rainbow trout, brown trout and kokanee salmon, providing multiple recreational fishing opportunities for shallow and deep-line anglers. The native Lahontan cutthroat trout is now among the most endangered western salmonids. Fortunately, as noted above, the other six native Tahoe fish species have survived the planned exotic introductions and continue to thrive within the Tahoe Basin.

In recent years, new threats to Tahoe’s remaining native fish have arisen. A number of warm-water fish species have been illegally introduced to Lake Tahoe, including largemouth and smallmouth bass, crappie, and sunfish. While these fish are typically associated with warm-water environments, their populations are able to grow and spread within the Tahoe Basin. Taking advantage of seasonally warm water in bays and marinas, the fish feed on native minnows and successfully spawn.

Scientists from University of California Davis and University of Nevada Reno plan to study the potential expansion of these species, and with help from the USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, implement a plan for their control. “The warm-water invasive species appear to pose a great risk to Tahoe’s remaining native species,” states Brant Allen a research biologist for UC Davis. “Their ability to consume large numbers of fish and the apparent overlap with native minnow spawning areas is a big concern.”

Warm-water fish invasions are not new to California. Nearby Lake Davis continues to experience problems resulting from the illegal introduction of northern pike, a voracious predator. Controlling the spread of similar species in the Tahoe Basin could go a long way to preserving native fish and assist the recovery of Tahoe’s once great Lahontan cutthroat trout.

The Lake Tahoe Report is a collaboration between John Cobourn, Water Resource Specialist with University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, and Heather Segale, Education and Outreach Coordinator for the University of California, Davis. For more information, contact Heather Segale, (530) 583-3279, or logon to www.lteec.org, www.tahoe.unr.edu, or terc.ucdavis.edu.

last modified: January 10 2006

Bald Eagle Viewing More Likely During the Winter
Lake Tahoe Report #153
January 23, 2006
By Heather Segale and John Cobourn

Sighting a bald eagle is a magnificent experience, especially after the bald eagle’s near extinction in the not-so-distant past. The bald eagle population fell to endangered levels of less than 500 pairs in the early 1960s due to hunting, habitat loss and contamination of waterways and food sources by various pollutants and pesticides, most notably DDT.

There was a similar drop in eagle populations at Lake Tahoe during the late 1980s, when the two nest sites in the basin were both inactive. There are usually only one or two pairs of bald eagles in the Tahoe Basin during the summer. However, during the winter, bald eagles migrate to Tahoe because it is more temperate than Alaska and Canada. According to wildlife biologist Stewart McMorrow, “as many as 20 eagles have been counted in the Tahoe Basin during the winter months.”

Bald eagles live near large bodies of open water, such as lakes, marshes, seacoasts and rivers, where there are plenty of fish to eat and tall trees for nesting and roosting. Bald eagles feed primarily on fish, but also eat small animals, such as ducks, coots, muskrats, turtles, rabbits, and snakes. Occasionally, they also eat dead animals. They are a kind of predator called raptors. They swoop down to seize fish in their powerful, long and sharp talons. They exert approximately 1,000 pounds of pressure per square inch in each foot. They can carry their food off in flight, but can only lift about half their weight. Bald eagles can fly at speeds of about 65 miles per hour in level flight, and up to 150 or 200 miles per hour in a dive.

Bald eagles are monogamous and mate for life. A Bald eagle will only select another mate if its faithful companion dies. They build large nests, called eyries, at the top of sturdy, tall trees. The nests become larger as the eagles return to breed and add new nesting materials year after year. Bald eagles make their new nests an average of 2 feet deep and 5 feet wide. Eventually, some nests become 10 feet wide and weigh several tons. When a nest is destroyed by natural causes, it is often rebuilt nearby. Bald eagles line their nests with twigs, soft mosses, grasses and feathers.

The female lays one to three eggs each spring, which hatch after about 35 days of incubation. Feathers of newly hatched bald eaglets are light grey, and turn dark brown before they leave the nest in about 12 weeks. When they are 3 or 4 years old, bald eagles have mottled brown and white feathers under their wings and on their heads, tails and breasts. The distinctive white head and tail feathers do not appear until they are about 4 to 5 years old. Their beaks and eyes also turn from dark brown to yellow during this time.

Bald eagles are about 29 to 42 inches long, can weigh 7 to 15 pounds, and have a wingspan of 6 to 8 feet. This makes them one of the largest birds in North America. Females are larger than males, but both have white heads and tail feathers and yellow beaks.

The bald eagle is our national symbol, so when it became threatened with extinction in the 1960s, people took notice. Strong endangered species and environmental protection laws, as well as active private, state and federal conservation efforts, have brought back the bald eagle population from the edge of extinction in the United States. The use of DDT pesticide is now outlawed in the United States, which has contributed greatly to the return of the bald eagle to America's skies. There are now over 5,000 nesting pairs and 20,000 total birds in the lower 48 states. There are over 35,000 bald eagles in Alaska.

There are several other common raptors living at least part of the year in the Lake Tahoe Basin. One of the most common is the osprey, which is somewhat similar in appearance to the bald eagle, having white markings on its head and throat and a dark brown back and tail. It also preys mostly on fish. Most nests that you see in the Tahoe Basin are osprey nests. Sometimes eagles will steal freshly caught fish from the slightly smaller ospreys.

Forest hawks, which do not fish for food, include the sharp-shinned hawk, the Cooper’s hawk, and the northern goshawk. Such raptors are called accipiters. Other raptors in the Basin include the merlin, the great horned owl, the western screech owl, the flammulated owl, the northern Pigmy owl, the northern Saw-whet owl, and the rare California spotted owl. Red tail hawks also frequent Tahoe, and peregrine falcons sometimes pass through the region.

For more information about the birds of the Tahoe Basin, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/ltbmu/recreation/wildlife/birds.shtml.

The Lake Tahoe Report is a collaboration between John Cobourn, Water Resource Specialist with University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, and Heather Segale, Education and Outreach Coordinator for the University of California, Davis. For more information, contact Heather Segale, (530) 583-3279, or logon to www.lteec.org, www.tahoe.unr.edu, or terc.ucdavis.edu.

last modified: January 23 2006

Lake of the Sky - The Lake Tahoe Story
A Robust Multimedia Presentation by David C. Antonucci

Amazing Facts and True Stories About Lake Tahoe:

Lake of the Sky — The Lake Tahoe Story brings the mysteries and science of Lake Tahoe to everyone. Using state of the art multimedia techniques, the viewer experiences an exciting and informative journey of discovery. Accompanied by live narration from a qualified environmental scientist, the audience will explore the mystique of Lake Tahoe. Participants will have greater understanding, leading to a deeper appreciation and lasting memories of Lake Tahoe.

Centered around the most frequently asked questions and mysteries of Lake Tahoe, the 45-minute presentation covers the Lake’s most fascinating and timely aspects. Viewers will learn about the natural forces that created Lake Tahoe and take a virtual dive into the underwater world. They will experience the pioneer movement, follow historic trails and live through Tahoe’s Gilded Age. Using simple and easy to understand concepts, scientific concerns are explained together with the future plans to protect the Lake. Live narration complemented by ample graphics, video and animation scenes make the presentation lively and interesting. The presentation is fully customizable to provide more detail or additional subjects of interest to the audience. Examples are recreation, geology, water resources and biological resources.

• How was Lake Tahoe formed?
  
• How large and deep is Lake Tahoe?
  
• How much water is in Lake Tahoe?
  
• Where does the water go?
  
• Why is it so blue?
  
• How cold is the water?
  
• Does it ever freeze?
  
• Is Lake Tahoe's clarity threatened?
  
• What is the history of Tahoe?

Learn the answers to these and many more exciting facts about Lake Tahoe in Lake of the Sky — The Lake Tahoe Story.

Fees and Charges: Base fee is $295 for groups up to 150 persons in the Lake Tahoe area and includes audiovisual equipment and setup.
About the Presenter: David C. Antonucci is a 30-year resident of Lake Tahoe. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in environmental engineering. He has been directly involved with plans and activities to protect Lake Tahoe throughout his 32-year career and is considered an expert on Lake Tahoe environmental issues. He has served on many boards and organizations dedicated to visitor interpretation and preservation of Lake Tahoe.

Contact information:
David C. Antonucci
Phone: 530-525-5410
Fax: 530-525-7745
Email: dcantonucci@msn.com
P. O. Box 1050
7205 Antelope Way
Homewood, CA 96141-1050

last modified: January 24 2005

Research Symposium A Success
Ongoing research efforts in the Tahoe Basin were highlighted at a recent symposium, held at the North Tahoe Conference Center on May 13 and 14. It was attended by 86 scientists, agency staffers and interested citizens. Progress on three dozen research topics were reported. More importantly, it provided an excellent opportunity for researchers with widely divergent interests to learn about and discuss each other's work. A compendium of research abstracts from the symposium is available as a PDF (click here).

last modified: June 25 2002