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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Director Visits Lake Tahoe, Announces $3.4 Million Investment

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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Director Visits Lake Tahoe, Announces .4 Million Investment

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – During a trip to South Lake Tahoe on Thursday, June 6, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams announced $3.4 million in funding under the bipartisan Fish and Wildlife Service Act. infrastructure to prevent and combat the spread of aquatic invasive species in the lake. Tahoe.

Williams announced Meek’s Bay, following a tour she took with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency of two project sites in the basin that are also funded by the bipartisan infrastructure law.

The tour began at the Spooner Watercraft Inspection Station where TRPA Aquatic Invasive Species Program Manager Dennis Zabaglo discussed the AIS watercraft inspection program.

TRPA began voluntary inspections of personal watercraft in 2008. In 2009, it began performing mandatory inspections on all ramps in the basin.

Zabaglo said that due to the high anxiety that normally surrounds a boat ramp, coupled with the limited space available at boat ramps, they moved inspections away from these areas in 2010 .

Boaters receive a tether on a permanently attached portion of the hitch following inspection and decontamination. The tether can only be removed by an operator during a boat ramp. It will be replaced as boats move out of Lake Tahoe. If there is no tie, the boats will not be allowed to launch.

TRPA partners with the Tahoe Resource Conservation District to operate the watercraft inspection stations. There are three locations, one in Alpine Meadows, one in Meyers and the Spooner location.

The Spooner location is a temporary location set up and dismantled each year.

“This puts a strain on our resources…and what’s more, it’s not permanent, we pride ourselves on our customer service, so a permanent inspection station will allow us to ensure that the boating public experiences a good experience,” Zabaglo said.

TRPA is working with the Forest Service and the Nevada Department of Transportation to build a permanent station on Highway 28. The project is currently in the planning stages.

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The tour then took Williams and her team to Baldwin Beach, where she could see the benthic barriers installed at Taylor and Tallac Creeks.

There, Erick Walker, forest manager for the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, discussed the history of LTBMU, which was created to manage the Lake Tahoe Basin watershed portions of the Eldorado Forests, Tahoe and Humboldt-Toiyabe.

“So even though we are not a federally proclaimed national forest, we look, smell and behave like a national forest,” Walker said. LTBMU is the largest land manager in the basin.

The department acquired waterfront parcels near the Taylor-Tallac area. Baldwin Beach is an extremely popular tourist destination in the summer, and Walker said that in addition to the increase in people on the beach, there has also been an increase in invasive species, like bass, bullfrogs and aquatic plants.

Benthic barriers were placed in 2020 to kill AIS without using chemicals by blocking plants from receiving light. Zabaglo said he hopes to remove the barriers this fall.

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Eventually, the tour moved to Meeks Bay where a press conference was held to announce the $3.4 million in funding.

The conference began with a speech by Herman Fillmore, director of cultural and linguistic resources for the Washoe Tribe. He began with a discussion about the importance of Lake Tahoe and its surrounding areas. He talked about the Meeks Meadow restoration project the tribe has been working on, which will help restore the watershed, which in turn will improve the health of Lahontan cutthroat trout, which were recently reintroduced to the lake.

“These cutthroat trout are not only beneficial for fishing, but they also play an important role in this ecosystem,” Fillmore said.

Herman Fillmore kicked off the press conference with a speech in Washoe.
Laney Griffo/Tahoe Daily Tribune

After the news conference, Williams and other attendees, including tribal elders, released trout into the lake.

“This significant investment from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda comes at a crucial time as the Lake Tahoe Basin continues to be threatened by the introduction and spread of aquatic invasive species,” said Martha Williams, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “The valuable partnerships and tribal leadership in the basin provide the collaborative environment necessary to restore habitats for Lahontan cutthroat trout and other native species.”

This announcement marks the third year of funding for these ongoing restoration projects. The Department also launched the Invasive Species Keystone Initiative, a key conservation initiative under the Restoration and Resilience Framework, which will guide $2 billion in investments under the bipartisan Infrastructure Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.

TRPA Executive Director Julie Regan, who accompanied Williams on the tour, was pleased with the day’s outcome.

“(Today) we’re just celebrating the investment in the future of Lake Tahoe,” Regan said. “We’re really trying to shine a national spotlight on the work we do in full collaboration with many partners and show the rest of the country that if we can do it here, it can be accomplished across the country.

“I think the day was a success,” Regan continued. “Meeting Director Williams and hearing her enthusiasm for the environment and all the work we do…she really understood the complexity and really seemed to understand what we were going through.” »

Although Williams was excited to participate in the trout release, it wasn’t the most exciting part of his day.

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