Lake Tahoe Sees its Best Water Clarity in 40 Years

In 2022, Lake Tahoe’s waters were exceptionally blue, with the highest clarity recorded since the 1980s. According to a report from the U.C. Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center, scientists measured the lake’s clarity at 80.6 feet during the last five months of 2022. To measure clarity, scientists lower a large white disk into the water and record the depth at which it becomes invisible.

Darcie Goodman Collins, CEO of the League to Save Lake Tahoe, warned against interpreting this improvement as a sign of full recovery. She emphasized that there is much more to learn about Lake Tahoe in order to restore and maintain its blueness. In 2022, the lake’s average clarity was 71.7 feet, significantly lower than the near-100 feet averages seen in the 1960s and ’70s. In 2021, the lake’s clarity was a mere 61 feet.

Image by UC Davis.

Since the 1960s, Californian and Nevadan organizations have sought to restore Lake Tahoe’s clear waters, aiming for an annual average clarity of 97.4 feet – a depth not reached in approximately 50 years. Clarity is influenced by the concentration of small particles like silt and clay from runoff, as well as phytoplankton. The Tahoe Environmental Research Center report identified a shift in zooplankton as the primary contributor to improving the lake’s clarity. Zooplankton, microscopic animals that consume phytoplankton, experienced a significant increase in late 2022.

Two important zooplankton species, daphnia and bosmina, reemerged in Lake Tahoe during fall and winter. They had been largely absent since the invasive mysis shrimp were introduced in the 1960s. The shrimp population was so large that a Californian nonprofit group explored harvesting them for dog treats.

Tahoe Zooplankton. Image by UC Davis.

In 2021, the mysis shrimp population unexpectedly crashed, and by 2022, daphnia and bosmina were thriving. Scientists are unsure, but clarity levels could continue improving in 2023, potentially reaching levels observed in the 1970s, provided that daphnia and bosmina continue to thrive despite anticipated high runoff levels this spring and summer.

Fishermen in Tahoe can also celebrate, as Kokanee salmon, which feed on daphnia, are expected to grow larger this season due to the abundant food supply. However, this improvement may be short-lived. Mysis shrimp populations are predicted to recover, and as they consume bosmina and daphnia, clarity is likely to decline once more.

Active NorCal

Telling the Stories of Northern California

131 Comments

  1. Wonderful beat ! I wish to apprentice while you amend your web site, how can i subscribe for a blog web site? The account aided me a acceptable deal. I had been tiny bit acquainted of this your broadcast provided bright clear concept

  2. Howdy I am so excited I found your blog page, I really found you by mistake, while I was researching on Askjeeve for something else, Anyhow I am here now and would just like to say thank you for a fantastic post and a all round enjoyable blog (I also love the theme/design), I don?t have time to read through it all at the minute but I have book-marked it and also included your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read much more, Please do keep up the excellent b.

  3. Hey there just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The text in your content seem to be running off the screen in Internet explorer. I’m not sure if this is a format issue or something to do with internet browser compatibility but I thought I’d post to let you know. The layout look great though! Hope you get the problem resolved soon. Kudos

  4. Heya i’m for the first time here. I came across this board and I find It truly useful & it helped me out a lot. I hope to give something back and help others like you helped me.

  5. Hi outstanding blog! Does running a blog similar to this take a lot of work? I have virtually no expertise in computer programming but I was hoping to start my own blog soon. Anyway, if you have any suggestions or tips for new blog owners please share. I know this is off topic but I just had to ask. Thank you!

  6. I have been surfing online more than three hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It’s pretty worth enough for me. In my opinion, if all site owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the internet will be much more useful than ever before.

  7. Its like you read my mind! You seem to know so much about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you could do with some pics to drive the message home a bit, but other than that, this is magnificent blog. A great read. I’ll definitely be back.

  8. obviously like your website however you need to check the spelling on quite a few of your posts. A number of them are rife with spelling problems and I find it very bothersome to tell the truth then again I will surely come back again.

  9. It is perfect time to make some plans for the future and it is time to be happy. I have read this post and if I could I want to suggest you few interesting things or suggestions. Perhaps you could write next articles referring to this article. I wish to read more things about it!

  10. I will right away seize your rss as I can not in finding your email subscription link or newsletter service. Do you have any? Please permit me recognize so that I may subscribe. Thanks.

  11. I do consider all the ideas you have presented in your post. They are very convincing and will definitely work. Still, the posts are too quick for newbies. May you please prolong them a bit from next time? Thank you for the post.

  12. I’m not sure where you are getting your info, but good topic. I needs to spend some time learning more or understanding more. Thanks for fantastic information I was looking for this information for my mission.

  13. I don’t know if it’s just me or if everyone else experiencing problems with your blog. It appears as if some of the text on your posts are running off the screen. Can someone else please comment and let me know if this is happening to them too? This could be a problem with my browser because I’ve had this happen before. Kudos

  14. Hey there, I think your website might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your blog in Firefox, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, fantastic blog!

  15. After looking at a number of the blog posts on your web page, I really like your way of blogging. I bookmarked it to my bookmark website list and will be checking back soon. Please check out my web site as well and let me know how you feel.

  16. Link exchange is nothing else except it is only placing the other person’s webpage link on your page at appropriate place and other person will also do same for you.

  17. Hey There. I found your blog the use of msn. This is a very smartly written article. I will be sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your useful information. Thank you for the post. I will definitely comeback.

  18. Hi, Neat post. There is a problem with your web site in internet explorer, may check this? IE still is the marketplace leader and a big component to folks will omit your magnificent writing due to this problem.

  19. Hi just wanted to give you a quick heads up and let you know a few of the images aren’t loading correctly. I’m not sure why but I think its a linking issue. I’ve tried it in two different internet browsers and both show the same results.

  20. Thank you a bunch for sharing this with all folks you really realize what you are talking approximately! Bookmarked. Please also talk over with my site =). We could have a link exchange contract among us

  21. Hi, i feel that i saw you visited my blog so i got here to go back the choose?.I am trying to in finding things to improve my site!I assume its good enough to use some of your concepts!!

  22. Have you ever considered about including a little bit more than just your articles? I mean, what you say is fundamental and all. Nevertheless just imagine if you added some great photos or video clips to give your posts more, “pop”! Your content is excellent but with images and video clips, this website could undeniably be one of the very best in its niche. Excellent blog!

  23. My partner and I absolutely love your blog and find most of your post’s to be exactly what I’m looking for. Would you offer guest writers to write content available for you? I wouldn’t mind publishing a post or elaborating on a lot of the subjects you write related to here. Again, awesome weblog!

  24. I think this is one of the most significant information for me. And i’m glad reading your article. But want to remark on few general things, The site style is great, the articles is really excellent : D. Good job, cheers

  25. Have you ever thought about creating an e-book or guest authoring on other sites? I have a blog based upon on the same information you discuss and would really like to have you share some stories/information. I know my subscribers would value your work. If you are even remotely interested, feel free to send me an e mail.

  26. Hey there this is kinda of off topic but I was wondering if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding skills so I wanted to get advice from someone with experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

  27. Great article! This is the type of information that are supposed to be shared around the web. Disgrace on the seek engines for now not positioning this submit upper! Come on over and discuss with my web site . Thank you =)

  28. My spouse and I stumbled over here from a different website and thought I might check things out. I like what I see so now i’m following you. Look forward to looking over your web page again.

  29. Howdy! I know this is kinda off topic nevertheless I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in exchanging links or maybe guest writing a blog article or vice-versa? My site goes over a lot of the same subjects as yours and I feel we could greatly benefit from each other. If you are interested feel free to send me an e-mail. I look forward to hearing from you! Terrific blog by the way!

  30. I was wondering if you ever considered changing the page layout of your blog? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or two images. Maybe you could space it out better?

  31. It’s a shame you don’t have a donate button! I’d certainly donate to this brilliant blog! I suppose for now i’ll settle for book-marking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account. I look forward to fresh updates and will talk about this site with my Facebook group. Chat soon!

  32. I was wondering if you ever considered changing the layout of your site? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or two images. Maybe you could space it out better?

  33. Undeniably believe that which you stated. Your favorite justification appeared to be on the internet the simplest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I definitely get irked while people consider worries that they plainly do not know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top as well as defined out the whole thing without having side effect , people can take a signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thanks

  34. You’re so awesome! I don’t suppose I’ve read anything like this before. So nice to find someone with some original thoughts on this topic. Really.. thank you for starting this up. This site is something that is needed on the web, someone with a little originality!

  35. My spouse and I stumbled over here from a different website and thought I might check things out. I like what I see so now i am following you. Look forward to looking at your web page for a second time.

  36. After looking over a few of the blog articles on your web page, I honestly like your way of blogging. I bookmarked it to my bookmark site list and will be checking back soon. Please check out my web site as well and let me know what you think.

  37. I will right away grasp your rss as I can not in finding your email subscription link or newsletter service. Do you have any? Please allow me realize so that I may just subscribe. Thanks.

  38. I loved as much as you will receive carried out right here. The sketch is tasteful, your authored subject matter stylish. nonetheless, you command get bought an impatience over that you wish be delivering the following. unwell unquestionably come further formerly again since exactly the same nearly a lot often inside case you shield this increase.

  39. My brother suggested I might like this website. He was totally right. This post actually made my day. You cann’t imagine just how much time I had spent for this information! Thanks!

  40. Hi would you mind stating which blog platform you’re working with? I’m planning to start my own blog in the near future but I’m having a difficult time making a decision between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your design and style seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something completely unique. P.S Apologies for getting off-topic but I had to ask!

  41. This is very fascinating, You are an overly professional blogger. I have joined your feed and sit up for seeking more of your fantastic post. Also, I have shared your site in my social networks

  42. When I originally commented I seem to have clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get four emails with the same comment. Is there a means you can remove me from that service? Thank you!

  43. Oh my goodness! Amazing article dude! Thanks, However I am going through issues with your RSS. I don’t know why I can’t subscribe to it. Is there anyone else getting identical RSS problems? Anybody who knows the solution will you kindly respond? Thanx!!

  44. I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you create this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz answer back as I’m looking to create my own blog and would like to know where u got this from. cheers

  45. My partner and I absolutely love your blog and find most of your post’s to be precisely what I’m looking for. Would you offer guest writers to write content for yourself? I wouldn’t mind producing a post or elaborating on many of the subjects you write related to here. Again, awesome web log!

  46. Woah! I’m really enjoying the template/theme of this site. It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s very hard to get that “perfect balance” between user friendliness and visual appearance. I must say that you’ve done a excellent job with this. Additionally, the blog loads very fast for me on Chrome. Superb Blog!

  47. Hello! Someone in my Myspace group shared this site with us so I came to give it a look. I’m definitely enjoying the information. I’m book-marking and will be tweeting this to my followers! Exceptional blog and outstanding design and style.

  48. Greetings I am so excited I found your site, I really found you by error, while I was researching on Digg for something else, Nonetheless I am here now and would just like to say thank you for a fantastic post and a all round thrilling blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to go through it all at the minute but I have book-marked it and also included your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a lot more, Please do keep up the fantastic job.

  49. Hey I know this is off topic but I was wondering if you knew of any widgets I could add to my blog that automatically tweet my newest twitter updates. I’ve been looking for a plug-in like this for quite some time and was hoping maybe you would have some experience with something like this. Please let me know if you run into anything. I truly enjoy reading your blog and I look forward to your new updates.

  50. I am curious to find out what blog system you have been utilizing? I’m experiencing some minor security problems with my latest website and I would like to find something more safe. Do you have any solutions?

  51. I am extremely inspired together with your writing talents and alsosmartly as with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid topic or did you customize it yourself? Either way stay up the nice quality writing, it’s rare to peer a nice blog like this one nowadays..

  52. Greetings I am so happy I found your webpage, I really found you by error, while I was browsing on Askjeeve for something else, Anyhow I am here now and would just like to say thank you for a marvelous post and a all round thrilling blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to read through it all at the minute but I have book-marked it and also added in your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a great deal more, Please do keep up the superb job.

  53. Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point. You clearly know what youre talking about, why waste your intelligence on just posting videos to your blog when you could be giving us something enlightening to read?

  54. It’s a shame you don’t have a donate button! I’d most certainly donate to this brilliant blog! I suppose for now i’ll settle for book-marking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account. I look forward to fresh updates and will talk about this site with my Facebook group. Chat soon!

  55. Do you have a spam issue on this website; I also am a blogger, and I was curious about your situation; many of us have created some nice procedures and we are looking to swap methods with other folks, why not shoot me an e-mail if interested.

  56. What’s up i am kavin, its my first time to commenting anywhere, when i read this piece of writing i thought i could also make comment due to this brilliant post.

  57. Hello there! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a collection of volunteers and starting a new initiative in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us useful information to work on. You have done a extraordinary job!

  58. I was pretty pleased to find this web site. I want to to thank you for your time due to this wonderful read!! I definitely appreciated every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new things on your blog.

  59. I think what you postedtypedbelieve what you postedtypedsaidbelieve what you postedtypedsaidbelieve what you postedtypedWhat you postedtypedsaid was very logicala lot of sense. But, what about this?think about this, what if you were to write a killer headlinetitle?content?typed a catchier title? I ain’t saying your content isn’t good.ain’t saying your content isn’t gooddon’t want to tell you how to run your blog, but what if you added a titlesomethingheadlinetitle that grabbed a person’s attention?maybe get people’s attention?want more? I mean %BLOG_TITLE% is a little vanilla. You ought to look at Yahoo’s home page and watch how they createwrite news headlines to get viewers interested. You might add a video or a related picture or two to get readers interested about what you’ve written. Just my opinion, it might bring your postsblog a little livelier.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back to top button