MARLETTE LAKE, Nev. – Two organizations joined forces on Oct. 24-25 to give Marlette Lake diver assisted attention. A clean up organized by Clean Up The Lake and funded by Travel North Tahoe Nevada surfaced litter from the depths of the alpine reservoir that rests on the north-east slopes above Lake Tahoe.

More than expected

Colin West, founder and CEO of Clean Up The Lake, says his team found more litter than they had expected to pull from the lake. The team of divers, kayakers, paddlers, shore support, as well an honorary dive dog extracted over 200 pounds.

“Being so hard to access,” West says, “I would have expected less, but we definitely had a little bit more than I thought.” Marlette Lake is closed to vehicles and only accessible by hiking or biking, often from Spooner Lake which is a five mile trek.

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Though more than expected, the litter amount doesn’t compare to large quantities the team regularly pulls from Lake Tahoe, Donner or Fallen Leaf Lake.

The project that initially intended to focus on demonstrating stewardship and having fun while making a difference, quickly turned serious when divers found a litter hotspot located where the well traveled Flume trail arrives at the lake. “That does make sense,” West explains, “given where there are more humans, there’s more litter and that theory continues to prove to be right.”

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Although most of the litter was predominately small pieces consisting of beer cans and bottles, divers did find a old oil drum that contained residue, but didn’t appear to be leaking.

The 45 foot deep and 381 acre lake was constructed in 1873 when a dam was erected at an outlet of a broad glaciated basin that naturally drained into Lake Tahoe. The dam was raised in 1959, allowing the lake to reach the current height of 45 feet. The age of the reservoir adds additional considerations for divers.

West briefed his divers at the start of the day on Friday, Oct. 25 that if any objects looks over 50 years old, to not remove it.

A state law from the State Historic Preservation Office protects artifacts on state and federal lands that are more than 50 years old. Collection of these objects can be met with charges.

Over the course of two days, divers found a handful of objects that may fall under this historical criteria.

One of these objects included an enclosed wooden crate that West describes as having definite Halloween vibes with dimensions that appear coffin sized. Diver footage shows the crate in the sand with sediment eerily sitting on and floating around it.

The organization will report the sighting to the State Parks archeologist, along with dated piping, and what could be an engine bock or car axel.

Divers also found crawdads, which are an invasive species. Aquatic invasive species is something divers train their eyes for while on the dives. This allows monitoring of often unobserved underwater areas, which can help agencies get ahead of an invasive threat before an infestation gets larger.

Clean Up The Lake still has work ahead of them now that the dive is over. This involves counting and categorizing the over 200 pounds of litter.

From destination marketing to destination management

The partnership behind this dive demonstrates a shift in focus within the Tahoe basin from destination marketing to destination management from many travel agencies.

“Not that the economy and marketing visitors to this destination isn’t important, because it still is [since] we are a tourism destination, but what’s equally important,” Andy Chapman of Travel North Tahoe Nevada, “is that balance with the community and that balance with the environment.”

The travel organization invested $13,000 for this project. “Not that that matters because it’s worth a lot more,” Chapman says.

As the organization has moved its efforts toward investigating and mitigating user impacts, they selected Marlette Lake for a project since it falls within the travel organization’s jurisdiction. “We send a lot of guests here that want to mountain bike or ride or hike up in here,” Chapman explains. Even his staff enjoy the area.

Prior to this dive, it was largely unknown what was waiting in Marlette’s waters. “First dive into the lake,” Chapman says, “gives us an opportunity to kind of give back and really see what’s under there and clean it up for the next users that are going to come in after it.”

This management shift by Travel North Tahoe Nevada aligns the organization with a regional Stewardship Plan released in June 2023. A council of over 20 organizations spent two years creating the plan.

This plan provides a guide for organizations navigating the stewardship front, however, Chapman explains that Travel North Tahoe Nevada began making more management focused decisions organically pre-pandemic, when tourist numbers were already high. Due to the high numbers, the organization had stopped marketing for tourism in the summertime. The pandemic then accelerated things.

“The government officials said go outside, and they did,” Chapman recalls, “And so a lot of new people came to the mountains, which maybe had never interacted with mountains, didn’t know what to do with trash, didn’t know that there are bears and wildlife and other things.”

This ignited action from numerous regional organizations who came together to form the Stewardship Council, which led to the plan.

This is now the second project Travel North Tahoe Nevada has partnered with Clean Up The Lake on. The two organizations also conducted the Lake Tahoe Litter Summit together.

Having fun while protecting the environment

Clean Up The Lake is not only a proponent for stewardship, but seeks to make it something worth getting excited over. “It’s that idea of stewardship and letting people have fun while also protecting the environment,” West says, “we thought was a very unique, interesting way to appeal to others.”

The fun was evident at Marlette’s dive with numerous divers bringing their dogs and some taking the opportunity to mountain bike to the site.

Free diver Cynthia Pacheco brings Donkey Keote, her dachshund cocker spaniel mix, along for dives. Donkey Keote will ride on one of the paddleboards that assists divers and patiently wait for his owner to resurface with a piece of trash.

This fun experience co-exists along with a very real need. “I think every single lake and our drinking water resources need the research,” West says, “They need the attention and the effort.”

He finds that while much of the focus is on marine litter these days, there is not a lot of focus on drinking water sources. This project helps widen that focus as Marlette Lake provides water to both Virginia City and Carson City.

“Does everyone in Virginia City and Carson want [those] little chunks and pieces of that little oil drum falling into the pipeline that they drink out of their tap water?” West says, “Probably not.”

It’s these small lakes that his organization mainly focuses on in the summertime before they freeze over.

But as temperatures drop, that doesn’t mean their stewardship activities will cool. During wintertime, Clean Up The Lake primarily treats Tahoe as both the water and activity calms. The nonprofit also have plans for Donner Lake this winter as well.

You can follow along on their activities at cleanupthelake.org.