SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Great Basin Institute and the USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit invite community members and visitors to join us at the Taylor Creek Visitor Center for the final Lake of the Sky Amphitheater summer speaker series of the season. Kelly Loria’s Snow, Mountain Streams and Water Quality in the Tahoe Basin is this Fri., August 25, 2023, from 7 to 8 p.m. and Monica Arienzo’s Plastic Pollution Research in the Tahoe Basin is on Sat., August 26, from 10 to 11 a.m.

Kelly Loria is a PhD candidate in the Natural Resources and Environmental Science Program at the University of Nevada, Reno. Her background is in alpine lake ecology having led a team monitoring the alpine lakes in the Green Lakes Valley of Colorado. Her recent research interests include investigating patterns of metabolism and nutrient uptake by algal communities of mountain streams in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Dr. Monica Arienzo is an Associate Research Professor in the Division of Hydrologic Sciences at the Desert Research Institute. She earned a doctoral degree in Marine Geology and Geophysics from the University of Miami. Her microplastic research focuses on microplastics found in snowy peaks, downstream lakes and rivers, and drinking water.

For more information, visit the Lake of the Sky Summer Series webpage, and follow the visitor center on Facebook for the latest updates.