SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Lake Tahoe Earth Week’s daily challenges begin with Mother Nature Monday. Spring is in the air, snow is melting, or will be after a brief return to winter this week, green grass is poking out and all the animals are migrating back to Lake Tahoe after their winter away.

What better way to appreciate Lake Tahoe than by appreciating Mother Nature this Earth Week? Here are a few ways to show your love:

Start a Nature Journal – A nature journal is a wonderful tool for recording and exploring the natural world around us. You can begin by immersing yourself in nature and recording what you hear, sketching what you see, reflecting on your experiences, or identifying native species. Nature journaling is fun for all ages, and you can do it alone or with friends and family.

Turn off the Lights – Join the dark sky movement by turning off your lights every night this week. Nocturnal animals are adapted to be active and hunt during the night, and they rely on darkness to function properly. The widespread use of light at night can disrupt their natural behavior, causing negative impacts on their survival and health. By turning off lights at night, you can help protect our nocturnal wildlife and save energy.

Come Plant with Us – Join the Sugar Pine Foundation for one of our spring planting events and help restore native tree populations in Lake Tahoe and beyond. White pines play crucial roles in our ecosystem by providing food and habitat for wildlife, stabilizing soils and snowpack, and increasing forest diversity. However, our white pine populations are threatened by a non-native fungal pathogen called white pine blister rust. To combat blister rust, we plant over 10,000 sugar pine seedlings, progeny of blister rust resistant trees, and other native seedlings every year. Come plant trees with us and help make a difference in the forest around Tahoe.

End your Tahoe Earth Week fun by joining us at the Earth Day Festival from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 22 at Lake Tahoe Community College. Learn more at southtahoeearthday.org 

The Tahoe Earth Day Foundation, a non-profit organization, formed to educate the general public regarding the Lake Tahoe and Truckee region’s unique beauty and how to preserve and protect it. The means of providing such education include, but are not limited to, regional Earth Day festivals that include environmental and educational booths with focus areas on watershed health, forest health, water conservation, pollution prevention, alternative energy and waste management.