Rare funding helps Tahoe partners turn the tide against aquatic invasive species
LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. – Lisa G. Heki says it’s rare in her career to see this much funding invested in national ecosystems. The biologist and project leader for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says, “That is a once in a lifetime focus,” and they’re working on making it count here in Lake Tahoe.
The funds come from a $455 million pot through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for nationwide programs related to the Biden-Harris Administration’s America the Beautiful initiative. The goal of the initiative is to conserve 30 percent of land and water by 2030.
In 2022, Tahoe partners began receiving $3.4 million each year. A total of $17 million is being allocated over the course of five years.
Lake Tahoe was chosen as a high priority due its fame internationally, its unique habitat, “and it has a lot of political visibility and interest.” Heki also says community driven efforts to “save Lake Tahoe,” its clarity, and ecosystems brought the jewel of the Sierra to the forefront for the funding.
The Fish and Wildlife and partnering agencies have designated aquatic invasive species as one of their top priorities for the funds. But given the rarity of such a large investment, basin partners want to make it stick by putting it towards infrastructure projects that Heki explains, “Will give it life beyond the actual funding.”
This permanence is demonstrated in projects like installing permanent watercraft inspection stations at both Meyers and Spooner Lake. Almost $3 million has gone towards this effort. Currently only temporary inspections stations operate during the summer months along corridors entering the lake.
These inspections stations check incoming watercraft for invasive species that pose a risk to the lake’s ecosystem, clarity and native species.
Heki explains the initiative leveraged the planning, funding, and vision of many aquatic invasive species projects already existing in the Tahoe Basin before the funds became available.
One such project utilizes benthic barriers that deprive the invasive aquatic weed Eurasian watermilfoil of sunlight at the Taylor and Tallac Creeks. Heki says the funding so far of $1.5 million took the project over the finish line.
The project now shows potential for use in other areas of the lake where the invasive weed is present.
There are numerous other projects the investment has bolstered in the basin as well. It has helped the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California recover native fish, including Lahontan cutthroat trout and whitefish, as well as the remove nonnative fish.
The initiative is bringing the tribe in on environmental management with their traditional land management insights.
And another tribe driven project is the Máyala Wáta (Meeks Creek) Restoration Project. There the tribe is thinning encroaching conifers to restore the meadow ecosystem near Meek’s Bay.
The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency is working with the tribe to station a tool at the Meeks Bay resort that prevents invasive hitchhikers on non-motorized watercraft like kayaks and paddleboards. Tribal staff will direct guests to clean, drain and dry their vessels using the tool. Around $1 million has gone towards tribal priorities so far.
There’s a public education element to partners’ battle against aquatic invasive species. Fish and Wildlife says, “Public education is critical when it comes to preventing the introduction of aquatic invasive species into the region, but many educational materials are not currently available in Spanish.”
To counter this, kiosks, billboards, public service announcements and other educations materials about aquatic invasive species are becoming available in Spanish.
So far about $164,000 has gone into bilingual aquatic invasive species education.
The Tahoe investment has inspired an innovative approach in restoring shorelines. Fish and Wildlife note that aquatic invasive species infestations often occur around marinas. The agency is working with the TRPA to develop offshore dock prototypes as a longterm goal. This would move marinas off shore and restore natural shoreline ecosystems and flow patterns, which Heki explains, helps keep invasive species away.
Heki says there’s still three more years to identify other projects that are high priority for the funds, including the recently discovered New Zealand mud snails. To that effort, TRPA plans on using the law’s funds this year for bilingual New Zealand mud snail signage, outreach activities as well as non-motorized decontamination stations.
Heki says it’s important to invest these funds in ways that continue to give back long after the funds are dry. And so with these projects they are working on refining techniques, methods, and building permanents structures, because “that’s the capacity that keeps on functioning.”
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