Lake Tahoe is one of the top tourist destinations in the United States, and officials are working to keep it that way.
As with other bodies of water, invasive species are a constant threat, and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and U.S. Forest Service are funding management projects, 2 News Nevada reported.
Public enemy No. 1 is the New Zealand mud snail, which last year was the first invasive species found in the lake since at least 2008. The tiny mollusks, which grow only up to 6 millimeters, can proliferate to a population of 40 million in a single year.
They displace and outcompete native species and can consume half the food in a stream, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. They cut into populations of aquatic insects, which harms trout and salmon — including by basically starving the fish, as a study showed rainbow trout on an exclusive diet of the creatures lost nearly half their body weight every day since they passed most of the snails without digesting them.
"We are repeating that monitoring effort this year to see what may have changed, so we don't know yet about any changes, but we'll know by the end of the season," TRPA aquatic invasive species program manager Dennis Zabaglo told 2 News.
The TRPA is also focused on preserving the Tahoe Keys Lagoon, where invasive weeds have consumed 172 acres. Its USFS partnership relates to a 17-acre Taylor Tallac creek and marsh restoration program, the largest removal of aquatic invasive species in the Lake Tahoe Basin.
"It is a Forest Service location, and we are partnering with them on doing an invasive aquatic weed removal project using bottom barriers," Zabaglo told the channel. "They're just mats that go over the surface."
Visitors to the lake can help by cleaning, draining, and drying their boats and gear before they enter and after they exit any bodies of water.
This combined effort ensures the lake retains its natural beauty so it can be enjoyed by generations to come — and taxpayers are not burdened with paying exorbitant sums for preventable predicaments. Invasive species have cost the United States $1.3 trillion since 1950.
"Aquatic invasive species have pretty devastating impacts, especially on a place like Lake Tahoe where [there is] famed water clarity and water quality and a $5 billion recreation-based economy," Zabaglo told 2 News.
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