This summer, over 60 kids from South Lake Tahoe spent their days climbing, golfing, and even attending a sleep-away camp as part of the Boys & Girls Club of Lake Tahoe’s Summer Adventure program. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, this program helped open the doors to new experiences right here in Lake Tahoe:

• Weekly classes at Blue Granite Climbing Gym introduced youth to the thrill of indoor climbing.
• First Tee lessons at Bijou Golf Course gave participants their first taste of life on the green.
• A teen sleep-away camp brought together 25+ kids for three days of outdoor fun, teamwork, and lifelong memories.

By removing financial barriers, this program ensured children of all backgrounds could explore Tahoe’s outdoors together in a safe, supportive environment. Along the way, they built confidence, self-esteem, and a deeper connection to nature.

Together, we’re giving Tahoe’s youth life-changing opportunities and helping them create memories they will carry forever.

Thank you for making this impact possible.

Questions from our viewers get helpful answers from Dr. Sudeep Chandra.

Did you know that Lake Tahoe holds 39 trillion gallons of water?

This was just one of the incredible facts we learned during our livestream to the bottom of Lake Tahoe on September 5, 2025 via remote operated vehicle.

We were joined by an amazing panel of experts who made this deep dive possible:

• Lindsay Kopf – Founder & Executive Director of Restoring the Lake Depths Foundation, who piloted the ROV all the way to the lakebed at a depth of nearly 1,600 feet
• Tim Crandle – President of SeaView Systems, who shared the innovative technology that powered our descent
• Sudeep Chandra – Foundation Professor of Limnology at the University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe, who explained the science behind Tahoe’s legendary clarity

Throughout the event, we received dozens of fascinating questions from you, our audience. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to answer all of them during the livestream. But we didn’t want to leave them unanswered. Here are some of those questions and helpful answers from Dr Chandra:

Destinee asked: Is it true that there are elephants at the bottom of Lake Tahoe?

Dr. Chandra: To my knowledge there are no elephants at the bottom of the Lake.

Kathleen asked: What is the water temperature down at fifteen hundred feet?

Dr. Chandra: The deep waters of Tahoe are typically around 39-42 degrees Fahrenheit (4-5 degrees Celsius). So very cold! Typically, our deep lakes in our temperate climate, have colder water on the bottom and warmer water towards the surface which is warmed from the sun’s energy.

Steve asked: Do any species of fish live in Lake Tahoe? What are the white dots we are seeing on the video?

Dr. Chandra: There are 18+ fish species that have been found and have lived in Lake Tahoe. Fishes can live in different habitats. Scientists have observed fishes in the very deep waters of Tahoe (1600 feet) but they are rare. The fishes mostly live between 1 to 300 feet below the surface. Interestingly, the nonnative gamefish called lake trout (common name mackinaw) use the deep water mounds (60-150 feet below the surface) in Lake Tahoe for reproduction and spawning. 

The ROV was moving through the water, illuminating the flocculent material at the bottom. Flocculent material is comprised of sediments from the watershed, dead algae, organic and inorganic matter that has settled towards the lake bottom but partially suspended in the water. We may also have observed invasive mysid shrimp that live along the lake bottom during part of their life cycle.

Tom asked: So if cold water is heavier and would sink to the bottom, how does the 5-7 year mixing of warm and cold water occur?

Dr. Chandra: Mixing in lakes is a fun topic! Lake Tahoe mixes from shallow to mid depths every year however it is considered a meromictic lake, or a lake that mixes infrequently or perhaps never mixes from the top to the very bottom of the lake. Mixing water from the shallow to the deepest depths occurs every 4-7 years when the intense cooling of the shallow waters in winters and intense wind energy comes together to overcome density differences in water so the lake can completely mix.

Teri asked: We’ve been going to Tahoe for 40+ years and have noticed recently that we’ve actually been able to swim in it and it hasn’t been as cold as when we were younger.  Is this due to “mixing” that you just discussed? I used to not be able to even keep my toes in at the shoreline.

Dr. Chandra: The nearshore indeed has warmed and will continue to warm due the changes in climate. Scientific information shows that nighttime air temperatures are increasing in the Tahoe basin and “the growing season” is getting longer as there is early snow melt in Spring and the snow pack arrives towards the end of Fall into winter. All of these factors drive the warming of the nearshore surface waters. The warming not only will allow you to dip your toes in the nearshore but can lead to the establishment and movement of warmwater favoring, invasive species like warmwater fishes (e.g. bass, bluegill) or enhancing the densities of invasive clams. Here are some science papers that tackle the connection between climate change, warming and the changes in the ecology of the lake including biological invasions. 

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-013-0695-6

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2310075121

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118470596.ch15

http://www.aquaticinvasions.net/2008/AI_2008_3_1_Kamerath_etal.pdf

Steve R. asked: What are the “crater” like things we’re seeing at the bottom? Is there much of any current at the bottom? Or is the water pretty still?

Dr. Chandra: The little “basin and range” looking features at the bottom are sediments that are placed along the bottom. The formation of these sediments are due to the settling of material but also the gentle currents at the bottom of the lake that move some of the sediments. There is likely no major, long standing current at the bottom but just enough to resettle and move the sediments. Much like a little bit of breeze can move dust on a table. So I would say the water is pretty still but still gently moves along the lake bottom.

Jack Asked: Why are there so many air bubbles down at that depth?

Dr. Chandra: What we were seeing is likely more of the sediment that looked like bubbles as they approached the ROV camera.  Some of the material on the bottom is organic so bacteria will use the carbon on that organic matter as an energy source and will produce carbon dioxide bubbles on the sediment surface and the water column.  This gas can eventually move into the water column and may eventually be released in the atmosphere as it diffuses through the column or is mixed through larger mixing processes. This is why lakes can be net emitters of greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide and methane. 

Bruce asked: What kind of scouring or flows are happening down there that is creating these shallow divots in the soft sediments?

Dr. Chandra: There is likely no major, long standing current at the bottom but just enough to resettle and move the sediments much like a little bit of breeze can move dust on a table. 

Bill asked: How deep is the sediment on the bottom of the lake? It looks like soft sand, is it?

Dr. Chandra: Most of the sediment along the deep bottom of the lake is made up of inorganic (non living) and organic (living) material. The inorganic material is made up of the granitic-like material deposited into the Lake from the watershed.  The organic material is from the settling phytoplankton (algae that grow in the water column) to the bottom of the lake due to a physical law called Stokes Law. Other organic matter can include the algae and plants that grow along the nearshore edge of the Lake, and to a lesser extent the animals that live in the lake that eventually are transported and settle to the lake bottom. In lakes typically sedimented organic and inorganic matter is focused due to physical and gravitational forces to the deepest part of the lake through a process called sediment focusing. 

Paleolimnologists take cores of sediments from the deep center of lakes to reconstruct the history of lakes over time. Basically, the deepwater sediments contain reservoirs of history since the origin of the lake. Two prominent paleolimnologists, Dr. Alan Heyvaert (Desert Research Institute) and Paula Noble (University of Nevada), have taken cores from the deepest part of the Lake to recreate the history of the Lake. Some of these cores were over 100 feet long and they still didn’t collect all of the sediment at the bottom.  

The cores show: 

• Past geological events: For example, the layer of ash from the eruption of Mount Mazama (which formed Crater Lake) that occurred approximately 8,000 years ago. This distinctive layer provides a crucial reference point for dating the other sediments.
• Past landslides: The cores suggest a massive underwater landslide occurred in the Lake sometime before 12,000 years ago, based on the sediment layers.
• Historical human impact: For example, the extensive logging during the Comstock era and improvements in Lake water quality and reduced sedimentation to the bottom as a result of the control of landuse development since the 1970s.

Can you imagine a 100 feet of sediments that are recording the history of the lake? 

Here are some science papers about the paleoscience that has been conducted in our Tahoe basin lakes by Drs. Heyvaerts, Noble and others.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10933-017-9961-3

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/es991309p

Ted asked: While SCUBA diving in Lake Tahoe near Meeks Bay, I periodically noticed little white calcified hemispheric nodules in the sand at 11m depth. I collected a few and posted them to iNaturalist thinking they were biologic in nature. But, I suspect they may be hydrologic/geologic in origin. Can anyone there shed any light to this curious, amateur, scientist?

Dr. Chandra: Hard to say without seeing the photos. But we can find calcified round structures on the bottom which are the internal parts of the invasive coldwater, signal crayfish. Are these the nodules you are seeing?

https://museum.wa.gov.au/explore/blogs/andrew-hosie/why-freshwater-crayfish-don-t-need-milk-healthy-bones

Justin asked: There was a small animal swimming by when you were discussing Jacques Cousteau. It moved like a shrimp. What was it? Thanks for sharing the livestream.

Dr. Chandra: Yes! We see both invasive mysid shrimp and native gammarus and chironomid (midge fly) species in the deep water. Mysid shrimp were introduced in the 1960 to augment the food for the nonnative game fishes. Turns out these shrimp can migrate each day from the top 60 feet to 1500 feet below the surface. As they migrate they feed on native plankton and eat sediments and particles that settle on the Lake bottom potentially acting as a biological pump of nutrients back into the water column. Although this concept needs to be explored more by scientists which takes additional resources. Dr. Charles Goldman, the founder of Lake Tahoe lake science, thought there could be two populations of shrimp. One population that lives along the deep Lake bottom while others may migrate. I observed deep water populations at 1600 feet in the late 1990s as part of the project and these shrimp were a clear translucent color compared to a pinkish color for the migrating shrimp. This concept also needs to be explored further and could be an excellent exploration for training the next generation of scientists who want to conserve the Lake. There is still so much that can be explored about the biology and sediments of the Lake bottom and how it connects to the Lake’s fragile clarity.

This journey to the bottom of Lake Tahoe was more than just an exciting exploration; it was a reminder of how much there is still to learn about this extraordinary place. From the tiny shrimp that migrate thousands of feet each day to the sediments that hold a record of thousands of years of Tahoe’s history, every detail of the Lake tells a story worth learning more about. 

Thanks to our incredible panel of experts, our donors, and everyone who joined us with such thoughtful questions, we are one step closer to understanding Tahoe’s mysteries and to inspiring the next generation of scientists and stewards who will help improve the Lake Tahoe environment for all to enjoy.

Hiking the scenic Stateline Fire Lookout National Forest Trail in Crystal Bay just got more interesting thanks to a generous matching donation to the Tahoe Fund from the Spence and Wylie families. Nine new interpretive panels have been installed to welcome visitors to the trail and offer an opportunity to learn about the area’s rich natural and cultural history.

The Stateline Fire Lookout Trail in Crystal Bay offers beautiful panoramic views of Lake Tahoe. Named for its location — straddling the Nevada-California line — this trail had interpretive panels that were worn down by wind and weather. Now, the brand new panels share insights into the history of the fire lookout, local wildlife, and the importance of preserving Tahoe’s delicate environment. 

“We hope these new panels will turn a popular family trail into an opportunity to learn and inspire people to take care as they are out recreating in this special place,” said Amy Berry, Tahoe Fund CEO. “We are grateful to the Spence and Wylie families for their generosity, to Fallon Multimedia for the designs, and to the Forest Service for installing these important upgrades.”

In addition to the new interpretive panels, the Tahoe Fund and the USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) also beautified the vault toilets along the trail as part of a region-wide restroom mural project. The murals at the Stateline Fire Lookout Trail were painted by local artist Ian Blackhall Scott and show scenes of the iconic views from Crystal Bay with the goal of encouraging responsible recreation while celebrating Tahoe’s landscapes and wildlife. 

“As part of the trail’s stewardship, users are encouraged to help keep the Stateline Fire Lookout Trail pristine by packing out all trash and leaving the trail cleaner than they found it,” said LTBMU Recreation Program Manager, Megan Dee. “Visitors are reminded to be respectful of the neighborhood and private property near the beginning of the trail.”