Feeling welcome in the outdoors is not a given for all young people in the Tahoe Basin. That’s why the Tahoe Fund supports programs that are helping more kids experience the benefits of nature, like Gateway Mountain Center’s Youth Ecology and Adventure Camps (YEA! Camps). 

YEA! Camps are a free program for high-risk Tahoe youth to help them overcome adversity and develop crucial life skills such as adaptability, communication, and empowerment through outdoor adventure and mindfulness lessons. The camps help young people build a strong connection to themselves, their community and the natural world, all while learning how to become environmental stewards. 

Last summer, YEA! Camp counselors saw their campers develop strong connections to the outdoors while they learned important life lessons. They shared in lively discussions with campers about how the choices they make now – like vaping or smoking – might impact their ability to recreate outdoors as they age.

Campers who were experiencing frustration in their personal lives found solace in new activities like rock climbing. By the end of the summer, the campers would proudly pick up trash and point out graffiti as they became more aware of the leave no trace principles and the importance of maintaining a healthy ecosystem to live in.

Thanks to support from Tahoe Fund donors, YEA! Camps were able to expand their programs and are now serving under-resourced communities in North and South Lake Tahoe.

Artists have given new meaning to the adage “one person’s trash is another’s treasure,” with the unveiling of “Surfaced,” a new art installation created with more than 450 pounds of items recovered from last year’s 72-mile scuba cleanup of Lake Tahoe. Commissioned by the Tahoe Fund with support from Tahoe Blue Vodka, the sculpture was created to educate visitors about what was found lying beneath Tahoe’s blue waters and encourage environmental stewardship. It was unveiled today at its permanent home at the new Tahoe Blue Event Center in Stateline, Nevada on the south shore of Lake Tahoe.

“This sculpture is the result of the unprecedented effort by Clean Up the Lake to remove 25,000 pounds of litter from Lake Tahoe,” said Amy Berry, Tahoe Fund CEO. “From its prominent new home at the Tahoe Blue Events Center, ‘Surfaced’ will serve as an important and beautiful reminder that it’s up to all of us to take care of Tahoe.”

Using litter found underneath Tahoe’s surface, including lures and bobbers, sunglasses, paddles, traffic cones, chains, anchors, and rubber edging often found on docks and buoys, internationally recognized artists Joel Dean Stockdill and Yustina Salnikova, represented by public art agency  Building 180 created an original sculpture depicting a bald eagle, Lahontan cutthroat trout and Ponderosa pine tree, as voted on by the public.

“Lake Tahoe’s beauty not only inspired me to move to California, but to create Tahoe Blue as well,” said Matt Levitt, Founder of Tahoe Blue Vodka. “From day one, I’ve been committed to conservation and am incredibly proud of what the 72-mile scuba cleanup effort accomplished. And now this amazing artistry, constructed of litter pulled from Lake Tahoe, will serve as a reminder of what a small group of dedicated individuals can accomplish and bring full circle that mission to preserve.”

The artists, known for creating beautiful art from recycled and reclaimed materials, spent the last year working on the design and parsing through litter that divers from the nonprofit Clean Up The Lake had stored in a 20-foot container. Their goal was to find elements that would capture the distinct features of the animals being depicted in a way that was as close to their actual appearance as possible.

“Our biggest challenge was deciding which items would be able to withstand the weather and hold up over time, while also representing the colors and textures of the species we were trying to create,” said Building 180 artists Stockdill and Salnikova. “Prior to this, the sculptures we have designed have typically only featured one animal. This one was unique because it required us to think creatively about how we would use the litter provided to create three detailed, different sculptures, then merge them into a single piece.”

The design started with the artists deciding on the scale of the sculpture, then determining whether they had enough pieces of each type of litter to form the different elements. Although they were limited to using only things pulled from the scuba clean-up of Lake Tahoe, they found exactly what they needed to execute their design.

Stockdill and Salnikova collected precisely enough white paddles to form the tail feathers of the eagle. They used a mosaic technique to turn brightly colored bits of plastic — from sunglasses, lures and bobbers — into the thousands of tiny, life-size scales on the trout. The fins? Crafted from a traffic cone. And they made the bark of the Ponderosa pine tree stump out of hundreds of feet of chain. The stump, which measures three feet in diameter and is three feet tall, makes up much of the weight of the sculpture, which in total weighs nearly 700 pounds.

“We are honored and excited to see this litter-art sculpture become a part of our community here in South Lake Tahoe. It is meant to serve as a symbol to the public to remember to be stewards of our lands and our lake, and to never stop trying to make a difference,” said Clean Up The Lake founder and CEO Colin West. “Our dive team will be under the surface of Lake Tahoe all winter this year, working to do a more thorough cleaning of litter hotspots, performing deep dive exploratory surveys, and monitoring for any presence of aquatic invasive species around the lake.”

“Surfaced” can be found at the new Tahoe Blue Event Center, a 5,000-seat arena with an additional 10,000 square feet of meeting room space, located in Stateline, Nevada on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe. The Tahoe Blue Event Center will be host to 125+ events throughout the year including concerts, sporting events, family shows, conferences, banquets, meetings, trade shows, consumer shows, and more.

In 2019, thirteen partners and the Tahoe community celebrated the opening of the Tahoe East Shore Trail, a three-mile-long, universally accessible path that provides dazzling vistas of Lake Tahoe and unparalleled access to the shoreline. More than 600 generous Tahoe Fund donors helped secure a $12.5 million federal grant to bring this project to life. 

Now, four years later, work is underway to expand the trail all the way to Spooner Summit. The Tahoe Transportation District, US Forest Service and Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) are leading these efforts, with permitting and other critical support from the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. The Tahoe Fund has committed $2 million in philanthropic funds to the project. 

The expansion will include 8 more miles of path and new and expanded parking lots that will remove hundreds of cars dangerously parked on the side of the road. As with the first 3 miles, it will also include major erosion control components to keep harmful sediment from polluting the Lake. The trail will follow the path of the highway and will remain on the lake side. 

The construction will likely be ongoing for the next 5-7 years (pending funding) and will begin with the parking lots. The goal is to remove the current shoulder parking and replace it with safe off-highway parking and transit.

Chimney Beach – Construction is already underway at the Chimney Beach parking area where the US Forest Service will be expanding the existing 21 spots to 130 total spots and making environmental improvements. The parking lot is closed for the season.  

North Trailhead – Design efforts are scheduled to begin later this year for 30+ new spots at the Northern Trailhead in Incline Village and 6-8 spots at Rocky Point. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2025.

Secret Harbor – Design is underway to expand the current Secret Harbor parking lot to include 120 spots. Construction is likely to occur in 2025. 

Spooner Summit – Design is underway for a brand new parking lot across the street from Spooner Lake State Park with 250 new spots. This lot will also include a permanent AIS Boat Inspection Station. NDOT will lead this construction effort, beginning in 2024. 

From there, construction will begin on the new segments of trail. Due to design and funding constraints, the trail will most likely be built in the following order:  

• Thunderbird Cove to the new Secret Harbor parking lot
• Sand Harbor to Thunderbird Cove
• Secret Harbor to Spooner

When this work is finished, the trail will connect all the way from Incline Village to Spooner Summit, making the entire East Shore much easier–and safer–to explore.

The Tahoe Fund will once again have donor vistas and benches available along this next section of the trail. Once design is complete on the Secret Harbor parking area, we will finalize vista and bench locations. If you are interested in reserving one, please email Karolina Hedman at khedman@tahoefund.org to be placed on the reservation list. 

Rock climbing is an increasingly popular sport in the United States. From new indoor climbing gyms popping up across the country to gear shops exceeding their sale numbers for popular climbing gear, it’s safe to say this sport has captured the interest of recreation enthusiasts. 

“Climbing is a unique and incredible sport that challenges people both mentally and physically,” said Gianna Aveni, owner of Blue Granite Climbing Gym in South Lake Tahoe. “Climbers can gain self-confidence, find a fun way to exercise and lay the groundwork for a healthy lifestyle, be a part of a social group, or find valuable time for introspection. It’s a versatile sport with so much to offer different people.” 

Despite the popularity of this sport, it’s not always the most accessible. High costs for gym memberships and equipment can be preventative barriers to climbing, especially for underserved communities. 

Although the Tahoe Fund is focused on expanding access and inclusion in outdoor recreation, we recognize that new sports are often easier and safer to learn indoors. That’s why, with the support of our Stewardship Circle donors, we funded a new indoor climbing program for the Boys & Girls Club of Lake Tahoe. 

“Climbing is a fantastic sport and easily available in Tahoe, but if no one in your family or friendship circle climbs, it can be a really hard activity to get into,” said Jude Wood, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Lake Tahoe. “Being able to offer a climbing program this summer and providing access to kids who normally wouldn’t have the opportunity was incredible.” 

Every Friday during the summer, two groups of twelve kids headed over to Blue Granite Climbing Gym for hands-on instruction from climbing coaches. After mastering the basics, many of the kids were able to quickly progress and looked forward to returning each week to learn something new. 

One female member shared that although she was initially cautious, she quickly grew to love the new sport. “I had never climbed before and I really enjoyed it,” she said. “It was my favorite activity this summer.” Another participant expressed enthusiasm for his favorite activities in the program, saying: “I really like bouldering and doing the obstacle courses.”

This new program was also part of Blue Granite’s Community Climbing Initiative. The goal of the initiative is to remove barriers to climbing, broaden accessibility to the sport, promote and celebrate inclusivity, and provide under-resourced youth and under-represented populations the opportunity to experience rock climbing.

“We are so grateful to the Tahoe Fund and Blue Granite for this experience,” said Wood. “ We hope that we can continue to partner together to get more local kids into climbing.”