CalTrout’s Northern Sierra office is participating in a number of monitoring and improvement programs in the Lake Tahoe area, including:
Truckee River
CalTrout — in partnership with the US Forest Service — is performing a pre-restoration baseline fisheries assessment of the Upper Truckee River, the largest tributary to Lake Tahoe and home to Lahontan cutthroat trout.
We’re also leading a team with UN Reno, UC Davis, and Trout Unlimited to compliment our upper river assessment with a fine scale study of the lower river.
The predictive model we develop will hopefully guide reintroduction of Lahontan cutthroat trout into the lower watershed — as will the Meadow Restoration Fisheries Analysis Tool (MRFAT) we developed in conjunction with our partner groups. Our goal is to bring a greater focus on fish to the six restoration projects planned for the Truckee River (most of this work was made possible by the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation and the Resource Legacy Fund).
West Carson River
CalTrout is partnering with the Alpine Watershed Group, American Rivers, and the Department of Fish & Game to install gauge stations along the West Carson River. Eventually, we hope to improve the v-weir at the headwaters in Red Lake/Creek.
Lake Tahoe Invasives
Finally, our Northern Sierra team has partnered with UNReno, Tahoe RCD, and Department of Fish & Game to perform a two year warm water invasive fish control project along the nearshore of Lake Tahoe and stock replacement Lahontan cutthroat trout into Emerald Bay and the Tahoe Keys while examining their depletion rates and relationship to the existing food web.
If you would like to get involved in any of these monitoring and/or restoration projects, contact Jenny Hatch, Regional Manager, at 530-541-3495 or via email at jhatch@www.caltrout.org
