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Restoring Tahoe Headwaters

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Restoring Tahoe Headwaters

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Amazon
Area: 5888268 km2
Countries:
Brazil; Peru; Suriname; France; Colombia; Guyana; Bolivia; Venezuela; Ecuador
Cities:
Santa Cruz; Manaus; La Paz
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Quick Info

Countries: United States of America
Basins: Great Basin (Amargosa River )
Project SDGs:
Includes Sustainable Development Goals from the project and its locations.
Water Use Efficiency (SDG 6.4)
Protect and Restore Ecosystems (SDG 6.6)
Stakeholder Participation (SDG 6.b)
Project Tags:
Includes tags from the project and its locations.
Nature-Based Solutions
Progress to Date: NA Increased stakeholder participation
Services Needed: Policy advocacy
Communications & outreach
Monitoring & evaluation
Desired Partners: City
NGO / Civil Society
Language: English
Start & End Dates: Feb. 01, 2018  »  Ongoing
Project Website: www.nationalforests.org/who-we-are/our-impact/tahoe
Contextual Condition(s): PHYSICAL: Ecosystem vulnerability or degradation, PHYSICAL: Disaster preparation and resilience
Additional Benefits: Basin stakeholder mapping, Long-term partnership(s) created, Raised awareness of challenges among water users, Raised awareness of challenges among local authorities
Beneficiaries: Ecosystems, Environmental users (e.g., fishers, recreational users), Local communities / domestic users
Planning & Implementation Time: More than 3 years
Financial Resources: More than $500,000 USD
Primary Funding Source: pool
Project Source: User
Profile Completion: 87%

Project Overview

Restoring Tahoe Headwater

Working closely with local communities, we are supporting health forest, sustainable recreation and clean water in the Sierra Nevada near Lake Tahoe.

The NFF’s largest Treasured Landscapes site, the Tahoe Headwaters, covers 614,000 acres in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Rising from low-elevation foothills to nearly 11,000 feet around Lake Tahoe, its forests include blue oak, ponderosa and sugar pine, red fir, lodgepole pine and western white pine.

Wi…

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Restoring Tahoe Headwater

Working closely with local communities, we are supporting health forest, sustainable recreation and clean water in the Sierra Nevada near Lake Tahoe.

The NFF’s largest Treasured Landscapes site, the Tahoe Headwaters, covers 614,000 acres in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Rising from low-elevation foothills to nearly 11,000 feet around Lake Tahoe, its forests include blue oak, ponderosa and sugar pine, red fir, lodgepole pine and western white pine.

With the Truckee River draining Lake Tahoe and running east and the American and Yuba Rivers running west, the Tahoe Headwaters provide drinking water to nearly 12 million people and support thousands of acres of farmland in Nevada and California. Myriad lakes, canyons, and peaks – including the Granite Chief Wilderness, Tahoe Rim Trail, and a section of the Pacific Crest Trail – attract over 24 million annual visitors, including hikers, hunters, anglers, bikers, off-highway-vehicle enthusiasts, skiers and climbers.

The Need for Landscape Restoration.

Several forces stress the landscape. A century of fire suppression has led to uncharacteristically dense forests whose composition has shifted from fire-evolved conifers to shade-tolerant fir and cedar. Grazing and mining have degraded stream channels, riparian habitat and meadows. Invasive plant and animal species have disrupted food webs and outcompeted native species like the endangered Lahontan cutthroat trout.

Increased human use has generated unauthorized trail networks, illegal parking hazards and traffic delays comparable to major cities, which are impacting water quality and quality of life for residents and visitors. Compounded by a multi-year drought and increasing average temperatures, these forces increase the risk of uncharacteristic wildfire and widespread tree mortality caused by bark beetles.

Our strategies include:

  • Investing in quantifiable benefits for water supply and carbon sequestration;
  • Integrating sustainable recreation throughout planning;
  • Using science to help managers overcome persistent barriers;
  • Finding economically viable ways to process biomass and small-diameter wood products;
  • Working across jurisdictions to implement large-scale prescribed burns; and
  • Demonstrating how to expand restoration activities by assessing entire landscapes, identifying the most strategic large-scale treatments, and implementing multiple projects accordingly.

Project Videos

Basin and/or Contextual Conditions: PHYSICAL: Ecosystem vulnerability or degradation, PHYSICAL: Disaster preparation and resilience
Project Benefits: Basin stakeholder mapping, Long-term partnership(s) created, Raised awareness of challenges among water users, Raised awareness of challenges among local authorities
Indirect or Direct Beneficiaries: Ecosystems, Environmental users (e.g., fishers, recreational users), Local communities / domestic users
Months & Implementing: More than 3 years
Financial Resources: More than $500,000 USD
Primary Funding Source: Pool funding (i.e., joint funding of several partners)

Project Narrative

Community Stewardship A cornerstone of the Tahoe Headwaters work is ongoing engagement with local communities and a wide range of interests. Both the Tahoe National Forest and the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit have established stakeholder groups that help conceptualize, plan, implement and monitor restoration initiatives, while sharing information and obtaining diverse public input through proactive communication. The NFF and its partners are committed to providing multiple ways to steward these lands. These include regular volunteer and field visit opportunities and potential citizen science programs focused on water quality and wildlife monitoring.

Partner Organizations


Who We Are? The National Forest Foundation is the leading organization inspiring personal and meaningful connections to our National Forests, the centerpiece of America’s public lands. Working on behalf of the American public, the NFF leads forest conservation efforts and … Learn More


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