LAKE TAHOE, Nev./Cal., May 12, 2024 – Under clear blue skies, 76 volunteer participants fanned out across Lake Tahoe’s South Shore to take water quality samples from 32 streams, creeks, ponds, and lakes for the 25th annual Snapshot Day. In addition to volunteers organized by the environmental nonprofit Keep Tahoe Blue, other citizen scientist teams performed the same tests simultaneously in other regions of the Tahoe-Truckee Watershed. Taken together, the data gathered at this event each May provides a “snapshot” of water quality at a single moment in time for this important source of drinking water and outdoor recreation.
Snapshot Day is the longest-running citizen science event of its kind in the nation, beginning in 2001. The volunteers who participate are just as consistent and committed. In Keep Tahoe Blue’s South Shore sampling region, Dr. Larry Green is a fixture. He has taken part in 24 of the 25 years of Snapshot Day. The single missing year was due to the pandemic, when the public did not participate. Ten-year-old Everett Patterson, son of Keep Tahoe Blue’s Chief Strategy Officer Jesse Patterson, has participated in every Snapshot Day since he was born.
A group of Keep Tahoe Blue’s Core Volunteers sample the same site every year. They have dubbed themselves the “Trout Creekers” and donned custom shirts for this year’s event. One of the team members, Tara Dobbins, rescheduled a trip overseas so she could take part in this year’s event.
“Our volunteers’ dedication to protecting Lake Tahoe is just amazing, and honestly moving,” said Courtney Thomson, Keep Tahoe Blue’s engagement manager and organizer for the event. “I love Snapshot Day because it creates those strong bonds by directly connecting people with the watershed where they live, work or play.”
At sites stretching from Zephyr Cove on Tahoe’s East Shore to Meeks Bay on the West Shore, volunteers waded into marshes and streams to take measurements of characteristics like pH, dissolved oxygen, and electrical conductivity. They also collected samples to be analyzed in the lab for bacteria, total dissolved solids, and turbidity, courtesy of the South Tahoe Public Utility District and Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board. Following the event, participants were thanked with a raffle and lunch provided by event sponsor Lime.
Snapshot Day citizen scientists’ work has rendered a robust water quality dataset stretching back a quarter century. It allows researchers, scientists, and organizations like Keep Tahoe Blue to track changes in important water quality parameters and gain a better understanding of how the Tahoe ecosystem responds to environmental shocks like droughts and wildfires. The data analysis can also guide planning for ecosystem restoration projects and other efforts that make the Tahoe environment more resilient in the face of climate change.
Learn more about Snapshot Day at keeptahoeblue.org/ssd and tahoetruckeesnapshotday.org.
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Media Contact:
Chris Joseph, Communications Director, League to Save Lake Tahoe
cjoseph@keeptahoeblue.org, 530.208.5661
The League to Save Lake Tahoe is the donor-funded, science-based organization of environmental experts and Tahoe-lovers behind Keep Tahoe Blue. We have led the protection and restoration of the Lake Tahoe Basin since 1957 and remain the one organization who brings everyone together for the same goal — to protect Tahoe for future generations. Learn more, donate, and get involved at keeptahoeblue.org.
