Overflowing trash cans. To-go boxes half-buried in the sand. Bottles and cigarette butts dumped at trailheads. When you think of Lake Tahoe, this isn’t what comes to mind. But it’s a sad reality. Every year, recreation sites around the basin are flooded with litter. In normal years, land managers, seasonal employees, and volunteers fight an unending battle with trash.
The fruit of their labor is a relatively litter-free Tahoe, like you picture it. 2020 has been far from normal, and excessive litter has been a side effect.