Projects

RESEARCH DIVE CONCLUSIONS

Significant litter issues were seen under the surface in the 0-25 foot zone. Comparisons of recreational litter were seen from areas such as Donner Lake and Lake Tahoe. We concluded CUTL’s approach to circumnavigated lake clean ups would be effective here.

CIRCUMNAVIGATED SCUBA CLEAN UP OF JUNE LAKE

June Lake is in Mono County, California. It is located against the southern rim of the Mono Basin, 12.5 miles south of Lee Vining at an elevation of 7,654 feet. With a circumference of about 3 miles, Clean Up The Lake’s dive team will begin it’s circumnavigated clean up in Summer 2022; removing all litter items from 0-50 pounds that are found in our path of 0-25 feet. Our teams will also collect data discussed below in the Environmental Survey portion of our clean up.

ENVIRONMENTAL SURVEY

Our non profit will perform the new standard of Clean Up The Lake’s environmental survey which includes GPS & photographic documentation of: heavy lift litter items needed to be removed/salvaged, hot spots for litter accumulation, unknown or potentially historic items to report to the state, invasive species presence, algal bloom development.

EXPLORATION OF SUBMERGED LITTER AT DEEPER DEPTHS

This will be our first official exploration of litter at deeper depths under the surface of Lake Tahoe (+/-75 feet and +/-45 feet) and removing submerged litter within diver-identified hot spots.

MONITORING 20 NEVADA HOT SPOTS

Re-visit, re-clean, and document changes across 20 of the most littered nearshore GPS identified hot spots in Nevada from the 72 mile clean up. This includes monitoring and removing new litter in zones we cleaned two summers prior as well as exploring deeper zones of these hot spots.

MORE DATA COLLECTION & COMPARISON

Working with our environmental scientist & partners we will compare and analyze trends in litter accumulation rates, transport, collection and more to better understand the submerged litter issues in Lake Tahoe.

FULL RECIRCUMNAVIGATION OF DONNER LAKE

Clean Up The Lake crews will again remove submerged litter around Donner Lake as our second complete circumnavigation across the 0 to 25 foot zones. Our crews will of course analyze the data we have from this clean up and what was completed in 2020.

NEAR SHORE & DEEPER DIVES

Outside of the 0-25 foot zones we will re-circumnavigate, our divers will also be selecting different deeper transects at hot spot locations at depths of +/-75 feet and +/-45 feet to determine litter accumulation rates at deeper zones within Donner Lake.

8-MILE INVASIVE SPECIES + ALGAL BLOOM SURVEY

Our team will also be using pre existing data collection protocols to document any invasive species or algal bloom presence seen in the 8 mile circumference of Donner.

MORE DATA COLLECTION & COMPARISON

Review litter accumulation rates, compare initial cleanup efficiency rates, and provide novel insights into submerged litter transport.