Save Upper Echo Lake

This past week the U.S. Forest Service marked dozens of trees at Upper Echo Lake. The agency explained that some permit holders requested that trees be marked for removal and agency personnel also marked other trees that pose hazards to the public. The agency has indicated it will not be removing the trees but permit holders should do so.

Claire Cudahy of the Tahoe Daily Tribune  reported that trout introductions played a key role in the decline of the Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog. Recently progress has been made toward conservation of the species. "From 2013-2015 Knapp and his team conducted a series of translocations and frog reintroductions in the areas around the Upper and Lower Echo lakes; they recently received another three-year grant to continue the work this summer." Rather than deny the importance of the area to this endangered frog, the Forest Service should embrace it.