Save Upper Echo Lake

The Lahonton Regional Water Quality Control Board has issued a proposed timber waiver and is seeking comments by March 28, 2014.  The proposed waiver provides that "[t] he Lahontan Water Board will consider adopting the Proposed 2014 Timber Waiver at its public meeting on April 9-10, 2014, at the Water Board’s South Lake Tahoe Annex office." According to the Regional Board, the most significant changes were made to Attachment Q to the proposed waiver, which specifies requirements for piling and burning in riparian areas. California law requires that any person discharging waste or proposing to discharge waste that could affect the quality of the waters of the state shall file a report of waste discharge with the Lahonton Regional Board.  If adopted, the Timber Waiver will waive waste discharge requirements for covered discharges resulting from timber harvest and vegetation management activities.

A recent article in the Tahoe Quarterly highlights the plight of the Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog.  The species is proposed for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act.  Among the factors that are contributing to its current, degraded status is the practice of stocking water bodies including Upper Echo Lake with trout.