Save Upper Echo Lake

Over the past 12 years, the El Dorado Irrigation District has conducted surveys at Upper Echo Lake and other locations in the region.  In each year the District conducted surveys -- 2002 , 2004 , and 2011 -- the District located Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs at Camp Harvey West, a shuttered boy scout camp that used to operate on the west side of Upper Echo Lake.  A map of the location is set out below. The second phase of the Upper Echo Lake Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project, which is slated to commence after Labor Day 2014, contemplates tree cutting, brush removal, and slash pile placement activities on the south and west sides of Upper Echo Lake, including in areas that constitute habitat for the yellow-legged frog.

Even in this extraordinarily dry year, the water quality impacts of the Forest Service's Upper Echo Lake Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project are apparent.  This photo shows a slash pile in a seasonal pond. This photo shows a slash pile on the left hand side of the image below sheet runoff over granite down to Upper Echo Lake. This next photo shows a slash pile adjacent to a readily recognized stream bed.  The Forest Service intends to burn these slash piles, which already number in the hundreds, in place. This next photo shows a slash pile placed on top of a stream bed.  If the pile is burned, the residual material will certainly be transported into Upper Echo Lake.