CLEAN UP THE LAKE OPENS A NEW ENVIRONMENTAL DIVE CENTER IN INCLINE VILLAGE By Kayla Anderson
In 2017, filmmaker and Tahoe resident Colin West visited The Cayes in Belize and noticed an alarming amount of trash on the beaches. He felt like he needed to do something about it and learned about volunteerism. He came back to Tahoe and started hosting beach cleanups on Big Blue’s shores with money to go back into the Clean Up The Cayes conservation efforts.
of trash in just a couple of hours. They circumnavigated Donner Lake that summer in subsequent dives and learned a lot in the process.
“We had to think about so many logistics, like how to get our divers in the water (CUTL didn’t own a boat at that time and kayaks are not that conducive to carrying scuba equipment), where to put the trash, and how to It was during these sessions that West noticed that not separate the trash,” says CUTL Director of Operations only were the waters of Belize full of trash but there was Brad Flora. According to the United Nations Environment a fair amount of it in Lake Tahoe, too. He soon launched Programme, there are 83 categories of trash, 26 of them Clean Up The Lake and found a group of volunteer divers regarding just plastic. to go out with him to see what kind of invasive materials were under the surface. He started doing pilot research They were diving three days a week, doing three dives a dives in 2019 and the group cleaned up 600 pounds of day, all a volunteer effort. trash by Bonsai Rock in Sand Harbor in one day. West then formed a plan to do a 72-mile circumnavigation dive “We learned a lot [from the Donner Lake cleanup]. We around Lake Tahoe. realized we needed a wind protocol, a smoke protocol…a lot of days got cancelled,” Flora says. The Covid pandemic delayed the Lake Tahoe dive a bit, but that didn’t stop Clean Up The Lake (CUTL) from “We got into a pattern of having super windy weekdays continuing its research. In 2020, volunteers did a test and then calm, nice weekends,” CUTL Director of dive one day at Donner Lake and pulled out 263 pounds Programs Sadye Easler adds. That 2021/22 winter was a LIVE.WORK.PLAY.
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HOLIDAY 2023
