The story, as told by some Tahoe residents, is that after Jacques Cousteau's 1970s deep dive into Tahoe waters, he remarked "The world is not ready for what I have seen." However, after some investigating, the Los Angeles Times along with other newspapers, reported that Jacques Cousteau never visited or made an underwater exploration of Lake Tahoe.

https://www.kqed.org/quest/22882/rumors-and-truth-in-lake-tahoe

In 2011, a group of deep divers found the body of a man who'd been missing since 1994. The remains, in a wetsuit and still buckled into weights and a tank, was lying on a shelf over 200 feet below the surface. The missing diver had been with a friend but equipment problems caused him to begin sinking. An immediate and thorough search found no sign of him, leaving his well preserved remains hidden for 17 years.

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Occasionally, when reading about some early plans for Lake Tahoe, the realization hits that it is a slight miracle we have a lake at all.

For instance, in 1865, a San Francisco based engineer, with the elegant name of Alexis Waldemar Von Schmidt, created the Lake Tahoe and San Francisco Water Works Company. Mr. Von Schmidt also acquired a half section of land near the Truckee River outfall, along with the rights to five hundred cubic feet per second of Lake Tahoe's water. Yes, you read that right.

Von Schmidt planed to supply the city of San Francisco with water from Lake Tahoe. Beginning at the Truckee River outfall, a series of aqueducts would channel water through the Sierras until reaching the north fork of the American River, and then from there, on to San Francisco. However, in 1870 the California Legislature, spurning Von Schmidt's application, granted Mark Hopkins and Leland Stanford's Donner Lumber and Boom Company, the right...

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The plan was to make the desert bloom by irrigating 350,000 acres of land in the Carson River watershed area using Truckee River water. Never mind that the Truckee River flowed north, emptying into Pyramid Lake. Send some water south — it will be fine.

In 1903, as its first project, the newly formed United States Reclamation Service (today's U.S. Bureau of Reclamation) began construction of a diversion dam on the Truckee River.  Completed in 1905, the Derby dam, sent 48% of Truckee River water 32 miles south to Lahonton Reservoir via the Truckee Canal.

The consequences of the water's diversion to Lahonton adversely affected two species of fish, the Northern Paiute people, Pyramid Lake, and eventually, turned neighboring Winnemucca Lake into a dry lake bed. Early on, the Paiute began to notice the damage, but no o...

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Lake Tahoe is so spectacular that it captures everyone's attention, leaving little thought about other lakes that are close by. In our Sierra Nevada mountains, a small, charming lake is the rule, not the exception. A glance at a map of the Tahoe area reveals a surprising number of not quite hidden, easily visited lakes.

Fallen Leaf Lake

Fallen Leaf Lake was formed by glacial activity. Experts say that 2 glaciers moved down Glen Alpine Valley, finally stopping 1 mile short of Lake Tahoe. If a terminal moraine had not...

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Remarkable research by determined scientists and foresters has proven that trees are more than sticks of wood just waiting to be cut down to build houses. Smart people have been working hard to truly understand trees; how they grow, how they interact with each other, how a forest works, and how humans can help.

Dr. Suzanne Simard unearthed knowledge of the underground fungal network that allows trees to interact and communicate. She also discovered hub trees. She calls them the Mother Trees of a forest. These biggest, tallest trees are highly connected with other trees, and have an important role in the flow of information and resources in a forest. They even recognize their kin; seedlings that are related to them. Dr. Simard's fascinating new book Finding The Mother Tree details her methods and her discoveries. The book is supported by the website The Mother Tree P...

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