More than 100 volunteers across six locations around Lake Tahoe showed up last weekend to scour beaches and trails for bottles, cans, cigarette butts and anything else left behind during the summer months as part of the 10th annual Great Sierra River Cleanup.
Dozens of concerned volunteers showed up for the Saturday morning cleanup effort, which resulted in nearly 800 pounds of litter being removed from around Tahoe.
The cleanup day also ran in conjunction with the 33rd annual International Coastal Cleanup Day, and included Regan Beach, Kiva Beach, Trout Creek, Blackwood Canyon Meadow, Zephyr Cove and one of the lake’s less than reputable sites in terms of attracting trash and broken glass from partiers.
“Chimney Beach is heavily used because there is a monument people want to see; it’s a beautiful beach, and so, there’s traffic all through the summer,” said Marilee Movius, League to Save Lake Tahoe’s community engagement manager. “The Great Sierra River Cleanup is perfect timing because it’s the end of the summer season, before the snow starts falling, so we can ensure that we can get all the litter before storms start. That way, we’ll have less litter running into Lake Tahoe.”
‘CONTRIBUTING TO THE COMMUNITY’
The cleanup day at Chimney Beach also marked the soft launch of the League to Save Lake Tahoe’s new Tahoe Blue Crew program, which will replace the league’s Adopt a Beach Tahoe program, founded in 2014.
“The League took over the management of the Adopt a Beach program last year, and over the course of the year, we have been redesigning and rebranding the program to be Tahoe Blue Crew,” said Movius. “What Tahoe Blue Crew is encompassing are groups that would like to adopt areas that are beaches and other places such as forest lots, or a parking lot near their office, or individuals that want to clean up near the area around their house.
“We want it to be an opportunity to support cleanup efforts all throughout the basin, and be able to give the tools, materials, and support needed to effectively be able to go out there regularly to check on these locations and make sure the litter gets out of the environment.”
The Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, Spa and Casino is among the first to sign up to be part of Tahoe Blue Crew, and has adopted Chimney Beach as part of a year-long commitment to the program. Hyatt General Manager Michael Murphy was joined by a handful of employees at Chimney Beach to take part in the inaugural cleanup.