The meadow and stream behind the college is known as Mutushahoo Watah (whitefish waters) by the Washesu Itdeh - "The People From Here". The Washoe people have inhabited the site where the college now sits since time immemorial. They migrated seasonally, many living in the Carson Valley during the winter and moving up to Tahoe for the summer, where they would hunt, fish, and gather food and medicinal plants that grew in the meadow behind the college. The Washoe would also use fire as a tool to maintain the meadow ecosystem and to support the growth of culturally significant species. The Washoe encampment at Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC) was used up until the 1950’s.

Modern land management practices and the lack of regular fire within the watershed have allowed lodgepole pine to encroach into the Trout Creek Meadow. Trees outcompete native meadow plants for sunlight, water, and nutrients. As a result, the meadow behind the college has been slowly transitioning into a forest. Meadows support more than 85% of all the biodiversity in the Tahoe Basin and they perform a variety of watershed services that help to maintain lake clarity. That is why LTCC is partnering with the Tahoe Resource Conservation District and the Washoe Tribe to restore meadow biodiversity on College property.

 

Project Specifics:

A $710,000 from the Wildlife Conservation Board provides LTCC with the support it needs to restore the meadow. Ecosystem restoration will include the removal of approximately 30 acres of lodgepole pine from the meadow surface. This will help restore lost meadow habitat, improve biodiversity, reduce wildfire risk, sustain local groundwater and stream flow, and enhance the meadow’s resilience to drought, disease, and other environmental stressors. The college is engaging with South Lake Tahoe's Fire Protection Division Partners to explore the use of prescribed fire and traditional ecologic knowledge held by the land’s first stewards, the Washoe Tribe, to help increase the diversity of native plants, meadow habitat, & culturally significant species once found in the area.

 

Partners:

 

Why Should We Restore Mutushahoo Watah?

• • Over 75% of the meadow and stream environment zones in the Lake Tahoe basin have been degraded over the last 150 years. These environments are important because they contain 85% of the basin’s species and function as natural filters for Lake Tahoe.
    
    
  • Historical land use management along Trout Creek has led to a degraded stream channel, resulting in:
    • • A lowered water table and the premature drying of the meadow.
      • Loss of wildlife habitat complexity and biodiversity.

• • As the meadow transitions into a forest, we are losing ecosystem resilience.
    • • ~30 acres of meadow habitat have been lost to lodgepole pine encroachment over the last 50 years.
      • Lodgepole outcompetes other native plants for water and nutrients and serves as fuel for future wildfires. 

Restoration Goals:

1. 1. Ecosystem Restoration: Restoration will include removing approximately 30 acres of lodgepole pine from the meadow surface. This will help restore lost meadow habitat, improve biodiversity, reduce wildfire risk, sustain local groundwater and stream flow, and enhance the meadow’s resilience to drought, disease, and other environmental stressors.
      
      
   2. Reconnecting Indigenous Communities with the Landscape: Restoration may also include the use of traditional knowledge and cultural burning practices. Prior to 1900, the Washoe people would use fire as a tool to maintain the meadow ecosystem to support the growth of culturally significant species. Partner agencies are currently exploring the ability to conduct low-intensity understory burns on the meadow surface (up to 2 acres per year) as part of a collaborative study that may also include the propagation and planting of native species. 
      
      
   3. Education: Through community partnerships and student-led work, the college hopes to monitor and analyze the effectiveness of strategies to inform future restoration practices in the Tahoe area. The college will also be installing several educational signs along the meadow trail network to inform the public of restoration techniques, cultural practices, and the importance of self-sustaining ecosystems.
       
   4. Future Collaboration: Watershed restoration along Trout Creek may also include working with the California Tahoe Conservancy to install fish habitat structures. Natural materials may be used in the stream channel as part of a collaborative study to enhance fish habitat and curtail stream erosion.

Da?aw?aga?a (Tahoe) is not a “thing” to be saved, but a relative to be in relationship with. Stewardship means listening to the land, to the water, and to those who have known it the longest.