Monday April 28, 2025
SF Gate —
Sunlight glimmers on Lake Tahoe on a spring morning in April as the John LeConte, the 48-year-old research vessel for the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center, motors across the glassy water. The engine turns over with a rhythmic revving that eventually fades into a background hum. Gentle waves ripple out from the prow, but the water is otherwise completely still. I’m onboard the John LeConte with a group of scientists. We’re heading to the middle of Lake Tahoe to get a picture of what’s happening beneath the surface of the water, all the way down to the deepest parts of the lake.
A fishing boat customized into a floating laboratory, the John LeConte is an iconic fixture on Lake Tahoe. On any given day, so long as the weather is clear, UC Davis scientists are on the boat, collecting samples of cold water from the deepest parts of Lake Tahoe, dropping a jellyfish-shaped net to catch zooplankton or leaning over the edge of the deck to watch a white frisbee-shaped disk sink into the water.
This research done on Lake Tahoe is a big deal — clarity isn’t just something Tahoe is famous for. It’s also a metric, a north star, for decision-makers to understand how Lake Tahoe’s environment is faring. The data and information gathered from the John LeConte informs more than 80 public and private agencies in the region on how Lake Tahoe is changing, and how human activity and climate change are impacting the lake. To protect the lake, that array of public and private agencies have spent a collective $3.1 billion on hundreds of projects that all do something to restore Lake Tahoe’s clarity and environment.