New trail makes first dent in Nevada's Tahoe

INCLINE VILLAGE - A $106,000 trail at North Shore's Hidden Beach is the first dent in Nevada's $82 million commitment to save Lake Tahoe.

A 10-person crew worked for more than two months, installing 1,000 feet of new trail on the popular beach south of Incline Village. The crew also added a new restroom and shored up the side of an existing trail to stop erosion - the most menacing threat to Tahoe's crystalline waters.

"This project is a water quality project, controlling erosion to assist in water clarity and quality at Lake Tahoe," said State Park Ranger Jay Howard. "We also put in an erosion control fence and rock walls to build up portions of the existing trail where there were a lot of blow outs."

The project, which is nearing completion, will also provide better beach access for some 50,000 beachgoers who visit this section of Tahoe's shoreline annually.

"We'll be coming back in the fall to install interpretive signs and to revegetate about 10,000 square feet of existing social trails that aren't needed," Howard said.

The work is being overseen by the Nevada Tahoe Resource Team, which brings together state parks, wildlife, forestry and lands personnel. The Tahoe Resource Team has set out to accomplish one mission - get projects outlined by the Environmental Improvement Program done.

The environmental program, a $908 million effort to stop Lake Tahoe from losing its famed clarity, requires that Nevada contribute $82 million to capital environmental improvements by 2007.

Other state parks projects planned for the near future include:

- The construction of a new one-mile trail connecting Sand Harbor to Memorial Point. Scheduled to begin this fall, this project will provide some shoreline access when completed.

- Building and planning of a new six-mile hiking and equestrian trail to reduce user group conflicts in the Spooner Lake State Park area. This trail, scheduled to be built next fall, will connect Spooner and Marlette lakes for hikers and horseback riders as an alternative to the existing North Canyon trail which is heavily used by mountain bikers.