Work begins on $4.2 million wetlands project at Lake Tahoe

TAHOE VISTA - Work is under way on what's believed to be the largest wetlands restoration project ever on Lake Tahoe's north shore.

Crews last week began removing contaminated soil from meadows along Snow Creek here as part of a $4.2 million effort to turn the 3.5-acre area into a thriving wetland by fall.

''This is exciting,'' Rick Robinson, a coordinator with the California Tahoe Conservancy, told the Tahoe World.

''It will allow better fish passage, filter water and increase meadow vegetation.''

He said soils loaded with oil and other petroleum products were dumped on the site along Highway 28 beginning in the 1960s.

The contaminated soil hasn't affected the area's groundwater yet, but eventually could if left undisturbed.

It will take crews from Walnut Creek, Calif.-based R.J. Gordon Construction Inc. six weeks to remove 25,000 cubic yards, or more than 1,600 truck loads, of contaminated dirt.

Bulldozers will remove a 5- to 6-feet-deep layer of the dirt for transport to a Nevada treatment site.

The resulting hole will be filled with clean soil, then planted with native plants and grasses.

The project also calls for the removal of pipes that allow Snow Creek to run under Highway 28 and into Lake Tahoe.

Robinson said the installation of larger pipes will allow fish to move freely up the creek.

In April, the conservancy approved a $10.5 million project to restore 23 acres of wetlands near the Upper Truckee River on Tahoe's south shore.

The project originally was set to start this summer, but was pushed back a year after residents complained about the heavy truck traffic it would generate.

Trucks will need to haul away 7,000 loads of fill dirt targeted for removal.

Scientists hope the restored wetlands will naturally filter out sediments the river now carries unchecked into Lake Tahoe.

Sediment fuels algae growth that is stealing the lake's clarity at a rate of a foot or more each year.