TRTA Trailhead Ambassador Support to Protect Tahoe’s Watershed

This funding will be used to bolster the Tahoe Rim Trail Association’s educational Trailhead Ambassador program, with the specific goal of purchasing and distributing dog waste bag dispensers with a leash attachment. These waste bag dispensers will empower Tahoe’s recreators to protect the Lake Tahoe Basin’s watershed by properly managing pet waste on the Tahoe Rim Trail and beyond.

TMWA Benefit:

TRTA Trailhead Ambassador Support to Protect Tahoe’s Watershed embodies TRF’s priority of Stewardship and Environmental Awareness. Grant funding would develop the TRTA’s Trailhead Ambassador program and provide a free resource to recreators so that they can clean up dog waste wherever they go. The Tahoe Rim
Trail traverses the high mountain peaks all around Lake Tahoe, and NPS pollutants can travel from the trail into the watershed. The only outlet from the lake is the Truckee River. This literal and figurative cascade of events explains how dog waste along the TRT and throughout Tahoe can affect the drinking water being
treated in Reno-Sparks. Educating recreators about this process while empowering them to intervene will help the Truckee Meadows Water Authority protect its sources of drinking water.