Last summer, shocking images of piles of trash on Lake Tahoe’s beaches emerged after 4th of July celebrations. Visitors left behind over 6,300 pounds of trash scattered at Zephyr Shoals, a three-quarter-mile-long beach on the east shore of Lake Tahoe. Coolers, broken chairs, destroyed shade structures, and empty sunscreen tubes were among the items left behind.
“The trash has quadrupled, if not more,” said Douglas County Undersheriff Ron Elges, who has worked on the 4th of July at Lake Tahoe for over 20 years. “It’s simple. What you bring, you take back with you.”
This year, Tahoe officials and agencies are taking steps to prevent a repeat of the disastrous scene. The League to Save Lake Tahoe and the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit of the U.S. Forest Service are implementing Tahoe Blue Beaches to educate visitors through social media and signage, adding cigarette disposal bins and trash containers, and increasing law enforcement supervision, specifically at Zephyr Shoals.
Next month, 44 portable toilets, eight handwashing stations, and 46 trash receptacles will be added at Zephyr Cove and Zephyr Shoals to accommodate the increase in tourists. If the message reaches a significant number of people before the 4th of July holiday, said Chris Joseph, communications director of the League to Save Lake Tahoe, those people will serve as role models for beach behavior, and hopefully, “others will follow suit.”
“It’s overwhelming because of the high numbers”
For decades, authorities and the Forest Service have been battling against a “large number of underage visitors who come to the area in large numbers to have fun and drink until nightfall” and “maintain noisy and rowdy behavior.”
The Douglas County code now prohibits alcohol consumption at Nevada Beach on the 4th of July, and the number of incidents at that beach has decreased, said Elges, “probably due to the alcohol ban.”
“Independence Day practically involves everyone,” said Elges. “Everyone works, even the sheriff. It’s overwhelming because of the high numbers. There are 3,000 people there and six police officers trying to control that many people.”
Earlier this month, the Record Courier reported that the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office had to go to Zephyr Cove 19 times in May. Ten of those visits were due to fights involving minors. The violence led officials to close Zephyr Cove, Round Hill Pines, and Nevada beaches on May 31.
“Zephyr Cove Beach has the reputation of being the party beach in Douglas County,” said Sheriff Dan Coverley to the Record Courier. “Based on what has happened so far, I fear the situation will only worsen as summer begins and the weather gets warmer.”
Colin West, founder of the nonprofit group Clean Up The Lake, explained that cleaning efforts should focus not only on being vigilant during holidays but also on monitoring social media in advance.
After last year, groups like his found several posts on TikTok and Instagram promoting the Zephyr Shoals party. This year, he and other organization members will review social media before the holiday to look for party announcements.
Regardless of whether visitors choose to use trash containers or repeat last year’s mess, cleaning efforts like the annual league event “Keep Tahoe Red, White and Blue” on July 5 will continue to provide support.
But there are still people, as West saw on social media last year, posting that they prefer to donate money for cleaning jobs rather than pick up their own trash.
“It’s outrageous,” West pointed out.