|
Map Satellite Surrounded by a ponderosa pine forest, this lake is one of the few areas in California that support a genetically pure strain of the rare Lahontan cutthroat trout, Salmo clarkii henshawi.
The trout was formerly abundant in the Truckee, Carson and Walker River drainages as well as in Lake Tahoe, the type locality. Introduced rainbow, brown and lake trout have drastically diminished and hybridized populations of the Lahontan. It became extinct, or virtually so, in Lake Tahoe about 30 years ago, probably because of the introductions, but the market fishery and irrigation dams which prevented its spawning may have been contributing factors. Here the fish can spawn in the unimpeded tributary creek. A dam at the lower end of the lake has probably preserved the strain here. This is one of the lacustrine populations; the only known fluvial population is in Macklin Creek.
Quaternary glacial deposits surround the lake.
Integrity: The dam has raised the level of the lake.
Use: Research, educational, observational.
April 1976
Inventory of California Natural Areas
Revision © 2009 Steven Louis Hartman
|
