Help Protect Lake Tahoe, Become a Citizen Scientist

Share your observations through the Citizen Science Tahoe app to help scientists better understand and protect the Lake. While you’re out enjoying Tahoe’s beaches, deep blue waters, or majestic mountains, you can help protect it!

See it, share it, make a difference

With online platforms, citizen scientist volunteers can collect and share important data about their surrounding environment. You can help researchers by taking a few minutes to report what you see around the lake - whether it’s an algal bloom, cloudy water, invasive species, or litter on the beach. Science needs both sides of the story, so users are encouraged to report both the positive and negative things they see.

How it works

Using the Citizen Science Tahoe app, you can submit observations along with your photos and comments. Each report automatically captures where and when the observation was submitted, with options to submit anonymously.

The Citizen Science Tahoe App is available for Apple and Android phones. Users do not need to utilize their cellular data and can wait to upload images when connected to Wi-Fi. This makes the app easy to use in even the most remote locations!

Why it helps

Data from various locations around the lake (spatial data) and from multiple dates throughout the year (temporal data) helps scientists to better understand the nearshore environment - the location where most visitors see the lake. The observational data collected by citizen scientists will be used by researchers to better understand conditions around the lake and to compare observations with sensor readings.

Core partners

UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC) developed the first version of the Citizen Science Tahoe app in 2015 to compare the results of citizen science observations of the Lake’s nearshore with the real-time nearshore monitoring network. This early version of the app was developed using grant funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The League to Save Lake Tahoe (Keep Tahoe Blue) joined UC Davis TERC shortly after, and Desert Research Institute (DRI) joined in 2017 to expand the project and provide a fun and easy way for Tahoe-lovers to share observations about the natural environment at Tahoe to inform research and advocacy. These core partners create engaging surveys on important environmental issues facing Lake Tahoe and collaborate regularly to update and improve features on the app, compare data, and share interesting outcomes from the observations.