Final Mitigated Negative Declaration and Response to Comments

and riparian corridor vegetation communities. The broad resource base enabled various kinds
of subsistence activities practiced by ethnographic Washoe.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Although the Washoe were largely excluded from Lake Tahoe historic era development, one
element adopted was the name. Also known as “Mountain Lake,” “Lake Bonpland,” and “Lake
Bigler,” the name “Tahoe” was initially derived from the Washoe word da’ow, signifying “lake.”
Lake Tahoe was not officially named by the California legislature until 1945 (Lindström 2000).
When John C. Fremont traversed the Sierra Nevada for the purposes of conducting an
expedition for the U.S. Bureau of Topographical Engineers, he came upon the deep blue
mountain lake that would eventually become known as Lake Tahoe in the winter of 1844.
Later the same year, six men from the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy emigrant party followed
the Truckee River to its outlet into Lake Tahoe. As such, they became the first known
Euroamericans to set foot on the shores of the lake (Scott 1957). The lake remained
undisturbed throughout the latter part of the decade as people rushed to the California gold
fields, bypassing the lake to avoid dual summit crossings. The first Euroamerican trading post
was not established in the Tahoe Basin until 1851 in Lake Valley.
The discovery of silver near Virginia City caused a reverse migration from west to east with
travel corridors becoming established through the Tahoe basin. The development of Nevada’s
Comstock mines was only possible by exploiting the lake’s seemingly endless supply of timber
and water needed to build the square-set timbering system and to supply water for the steampowered
mills (Elliot 1973).
The urgent demand for fuel wood and construction lumber by the growing settlements and
mines devastated the forest stands east of the Carson Range and the Lake Tahoe basin.
Within the basin, timber was initially harvested along the east side of the lake followed by
operations expanding to the west, north and south shores, respectively. Many historical
records and photographs (Scott 1957, 1973) indicate that many timber stands were clear-cut.
Clear-cutting on steep slopes and near drainages accelerated erosion and caused high
sediment loads to enter the streams and subsequently into the lake. The basin was stripped of
marketable timber by 1898 which concluded large-scale harvesting operations in the area
(Lindström 2000).
With people traveling through the basin from the California Mother Lode to Nevada’s Comstock
Lode, came the need for new travel routes through the basin. The most popular route was the
road along Tahoe’s south shore which is the approximate alignment of modern Highway 50
and Pioneer Trail (Landauer 1996). Various summit passes opened by the early 1860s but
roads were generally in poor condition and did not yet circumvent the lake. Steamer traffic
dominated travel in the Tahoe basin from the 1860s to 1910s. Automobile traffic increased
through the basin with the designation of the Lincoln Highway, the nation’s first coast-to-coast
highway, and included the main road through South Lake Tahoe (Highway 50/Pioneer Trail) as
well as the road over Donner Summit (Highway 40/Interstate 80). The U.S. Bureau of Public
Asian Clam Control Project IS/MND
Emerald Bay State Park
California Department of Parks and Recreation
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