Law breakers force all dogs from Upper Truckee Marsh
By Kathryn Reed
Poop bags have been replaced with pamphlets about why dogs are no longer allowed in the Upper Truckee Marsh.
Today begins the second annual three-month ban of canines – even ones on leash – from this popular South Lake Tahoe meadow that leads to Lake Tahoe.
While those who like to take their best friend for a walk in this area won’t be able to until Aug. 1, neighborhood lore has it that this also happened when the land was privately owned.
No more walking in the Upper Truckee Marsh for AJ. Photos/Kathryn Reed
Before the California Tahoe Conservancy took ownership several years ago longtime Tahoe families owned the land. It was known as the Barton Meadow before the CTC called it the Upper Truckee Marsh. On maps, the sandy area is called Hartoonian Beach.
Cattle used to roam this acreage. And when they were being rounded up, even the locals stayed out of the meadow for about three months a year for fear of being trampled in a stampede by the herd. Plus, the cowboys shot dogs caught off leash.
By comparison, the $150 potential fine levied in this modern day era pales by comparison.
The whole point of the CTC closure is to preserve the marsh that provides critical habitat for wildlife – in particular a variety of birds. This marsh is the largest wetland habitat in the Lake Tahoe Basin.
“It’s the public’s responsibility to respond to and honor the objectives by which we are trying to manage that property,” Dana Dapolito, CTC associate environmental planner, told Lake Tahoe News. “We are providing the information. They need to take that step to comply.”
Even on leash, AJ is forbidden from swimming in Trout Creek where it meanders through the Upper Truckee Marsh.
For the first 24 days of April sheriff’s deputies wrote 18 citations. However, the CTC does not know how many of those were people with dogs off leash or people drinking alcohol or campfires or some other unpermitted activity.
What the landowners do know is compliance of the leash law, according to their land steward, is at 65 percent this year. This compares to late last summer-early fall when it was at 80 percent when dogs were let back into the marsh.
With an average of 400 dogs a week being seen by the steward this spring because of the extremely temperate conditions and lack of snow, that equates to 140 dogs running around off leash. They could be trampling on sensitive habitat and scaring wildlife.
Even when the closure is not in effect, the leash law has been – and always has been the rule since the Conservancy has owned the land. And prior to it becoming public property, no one was ever supposed to be in this area without permission by the private landholder.
Had people followed the leash law rule, those who do what they are told would not be punished. Instead, the majority of dog owners are paying the price for the minority — that one-third of dog walkers seen without a leash.
“Our goal is not to levy fines,” CTC Deputy Director Ray Lacey told Lake Tahoe News. “The citations are for flagrant disobedience.”
Of the nearly 5,000 CTC properties in the basin, this is the only one with this type of closure.
The upper wooded area off of springwood cr is just that woods.
So the folks there let their best friends run in the woods. Truly nothing wrong with that, unless others make rules about it.
In the past when the cows came in (mid-may to mid-oct) you just stayed out of there. But during the other months the dogs got walked out there.
The point for me is the vilification of dog owners who while walking in their neighborhood woods let there dog off a lease. Such criminals!
1975 it was a nude beach
1977 the City took control of the beach
before the fence it was known as CowPie Beach
meadow police acting like they own the place
Once again I will have to load up the truck with the dogs and drive someplace to walk them. Kind of silly when there is a large wooded area 1.5 blocks from my house that is now closed. Does CTC take into account the extra pollution and clarity loss my diesel truck puts out when they place these bans into effect?
And why not allow dogs in the wooded areas? Dogs off leash can’t be as disruptive to migratory birds and nesting as the fuel reduction project that CTC did a couple years ago during the same time frame.
We should hire more dog pooh police.
Give them Cadillac benefits and early retirement for such hazardous duty.
I haven’t read one solid criticism of this ban since the discussion started over a year ago.
‘my truck uses diesel to take my dogs 2 miles to somewhere else, causing pollution, thus i should be allowed to go into the meadow’
That’s pretty funny. Do you drive your truck directly through nesting areas? Perhaps you need a better GPS unit.
Meadows are the most threatened ecosystem in the sierra, and they are rare. The birds that nest there, have few options. Dogs off leash, cover large areas and and quickly run in and out of sensitive areas.
If the dogs were only disrupting the nesting of Stellars Jays, I would view this differently. Those birds are raucous and numerous.
I used to live near that meadow, and it is a bit of a loss of quality, quick and easy dog fun. So I just walked the extra mile to that area between Bijou and Herbert Ave. Yes, it too is a meadow but it doesn’t really function as one anymore and is much less important to birds than Trout Creek.
Stop whining and walk an extra 2 miles. Or if you are going to drive… you have a dozen other great options.
This is just one of those situations were the negligence of the few impact the majority that respects and follows the rules.
In this case, the rules are to protect wildlife and sensitive wetland habitat from the negative impacts that our canine friends can have. It’s not just some rule “THE MAN” came up with to choke the community.
Move to Wyoming This doesn’t happen there.
I know quite few residents that are backed up against this meadow, love the restriction.Don’t miss the people milling around next to their castles.
Kinda hypocritical since if you ever notice the Keys Home owners have no problem letting their dogs chew up the Geese out there.No one really gives it a second thought,do remember when they bagged 100’s of the feather friends deposed without much negative protest.
Their landscaping was more important.If you really think about it, the geese I would imagine have been coming there before the white man.
Guess it depends on what side the fence you’re on.
I do know if you got a boat, there’s plenty super nice places for the pups to get back to the roots of being a dog in deserted coves.Find myself there often,the great excape of the social masses.
LMAO! The DOGS ate the poor Geese.
Ummmmm Let me understand this.
Dogs disrupt wildlife in marshses and Dogs disrupt Geese life in the Keys.
Hmmmm Interesting.
And the Coyotes that are eating the dogs here in the Keys, eating the Geese here in the Key’s, and eating the wildlife in the Marshes get to blame it on the DOGS.
(Banging head on desk)
Thank god coyotes have you people to protect us from dogs and they run free.
After all, it’s their land right?
The Coyotes right?
Just incredible. And you homeowners that have your lovely homes up against Public property? Good for you.
Get THAT? Public Property. The regulations weren’t enacted for YOUR privacy. They were to protect wildlife from DOGS. Not your privacy.
AND?
Anyone caught NOT cleaning their dog poop in the woods should NOT get a ticket! They should be required to clean poop, and turn it in after community services have been done by the POUND!
Just unbeliavable.
WAIT!!! Theres a pack of Chihuaua’s circling Geese… NOPE they got ate. Shrew.. Saved by the coyotes.
And the Bears are laughing all the way from the ketch to the meadow with a lobster claw and bottle good port for the cubs.
One Big predator circle of ordinances smelling each others butts.
I find this amusing just watch out the window.I really crack up at the new fads the tourist bring us from broadway!
I’ve never understood Tahoe’s doggy culture and why so many people here think they have a God given right to let their animals run loose anywhere and any time they want. The fact that this article is “newsworthy” proves my point.
The article was not about “Doggy rights.”
The article was about how badly dogs ruin the environment and as long as the dogs stay on leashes when their allowed to go in the words without a leash they “save” the earth footprint and mother nature without effecting Coyote habitab and destruction.
We should introduce wolfs back down here like they did in Montana. Ask Oregon how that’s working for them.
(The wolfs migrated and kill free range sheep in oregon, look it up)
go coyotes!
I’m thankful for the Conservancy’s work to secure habitat and restore it. The number of species of birds seen in the marsh tell it’s success.
Whiners: You made a bad choice and messed it up for the responsible dog owners.
Remember it’s not about the environment it’s about early retirement.
sunriser, that is a ridiculous criticism in most cases, but in this case it is especially out of place.
Care to elaborate on that statement in general, and in this case specifically?
I have spent thirty years working with every type of government acquisition program and environmental agency in the basin.
Although I have a couple of friends in the business that I respect, the vast majority are in it for themselves. Revolving door between private consulting firms, government jobs and universities. I have actually seen some of these people steal from widows and orphans.
The waste committed by these people is criminal.
When the whole house of cards falls down we will look back at these laws and regulations and kick ourselves.
When the pensions and benefits get cut we will be surprised how quickly the green BS is thrown out. These people have bankrupted the nation.
The Pipe Club gives me hope that common sense will prevail.
Thing fish, my comment was sarcasm. I am told by various groups that every thing I do in the basin from driving to work, shoveling my driveway, biking, to walking my dogs contibutes to loss of clarity and is destroying the basin. I walk the dogs behind the church when the meadows closed. When the meadow is open, i dont walk them in the marsh, way too wet. I walk them in the forest. And thanks to cbd I won’t be driving though many meadows this summer. Guess its a win for someone.
“These people have bankrupted the nation.”
Yeah with their unregulated securities markets and their unfunded wars.
Pipe club? You fell for that BS too? It is a charade. I guess I am the only one who can see through it.
Protecting wildlife is a good thing, although over regulation has become common practice. We drive boats, cars, motorcycles meanwhile, abusing the area we have all come to love and love to complain about. We pull permits, do surveys, analyze every organism around to move a shovel of dirt yet ecosystems regulated,, Piers constructed, rivers moved and the environment managed to our liking in the hopes we are doing the right thing. The ones responsible for its protection are also contributors to its destruction. The lakes it’s own enemy as its rare beauty attracts the source of its own demise. I too hope one day that common sense will prevail. Process creating process. It’s no charade.. Wearing blinders does not help you see through it.