Camp Richardson and The NUB Chara Bed Research September 8, 2013 [Phase 2 - Dive 7]

Again, under the flag of Project Baseline: Tahoe, we were asked to volunteer our dive skills and time to assist the University of Nevada Reno's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science complete its study the Chara Beds of South Lake Tahoe on the Nub and off Camp Richardson. Here is a link to the Phase 2 Project Report:

          Project Report Phase 2

A video of Dive 7 of this phase can be found at this link:

         Camp Richardson Chara Bed - Video Report

Camp Richardson and The NUB Chara Bed Research June 1 - June 29 [Phase 1- Dives 1-6]

Under the flag of Project Baseline: Tahoe, we were asked to volunteer our dive skills and time to assist the University of Nevada Reno's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science study the Chara Beds of South Lake Tahoe on the Nub and off Camp Richardson.  This is ongoing work in the Nearshore water zone of Lake Tahoe.  Here is a link to the Phase 1 Project Report:

          Project Report Phase 1

A video of Dive 6 of this phase can be found at this link:

          Camp Richardson Chara Bed - Video Report

Establish the Patton Beach/Watermans Landing Project Baseline Site

The Patton Beach Fish (we should probably give it a name?) presently sits in 37 feet of water, is covered in algae, is deteriorating (from our first encounter in 2004) but still sits majestically creating a great dive site. 

 

Today's dive was conducted to establish the depth benchmark, temperature gauge and visibility markers at the Patton Beach Fish.  Upon 102 minutes in the water at a maximum depth of 37 feet, the site was successfully established. 

 

The Fish sits about 1200' off shore at a bearing of approximately 150 degrees. 

A couple of notes:

1) This is right in the boating lane coming out of the marina and gas dock. Take a flag with you – you can clip it to the depth benchmark. We had several boats pass overhead and were glad we had our surface station and flag present.

2) We are going to need some help from the dive community in maintaining this site.

a. First we tried to run the line over and under logs and rocks to keep it low to the ground so as to avoid being hooked by a recreational boat anchors. So keep an eye and add debris along the line to keep it down. Remember though not to push the line into the sand so that a storm will cover it. Where you put something on the line to anchor it, put something under the line around your debris anchor to keep it about 1 – 2 inches above the sand.

b. Second, periodically clean the line; it will get covered in algae.

c. Finally, please let us know if the line goes missing… we have more and will go up and reestablish the line. (nmde@att.net)

 

Project Baseline Stats

Depth: 37 feet

Temp: 58 f

Visibility: 30 - 40 feet

Photo:

 

 

Project Baseline: Tahoe - Sand Harbor - Evaluation by Gerald De Vore

Project Baseline Stats:

Depth: 20 feet

Temp: 54f

Visibility: 40 - 50 feet

Photo:

 

 

 

Photos by Jerry De Vore     

 

 

Of Note:  By 10 November, the Tahoe Sucker fish school that has been at a depth of 54 feet near the tree on the inner wall of Divers Cove have left. This school had been hanging out in the same area since July of this year - 11 November, 2012: Jerry DeVore.

Project Baseline Tahoe Community Report

Observation Date:	14 October, 2012
Dive Team Members:	xx
Begin Time:xx	End Time:xx        Bottom Time: xx
Weather Conditions:	clear
Wind	Direction : N/A   Speed: N/A  Duration: N/A
Water Conditions
Surface	flat
Last 24 hrs:	Calm
Temperature:	Surface- 68 At Depth- Site Gauge- xx    Diver Gauge- xx
Visibility:	Vertical-xx      Horizontal- 50 +
Current:	Direction-N/A  Speed- N/A
Site Depth Benchmark reading (Per the site gauge): 22 ffw     Dive Team Gauge:  #1- 19 ffw     #2- 21ffw
Animal & Plant Life
Fin Fish	Very populas Shiners, Suckers, Dace and Trout
Copepod	Est. Density: Low
Invasive Species	N/A
Mysis Shrimp	Est. Density: Low
Team Observations/Comments: Today the Project Baseline Staff, tabled at Sand Harbor and discussed with over 50 divers the efforts going on in Tahoe.  It was extremely productive and we had several divers report that our depth benchmark was still at 22', their gauges varied by plus or minus 2 feet, temp was 68 on our depth benchmark and that the visibility was at or better than 50 feet during the first dive.  This was an abnormally warm, calm October day surrounded by some rain storms earlier in the week but for the most part, very calm atmosphere from Thursday thru this day which was Sunday.

Project Baseline, Hurricane Bay, Tahoe October 13, 2012

Observation Date:	13 October, 2012
Dive Team Members:	Mike Soldswich, Marc Briseno,  Martin McClellan
Begin Time: 10:45am	End Time:11:55am        Bottom Time: 50min
Weather Conditions:	Clear Calm 58f
Wind	Direction : n/a Speed: n/a Duration: n/a
Water Conditions
Surface	Flat Calm with some small surface ripples - Boat Wake present
Last 24 hrs:	Calm with no wind
Temperature:	Surface- 66f At Depth- 62 Site Gauge- 62    Diver Gauge- 62
Visibility:	Vertical- 30 minus      Horizontal- 20 - 30ft
Current:	Direction-N?A Speed-N/A
Site Depth Benchmark reading (Per the site gauge): 62 ffw     Dive Team Gauge:  #1- 59 ffw     #2- 60ffw
Animal & Plant Life
Fin Fish	Description : Lahotan Shiners Quantity: large schools 100+
Copepod	Est. Density: Low
Invasive Species	None Present
Mysis Shrimp	Est. Density: Low
Team Observations/Comments: Today, NMDE divers established the PBTahoe site in Hurricane Bay at the site of the Alley Cat, a 30+ foot sail boat that sank some 10 years ago.  We also cleaned off a 1 meter square area of the Alley Cat's hull from algae and debris and took some photos of the Hurricane Bay site under water.  Following the set-up of the site depth/temperature/visibility metering devices, we scootered south along the 40 - 60 foot contour and noticed a very active crayfish community, many shiners but did not see any trout, suckers, or other fin fish.  We failed to notice copepod or mysis shrimp but that said, there was probably a very small population however I personally saw the biggest Paiute Sculpin I have ever seen.  Crusing the contours at between 40 and 60 feet provided no improvement in the 20 - 30 foot visibility. PB Tahoe stats: Depth: 62 feet Temp: 62f Visibility: 20-30 feet Photo:

Project Baseline - Tahoe: Dive #2

Observation Date:	11 August, 2012
Dive Team Members:	Marc Briseno, Todd Kincaid, Laura James, Vanessa Belz, Martin McClellan
Begin Time: 1:00	End Time: 1:30        Bottom Time: 25min
Weather Conditions:	Clear, Calm, Sunny
Wind	Direction : N/M Speed: N/M Duration: N/M
Water Conditions
Surface	Flat w/tremendous boat chop
Last 24 hrs:	Calm, Afternoon Thunderstorms, temp mid 80's
Temperature:	Surface- 66f At Depth-        Site Gauge- 66f           Diver Gauge- 68f
Visibility:	Vertical- '32 (could see boat from below     Horizontal- 30'-40'
Current:	Direction- Southerly longshore Speed- 25'-30' per minute
Site Depth Benchmark reading (Per the site gauge): 22 ffw     Dive Team Gauge:  #1- 21 ffw     #2- 22ffw
Animal & Plant Life
Fin Fish	Description : Lahontan Mountain Sucker (

Catostomus platyrhynchus lahontan) Piute Sculpin (Cottus beldingi)Golden Shiner (Notemigonus crysoleucas)

  Quantity: Several of each and several schools of the Shiners

       CopepodEst. Density: Low     Invasive SpeciesNone Present        Mysis ShrimpEst. Density: N/M

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Team Observations/Comments: This was an exciting day as it was NMDE's second official Project Baseline Tahoe dive and joining the NMDE team were Todd Kincaid, VP GUE and Vanessa Belz, Project Baseline Director GUE and Laura James, Seattle based videographer and GUE diver.  The objective was to set up the SS Tahoe and the Sand Harbor Site.  This was the second dive of the mission and at the bottom, we secured a permanent altitude adjustable depth gauge (Tekna Zero Adjust) which we zeroed at the surface and a thermometer gauge.  These gauges are mounted in an aluminum box and secured to our depth benchmark preventing the gauges from moving.  We then established visibility markers at 30-40-50-60 feet from the depth benchmark location.  Unlike the visibility in Glenbrook at our SS Tahoe site, the visibility here was much better at between 30&40'. Again, these markers were placed with the use of a physical tape measure.  Again, this dive had two teams, Marc Briseno and Martin McClellan doing the work of establishing the PB station and Todd Kincaid (video support) and Laura James (videographer).  Project Baseline Director, Vanessa Belz was our surface support and boat tender during this operation. Dive was short in duration due to the schedule for the day, 25min at 28' with water temps at 66f as this time of year in the shallow depths of the lake with sandy bottoms (Sand Harbor is typical of this type of bottom composition) the thermocline is not dominantly present until 50-55' and even during a later dive to 65' the bottom temperature did not drop below 58f..