The skim boats were the part of the Tahoe Keys weed program anyone could see from a back deck. In 2026 there were seven of them, up from five the year before. They ran eight hours a day, Monday through Friday, and worked the full West Lagoon every two to three days. Their planned schedule was June through September, with room to stretch either way depending on conditions. Their window has now closed.
The lagoons don't go quiet when the boats stop. In the 2026 containment strategy that TKPOA, Tahoe Keys Marina, TRPA, the Tahoe Resource Conservation District and Keep Tahoe Blue are carrying out together, the work runs on three separate calendars. Only one of them ended with September. The other two cover the work that controls how many weed fragments reach Lake Tahoe, and the results that will shape next year's plan are due after the boats are out of the water.
Three Calendars Running in the Same Water
The strategy describes the Keys as the main source of invasive aquatic plants for the rest of the lake. It lays out containment by area: the 110-acre West Lagoon, the 30-acre Lake Tallac and the 30-acre East Lagoon. Sorted by schedule instead of by place, it looks like this:
- June through September. TKPOA's skimming, its mechanical harvesting across most of the West Lagoon, and the bottom barriers individual homeowners are putting in around their docks.
- May or July through October. UV light treatments in both channels and diver-assisted suction harvesting, known as DASH, near the West Channel.
- Continuous. The bubble curtains in the West and East Channels, the Collec'Thor fragment collector at the end of the East Channel, and the screens TKPOA staff check every week at Lake Tallac.
The first calendar handles the heavy lifting. More than 1,000 tons of invasive plants came out of the lagoons in 2025, and skim boats collected 194 tons of that. Harvesters removed most of the rest, with skim boats following behind to pick up the fragments harvesting breaks loose. The other two calendars are aimed at the specific spots where fragments get into the lake.
Who Is Still in the Water This Month
Under the 2026 plan, UV work runs through October in the West Channel, on both sides of the bubble curtain. It also covers two chokepoints south of the Main Lagoon that most boats have to pass through to reach the lake. The plan calls those chokepoints curlyleaf pondweed hotspots. UV treatment there can cut down on turions, the dormant buds that let the plant come back the next season. TRPA's contractor, Inventive Resources Inc., is treating about 9.1 acres in the West Lagoon. On the other side of the Keys, the same contractor is treating close to an acre of the East Channel on the same May-through-October schedule. The goal there is a clean buffer between the East Lagoon and open water.
Divers from Hiuga Diving, working under contract to TKPOA, are scheduled for DASH work through October as well. They are covering two acres at the mouth of the West Channel and at the far ends of the northern lagoons. The plan explains that those dead ends are tight and shallow, too cramped for UV equipment, and that weeds there often grow to the surface and shed fragments on their own. Environmental Science Associates checks both treatments with rake pulls, and TKPOA checks them with sonar. Results go into an annual treatment report.
Most of this work happens in the channels and at the chokepoints, the same narrow water every boat leaving the Keys has to cross. Late-season traffic moves through areas that are still being treated.
The Equipment That Runs Around the Clock
The West Channel bubble curtain has no off-season in the plan. TKPOA runs it all the time, with an alert system that notifies TRPA within 24 hours of any outage. Hiuga Diving is on contract for repairs, and an expert reviews the season's alert log once the season ends. The plan is candid about the curtain's limits:
"Currently, there is not sufficient power for the bubble curtain system at the West Channel to operate at its highest effectiveness."
It adds that Liberty Energy's early estimate for a power upgrade is in the "several millions" of dollars, which makes it a longer-term goal.
On the east side, Tahoe Keys Marina runs the East Channel curtain. The 2026 plan moves it farther south with a new compressor and hose line. Marine Taxonomic Services handles the grading and power work for the marina and the hose installation for the Tahoe RCD, with bottom barriers under the new line to keep weeds from fouling it. Installation was scheduled for July 2026. The reason for the move is the Collec'Thor, a skimmer the marina bought in coordination with Keep Tahoe Blue. It holds about 150 gallons of material, roughly 220 pounds of fragments, and is emptied daily, which is more often than its capacity requires. Lining the curtain up with the collector is meant to push fragments straight into it.
Two screens at Lake Tallac went in during 2025. One sits in front of the culvert on the east side of 15th Street, and the other is at the weir along Pope Marsh. TKPOA staff now check both every week and clear out the weeds and debris that collect on them. A full treatment of the small 15th Street Lagoon, using bottom barriers and hand pulling, is still listed without a start date.
The Results Arrive After the Boats Are Gone
The work running into October also feeds a series of results due this fall and winter.
The most interesting is the fragment study in the East Channel. Keep Tahoe Blue funded it, Dr. Lars Anderson and AIS program partners designed it, and Environmental Science Associates is carrying it out for TRPA. Researchers tie colored strings to weed fragments of different lengths and species, release them on both sides of the bubble curtain, and collect them again later. The study tracks wind, boat size, traffic volume and direction, species, and time of day. It was expected to finish in September 2026, with a report due this fall.
The dock bottom barriers that individual homeowners installed with their own contractors are set for evaluation at the end of 2026. Partners will look at the benefits, possible improvements, and whether to use barriers more strategically in the future. TRPA will pull together every partner's 2026 numbers into an annual summary on the Environmental Improvement Program Project Tracker. The tracker updated its Tahoe Keys fragment containment entry on August 24, 2026, and lists the project as in implementation through 2028.
All of this is containment, which is different from a permanent fix. At its May 13, 2025 meeting, the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board rescinded the approvals for the 2022–2024 Control Methods Test, and any future lagoon-wide weed project would need its own public and environmental review. The long-term planning effort is listed at the planning and design stage, with a 2025–2028 timeline. The October treatments and the fall study results are evidence that will go into that plan.
The Marina Is Between Phases Too
Tahoe Keys Marina is also partway through a longer project. Its first phase started after the 2025 boating season, when all 305 old slips were replaced. Keep Tahoe Blue notes that the old docks regularly shed plastics, including Styrofoam. The new docks are high-density polyethylene and ADA-compliant, with 50-amp outlets for charging electric boats and fire suppression throughout. South Tahoe Now reported that Robert Haen and Haen Constructors of South Lake Tahoe did the work and got a lot done thanks to the mild winter. The new slips also have water service at each one, and new ADA bridges connect the parking lot to the ramps.
The upland plan made it through review this summer. The City of South Lake Tahoe Planning Commission approved it on June 11. The Sierra Club Tahoe Area Group and the Tahoe Sierra Clean Air Coalition appealed, and the City Council denied the appeal on August 11. TRPA's Governing Board also approved the project in late June, along with a code amendment allowing a taller boat storage barn. The plans South Tahoe Now described include:
- Four places to eat: fine dining, a second restaurant, a coffee shop and a burger spot
- A public plaza where the parking lot in front of the old Fresh Ketch is now, plus a promenade
- 268 paid and valet parking spaces, up from the 160 that are usable today
- The boat ramp moved to the south end of the property
- Restrooms for people using the Cove East trail
No tenants have been named. In March, the marina's timeline floated demolition this fall. Keep Tahoe Blue's September update says the owner is still applying for the many permits the project needs, and that upland construction could begin as early as 2027. The old Fresh Ketch restaurant, closed since 2018, sits on the part of the site the redevelopment would rebuild. Keep Tahoe Blue's Gavin Feiger has described the redevelopment as a chance to improve invasive species containment while the region works toward a longer-term weed solution.
The October Calendar Outside the Channels
Access around the Keys gets tighter on fixed dates this month. The Meyers inspection station is walk-in only from October 2 through 5 and October 9 through 12, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. No new inspections start after 4:30. Starting October 14, inspections move to appointments on select Wednesdays through March 2027, with 48 hours' notice required. The booking system wasn't live yet when the schedule was posted. Since the program changed in 2025, any boat that needs an inspection also needs decontamination to protect against golden mussels. Boats with an intact Tahoe inspection seal are exempt from both. Tahoe Keys Marina still requires boats to be inspected before they launch.
Gated access at Pope Beach is listed as running through mid-October. Kiva Shoreline is listed through October, weather permitting. Forest Service beach parking generally runs from 8 a.m. to sunset through mid-October. Walk-in access can continue after the lots close, though seasonal services may not. Through those closing dates, the UV crews and divers stay on schedule in the channels, and the two bubble curtains keep running.
If you own in the Keys and want to talk through how the containment work, the fragment study results or the marina's next phase could affect your dock, your slip or a sale you're planning, Live Tahoe Real Estate can walk you through what's on the record and what's still pending. Contact Chris and Brooke.
