INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. – The Tahoe Environmental Research Center’s new vessel is currently getting retrofitted for a future of research on Lake Tahoe.
“We are excited to launch our new research vessel soon,” said TERC director Stephanie Hampton. “This boat opens up new research opportunities, capabilities for operating on multi-day trips, operating nearshore, reaching locations across the lake faster and safer, and [is] better equipped to enable cutting-edge research and education.”
TERC announced last week that after meeting its fundraising goal, the new research boat is fully funded thanks to its Give Day campaign, generous supporters, and other fundraising efforts throughout the year.
The new vessel’s transformation will make it a state-of-the-art research platform, allowing TERC scientists to pursue exciting new research while furthering more than 60 years of continuous monitoring. This long monitoring history makes it one of the world’s longest and most valuable records of a freshwater ecosystem.
The discoveries made aboard this new vessel will help guide the protection and stewardship of Lake Tahoe for decades to come, TERC says, and ensure that researchers have the tools they need to understand a changing lake, inform restoration efforts, and provide the knowledge needed to protect Lake Tahoe for future generations.
Once the boat is ready, it will replace TERC’s flagship vessel, the R/V John LeConte, marking a bittersweet moment. Over the past 60 years of UC Davis’s lake monitoring, the R/V John LeConte has been at the heart of that work, now in its 50th year of service on Lake Tahoe.
With the vessel’s approaching retirement, TERC looked back at its 50 years in the State of the Lake annual report. The R/V John LeConte was instrumental in countless milestones, including gathering scientific data that informed the landmark total maximum daily load regulations to reduce sediment and nutrient pollution, and deploying Tahoe’s first weather stations.
It has also been a dependable ride in keeping tabs on Lake Tahoe’s famed clarity.
The R/V John LeConte’s last research trip has not yet been scheduled. TERC says it will keep the community posted when it embarks on its final research endeavor and when the new vessel arrives.
