Collaborative effort helps clean up Sled Hill

Sled Hill, in the northwest corner of Douglas County near Spooner Lake, has been a trash hotspot for years, as people discard broken toboggans and other detritus at the popular site.

In 2020, the internet made things worse when the location popped up on Google map searches for sled hills, according to Keep Tahoe Blue Policy Director Gavin Feiger and the trash issue “got really bad”.

“The two main issues are litter and safety,” said Feiger.

There’s nothing new about sledding at the site at the intersections of highways 50 and 28 where the watercraft station is located.

People have flocked to Sled Hills as soon as there’s enough snow to sled.

Enlisting the help of residents to pick up litter at the hotspots helped but wasn’t able to meet the challenge that came with the coronavirus outbreak.

Nevada resident Ongkar Khalsa adopted the sled hill with “Team Uppaway” in 2021 removing more than a ton of trash compacted in the snow over the years. An additional 1,000 pounds were recovered by Clean Tahoe the same year.

“I kind of look at this as a reverse treasure hunt,” said Khalsa. “I look at this Tahoe area, Lake Tahoe, as a treasure. And so, when I go out picking up trash, it’s like I’m leaving a treasure behind.”

Through trial and error, and a budget of $5,000, the League to save Lake Tahoe found a way to decrease the trash left behind.

“Snowplay is a cheap, free thing to do,” Feiger said. “So we wanted to come up with a solution to allow people to have fun while providing the opportunity to do the right thing.”

During the winter of 2021-2022 the Nevada Department of Transportation issued a temporary use permit and the League outfitted the parking lot by the sled hill with a trash bin and two port-a-potties along with signage asking people to throw out their trash.

“We found that it worked,” Feiger said.

The bin was serviced once a month and the portable toilets were serviced twice a week, at the beginning and end of every weekend.

The first year after installation Team Uppaway only picked up 126 pounds of trash.

However, the department of transportation said they didn’t have the resources to participate in program last year.

Another $5,000 was spent through the winter of 2022-23 and there was far less than expected as the snow melted.

“We made the case that it was a proven solution and convinced them to do it,” Feiger said.

Through water quality funds, Nevada is paying Clean Tahoe to clean up more frequently and for the next two winters

The League hopes future plans for the State Route 28 corridor and installation of a new permit water clean and inspection station will provide a safe replacement across from the Spooner state park.

The plans for the station include a new parking lot with 250 spaces.

“While we led the effort, nothing happens in Tahoe without partners and it did take some persistence, but NDOT was very responsive and supportive of finding solutions,” he said.