SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Birds called from trees in a shady neighborhood where a bike path follows a bridge over the Upper Truckee River. On the other side of the water, however, the forest soundscape disappeared beneath the grinding, screeching noises of heavy machinery.

On a recent fall morning, two excavators chewed up boulder-sized chunks of asphalt with distorted bars of rebar sticking out. A chain-link fence ran along the perimeter of a demolition site, where crews have been razing a 1970s-era Motel 6. The old hotel was a relic of midcentury development that buried wetlands in 8 to 10 feet of dirt and pavement. On the edge of the property, a sign read: “Coming Soon: More Nature.”

The Motel 6 property is an important link along the Upper Truckee River: It’s the last piece in a chain of conservation projects, and with this acquisition, 96% of the lower 9 miles of the river is public land. Last year, California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot called the demolition project “the most important in a generation to protect Lake Tahoe.”

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

The Upper Truckee River weaves through the city of South Lake Tahoe, next to the old, demolished Motel 6. In the spring and early summer, it’s a popular stretch of river to float on.

Earlier this summer, workers removed hazardous materials from the site, including asbestos from the drywall in 141 hotel rooms. Tractors hauled trailers full of old mattresses and box springs to a recycling facility. Hotel buildings, a long-vacant restaurant and a manager’s residential unit have all been torn down. Now, the excavators are ripping up the outdoor pool. All of the concrete and most of the metals ripped up in the demolition will be recycled.

At the end of September, the worksite didn’t add up to more than some piles of rubble and dust, but the demolition of the Motel 6 is a milestone in a decades-long effort to restore some of Lake Tahoe’s most important wetlands.

The Upper Truckee River weaves through the city of South Lake Tahoe and is the largest of Lake Tahoe’s tributaries. It drains an area that reaches across the southern third of the Tahoe Basin. The marsh, which extends from the river, is a natural filtration system for Lake Tahoe. Historically, the Upper Truckee Marsh spread across 1,300 acres.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

Development in the mid-20th century, however, destroyed more than half of the marsh and took a steep toll on Lake Tahoe. After a boom in growth and construction in the 1950s and 1960s, Lake Tahoe lost nearly 30 feet of its famous water clarity. Reversing the damage done from midcentury overdevelopment has been a priority among Lake Tahoe’s environmental agencies and nonprofits since the regional plan was first adopted in the 1980s.

The Upper Truckee Marsh is a natural filtration system for Lake Tahoe and helps protect the lake’s famous clarity. Restoring the wetlands has been a decades-long effort involving multiple conservation projects that’s cost more than $100 million.

A sign at the demolition site reads “Coming Soon: More Nature.” Words written in the Washoe language roughly translate to: “More nature — everything that lives and how they live you will get to know........

© SFGate