Fall is now in full swing here in the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit. The lake is now cold enough to scare off all but the bravest swimmers, and my beloved aspens have turned golden, beginning to drop their leaves. Life in general seems to be quieting down up here, with everyone adjusting to the shorter days, colder nights, and emotionally preparing for the winter. But while all the tourists are clearing out from the summer and the plants are senescing for the season, September has been our busiest month yet.

We are quickly approaching the end of seed collection season, so we have been on the hunt for any more seeding populations while collecting. It’s been a bit of a scouting and collecting frenzy, with the whole crew dispersing from the office in the morning and driving all day in search of seeding target species. Our seed hunt has brought us all over the basin, including right to the border between the LTBMU and the El Dorado National Forest. Unfortunately, most of the additional populations we’ve scouted in September have been past seed. Though we have stumbled upon a few fruitful populations this month, the rest of the new sites we’ve mapped will be used for seed collections next year.

This week, on top of our scouting and collecting, we’ve been making seed mixes for ran ongoing restoration project. Later, we will use these to revegetate a large area called Incline Meadow, formerly known as Incline Lake. A man-made dam was removed, restoring the “lake” to a meadow. The mixing process reminds me of those satisfying candy mixing videos….praying I am not the only one who watches those (on occasion!!).

Usually, the arrival of cooler weather, crispy vegetation, and changing leaves has me a bit forlorn. This year, however, I’ve really welcomed the harvest spirit. I’ve been slipping into the special trance that only comes from plucking off seeds gently, slowly moving through the forest, with Fleet Foxes and Hozier in my ears. It’s almost enough to make me wonder if this, not targeted ads with autumn-leaf Canva templates, is what the season is truly about. As much as I already miss the summer, some exciting fall activities have begun filling the beach-day-shaped hole in my heart. The past few weeks I’ve been religiously visiting the stream profile chamber, a mini-aquarium built into the side of Taylor Creek, in the hopes of catching some Kokanee salmon heading up the stream to breed. No luck yet, sadly. But maybe by my next blog post…