The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has awarded a $1.7 million grant to the California Tahoe Conservancy to help restore a marsh at Lake Tahoe that is the largest remaining wetland in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
The conservancy intends to spend $9 million next year to restore 500 acres of the south shore's Upper Truckee Marsh.
Conservancy Board Chairwoman Brooke Lane says the $9 million project is one of the most important in the Tahoe Basin's history.
Lane says development the last century destroyed half the marsh and left the Upper Truckee River channelized where it enters Lake Tahoe. It currently delivers more fine sediment to Lake Tahoe than any other tributary.
The plan is to redirect the river to its historic network of channels through the marsh.