09/27/2026
The tribe restored a meadow and it got wetter after logging. Huh.
From Forest to Meadow: Máyala Wáta ancestral home of the Washoe
How a tribal-led tree thinning project is bringing back a traditional meadow is an article in the The Sierra Nevada Ally by Tim Hauserman
For fifty years I’ve hiked the Tahoe-Yosemite Trail from Meeks Bay into the Desolation Wilderness and Crag Lake. What began as a challenging camping trip with a group of thoroughly unprepared teenagers with overly heavy packs has become a regular choice in my summer hiking plans.
The first mile and a half of the trail, known as Meeks Meadow or Máyala Wáta by the Washoe Tribe, has always been a nearly flat journey through a thick forest of lodgepole pines with occasional glimpses of snippets of meadow. It was a peaceful sandy stroll, although a bit of a slog, before the climbing began through granite and a thick forest of white fire and Jeffrey pines. A few weeks ago I went on this hike, and it was a very different place.
For the first time in many years, the forest has returned to meadow, thanks to the efforts of the Washoe Tribe.
It was nearly thirty years ago, when the first Lake Tahoe Summit included President Bill Clinton and Vice-President Al Gore, that the Washoe Tribe began the process of returning Máyala Wáta to what it once was: a thriving meadow full of plants important to the native people. At the summit, the Washoe were given control over the beach resort at Meeks Bay, as well as the Meeks Meadow, which stretches to the edge of the mountains to the west. The understanding at the time is that the meadow would be restored to it’s original condition and would thereafter be maintained by the tribe as it was back in the days when the Washoe were the only humans living in Lake Tahoe.
Over the last ten years the tribe has been working diligently on obtaining the permits and grants necessary to make the restoration happen. Finally, the cutting of several hundred acres of a dense forest of small, lodgepole pines began in the fall of 2025. They were supported in their efforts by the Forest Service, which still owns the land, as well as the Tahoe Conservancy, which provided grant funding, and the Fish and Wildlife Service which is working with the tribe to bring native Cutthroat trout back to Meeks Creek and Lake Tahoe.
“It is a long process, especially in the Tahoe basin,” said Cale Pete, Director of the Washoe Environmental Protection Department. “There were so many hurdles.”
Work started again in July of this year, and was recently completed. 280 acres of trees were removed. Some of the logs will be firewood for members of the tribe, since many heat their homes with wood, and the rest of the logs will supply the tribe’s sawmill in Carson City.
Pete said the meadow recharged rapidly once the trees had been removed. A piezometer, used to measure the amount of moisture in the soil, determined the ground water level readings before, during and after the thinning. They found an increase in ground water soon after the trees were cut last fall.
While the initial cutting project is complete, the Washoe’s involvement with the meadow will continue into the foreseeable future.
“We are trying to get tribal members back on the landscape, First, in consultation with tribal elders the tribe is surveying what sort of plants are growing in the new meadow, and what sort of plants do we want to see out there that used to grow in the area,” said Pete.
Plants such as wild strawberries, wild onions, blueberries, yambah and healthy willow trees are culturally important to the tribe. Willow branches are needed for the renowned Washoe basketmakers (to see the artistry of Washoe baskets go see the extensive collection at The Gatekeepers Museum near the Truckee River outlet in Tahoe City).
“We still have a handful of basket makers,” said Pete. “You need strong, healthy, straight willows. The tribe did a willow burn down in the Carson Valley. Some willows were super old, but came back really straight after the fire.”
The Washoe tribe historically used small fires to keep meadows free of tree encroachment, and are now working with the Forest Service on a burn plan for 2027.
“It will be interesting to see what will come back since some plants only come back after fire,” said Pete.
The goal is for the tribal members to do the burns themselves. In order to do so, they are increasing the number of tribal members with the fire qualifications to do the job.
The Washoe also understand that the conditions are right for the lodgepoles to once again encroach on the meadow, so they will be vigilant to continue to thin out new young trees. They have even recommended to tribe members to use lodgepole pines from the meadow as their Christmas trees since many of the pinyon pines that they usually use have been destroyed in the fires that have engulfed tribal lands in Nevada over the last few years.
I have a childhood memory of a boat trip to Meeks Bay. We parked the boat in the little marina that divided the two sides of the beach. That Marina was shut down over ten years ago and the USFS and the Washoe are working towards restoring the marina to a natural lagoon and meadow, and also reintroducing the cutthroat trout to the creek. One impediment to the success of trout reintroduction is that the Highway 89 bridge across Meeks Creek is a barrier to fish. The tribe is working with California Department of Fish and Wildlife to replace the bridge with one that will allow fish to migrate to their ancestral spawning grounds in the creek.
The Tahoe Conservancy has been a big supporter of the Máyala Wáta project.
“It will be the best tended land in the basin,” said Joe Harvey, Senior Environmental Specialist with the Tahoe Conservancy. “A lot of agencies want to work with them, but I hope they drive the ship. The Tahoe Conservancy wants to be a great partner for the tribe.”
Harvey says the project will be ongoing, the tribe and the Forest Service will work together to do burns, monitor vegetation and replant as needed. He sees that eventually all the tribal members will participate in cultural burning in the meadow, an ancient tradition.
“It will continue to thrive as they work for resilience for a changing climate,” said Harvey.
As I headed up the trail on an early September morning there was bright sunshine. Before the thinning operation you were often in the shade of a thick forest. Now, off to the southwest the pinnacle of Rubicon Peak and the rocky ridgeline of the edge of Desolation Wilderness were visible for much of the walk. A few piles of cut trees were still in evidence, the last vestiges of the logging effort, but it was clear the operation was winding down. It was startling how quickly the meadow was looking like a meadow again so soon after the cutting. Next spring, I expect a proliferation of wildflowers and native plants will burst forth, since they no longer have to compete with the trees for sunlight and water.
Full article with links here: https://sierranevadaally.org/2026/09/23/from-forest-to-meadow-mayala-wata-ancestral-home-of-the-washoe/
