Improvements underway at Spooner Lake State Park

CARSON CITY, Nev. (KOLO) - Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park at Spooner Lake is getting a facelift.

“It definitely will be a spot to come and enjoy.”
Allen Wooldridge, Park Supervisor for Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park

Crews officially broke ground on construction in mid-May.

“It’s really going to be a grand entrance for all of our visitors who are making their way either by horseback, bicycle, or foot into the backcountry of Lake Tahoe,” Allen Wooldridge, Park Supervisor for Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park said.

The two-year project includes a new visitor center, restroom facilities, gift shop, and outdoor amphitheater.

Wooldridge added, “It’ll give our visitors a great explanation and interpretive center for Lake Tahoe, what it has to offer, the beauty of it and why it’s so special.”

Wooldridge says it’ll be a portal to more than 60 miles of paths and trails spanning 13,000 acres. The construction site takes up just over 2 acres of land.

“Instead of kind of going out on your own and trying to figure it out, we’re going to have the facilities and the information so that you can go out and do it responsibly and safely,” Wooldridge said.

The new facilities will offer visitors interpretive programming and environmental education and will serve as a base for natural and cultural history programs, ranger-led hikes and tours, and an outdoor science venue for students.

However, none of these improvements would be possible without help from local organizations.

“Tahoe Fund stepped up right away to help with this project because Spooner is such a magical place and it just deserved a little love,” Amy Berry, CEO of the Tahoe Fund said, “It hadn’t been updated since the 1970s.”

Berry says at least 100,000 people visit Spooner Lake and the state park every year. She added, “If we are going to ask people to take better care of Tahoe, we need to build an environment that gives them that message that we care about the place and we want it to be as nice as we can.”

The nonprofit, along with others, helped to secure the park more than $3 million of public funding to get this done.