Dylan Silver spends so much time underwater, you'd think he has gills.

With his water-equipped DSLR Canon and Dome Port lens in tow, the 32-year-old journalist, environmentalist, scuba diver, and photographer has logged thousands of hours submerged in various locations, including Indonesia's Raja Ampat and Sulawesi islands, Oregon's McKenzie River, and Baja's San Ignacio Lagoon. Despite assignments from publications like Outside, which sent him to dive with sharks in Hawaii, there's one body of water he can never stay away from for long: Lake Tahoe. The place where he dove, paddled, and surfed through adolescence inspired his recent mission to preserve the lake’s rare clarity, spanning 72 miles in width and 1,645 feet in depth, across two states.

Silver is not the first to be captivated by Lake Tahoe. In his 1871 travel novel *Roughing It*, Mark Twain described Lake Tahoe—then known as Lake Bigler—as “surely the fairest picture the whole world affords” and “brilliant, dazzlingly so.” Tahoe’s exceptional clarity is attributed to its status as an oligotrophic lake (meaning it has few living organisms), the purity of the surrounding air, and natural filtration systems from neighboring marshes and meadows. However, this clarity has been diminishing. Lake Tahoe, once known for its clarity of over 100 feet, has seen a 30 percent decrease in the past 30 years, with a loss of about a foot each year.

Silver notes that large forces, such as a warming climate, contribute to the lake’s plight. The phenomenon of cultural eutrophication—excessive algal growth due to high nutrient levels—accelerates this decline. Nitrogen and phosphorus from automobile emissions and urban areas act like fertilizer for algae. Fine sediments, smaller than human hair, also contribute to the loss of clarity, remaining suspended in the water column and making the shorelines look murky and brown.

Silver’s photography project, *Tahoe Clarity*, aims to document and highlight the lake's unique beauty and the environmental threat it faces. Since starting in 2014, he has captured over a million images from various locations around Lake Tahoe. A portion of photo sales supports The League to Save Lake Tahoe, an organization dedicated to protecting and restoring the lake’s ecosystem.

“I have always looked to the lake as my retreat. If other people see its true beauty, they'll genuinely want to help keep it clean,” Silver says. “It’s as simple as reducing your carbon footprint, walking instead of driving, and sharing knowledge with others.” This approach exemplifies a true ripple effect.

For more information on how to experience Lake Tahoe or support the preservation efforts, consider visiting local resources such as Forest Suites Resort and Tahoe Dive Center.

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