Trash on Lake Tahoe beaches much improved. How much did they clean up after holiday?

Volunteers who set out to “Keep Tahoe, Red, White & Blue” the morning after Fourth of July festivities were surprised to collect less than a quarter of the trash than they had last year, nearly 2,000 pounds.

Spread around a half-dozen beaches on Lake Tahoe shores for the 11th year of Keep Tahoe Blue’s annual cleanup, volunteers immediately noticed much less trash than in previous years, showing signs of success for a beach management pilot program, Tahoe Blue Beaches, league organizers said in a news release.

For its pilot Tahoe Blue Beaches program at Zephyr Cove and Shoals, Aramark Destinations implemented changes like an alcohol ban, temporary fencing, added trash receptacles, extra staffing and portable restrooms to prevent another disastrous fourth — last year volunteers picked up 6,300 pounds of litter and images of the beach blanketed in trash went viral.

Organizers said they also saw a record number of volunteers this year, 774, up 200 from the previous high, and brought out a beach cleaning robot, along with a dive team to help cleaning efforts further.

Tahoe Blue Beaches is an effort by the League to Save Lake Tahoe and the U.S. Forest Service’s Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit with a number of partners.

Keep Tahoe Blue promoted beach management changes on their website leading up to this year’s fourth, citing last year’s landfill-like Zephyr Cove, which is on the southwest, Nevada side of Lake Tahoe.

Due to recent rainy years, the Forest Service also predicted that beaches would appear narrower this Fourth of July.

Forest supervisor Erick Walker thanked cleanup partners for precautionary efforts before the holiday and for gathering to clean beaches the next morning.

“We also want to thank the many responsible visitors who recreated well, put their trash in approved containers, and enjoyed the beautiful outdoors around Lake Tahoe,” Walker said.