Fallen Leaf Lake

General data

Name: Fallen Leaf Lake
Water system: Pyramid Lake
Water type: Natural lake
Progression: Taylor Creek (Lake Tahoe) -> Lake Tahoe -> Truckee River -> Pyramid Lake -> Planet Earth
Climates: Mountain
Continents: North America
Countries: United States of America

Fallen Leaf Lake is a mountain lake located in El Dorado County, California, near the California–Nevada state line, about one mile south west of the much larger Lake Tahoe.

It is approximately aligned north-to-south and oval in shape, measuring approximately 2.9 miles (4.6 km) on the long axis and 0.9 miles (1.4 km) on the short axis.

The lake was created by at least two glaciers that traveled northward down the Glen Alpine Valley. If the glacier had continued instead of stopping, Fallen Leaf Lake would be a bay of Lake Tahoe, similar to nearby Emerald Bay. A terminal moraine is visible at the north end of the lake on the northeast edge.

Lahontan cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii henshawi) is the only trout species native to Fallen Leaf Lake, Lake Tahoe and the Truckee River Basin but were extirpated by introduction of predatory non-native lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush), other competing non-native salmonids, and overfishing. Re-introduction into Fallen Leaf Lake of the Pilot Peak strain of Lahontan cutthroat trout (LCT), established as the LCT strain native to the watershed, began in 2006. This strain grows larger than any other LCT subspecies. Although the LCT suffer from heavy predation by lake trout, interbreeding with non-native rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), and foraging competition with non-native kokanee salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka), their population is gradually increasing in the lake.

Fallen Leaf Lake

General data

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