Tahoe Keys, California facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Tahoe Keys
Neighborhood of South Lake Tahoe
Nickname(s):  The Keys
Tahoe Keys Location in California
Country	United States
State	California
County	El Dorado County
City	South Lake Tahoe
Elevation	6,240 ft (1,902 m)

View from Mount Tallac

Tahoe Keys is a private waterfront community within the city of South Lake Tahoe in El Dorado County, California. It lies at an elevation of 6,240 feet (1,900 m). The Tahoe Keys is a 740-acre (300 ha) marina community laced with eleven miles of inland waterways located at the southern tip of Lake Tahoe in South Lake Tahoe, California. Most of the 1500+ members who own homes, townhouses or vacant lots have a private boat dock and are located on numerous lagoons, canals or the Tahoe Keys Marina with its boat launching ramps.

Environmental impacts

Constructed in the 1960s, the community consists of over 1,500 homes adjacent to a series of canals. Its construction destroyed half of the Upper Truckee Marsh, the primary filter for river water entering the lake, and has since been called the most environmentally damaging intrusion on the lakeshore in Lake Tahoe's human history.

The Tahoe Keys – due to lack of maintenance and poor planning – have the largest population of non-native plants and fish in Lake Tahoe. The problem is severe enough that the most common control methods have failed. As a result there has been some controversy about whether to make special allowances for otherwise banned herbicides in Lake Tahoe.