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Washoe Tribe and Lake Tahoe
The Washoe people are considered as indigenous inhabitants of Lake Tahoe area as they had been associated with occupying this area for thousands of years. Contemporary members of the tribe know the importance of sustaining the land of their ancestors in good condition because of traditional reasons. As the native inhabitants, they have a natural attachment to this land and feel responsible for maintaining it. They have the best knowledge of how the land should be maintained, and this knowledge has been passed down from generation to generation over thousands of years now, therefore these people consider themselves to be the proper people to take care of the Lake Tahoe area. Moreover, The Lake has been a center Washoe Tribe's civilization where the tribe has gathered every year, where most traditional events took place. Therefore, in 2002, The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources officially conveyed the custody for Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California over the land around the Lake Tahoe area for cultural purposes. Through this, the tribe can have some control over the land that has belonged to them and make changes to improve the preservation of the Lake Tahoe area.

Culture
Washoe culture was based mostly on the legends that carried the explanation of different areas of life. The legends were handed over from one generation to another by storytelling and were told to younger generations to teach them basic things about Washoe's way of living. Children could get to know about gathering techniques, medicine preparation, and the legends were meant to teach them how to appreciate the land they were living in and give them a better understanding of Washoe's lifestyle. Children were raised in the environment which recognized family as the most valued thing. The whole Washoe life was concentrated on cooperation and unity, and older tribe members needed to convey their knowledge to the younger so the tribe culture would survive. Everyone in the family had his own role in everyday activities like fishing, gathering or hunting which helped Washoe people with doing everyday life tasks more efficiently.

Life cycle
The area of residence of Washoe people let them obtain food from three different ways: fishing, gathering, and hunting. Since each way required having special skills and knowledge people were usually trained in one field to reduce the possibility of failing the tasks they were responsible for. Therefore, the Washoe tribe's life was dependent on the actual environment possibilities. Also, scarcity of sources would not let the tribe perform every way at once, therefore the Washoe lifestyle was divided into three periods: "the fishing year", "the gathering year" and "the hunting year".


 * "Fishing year"- which came after the period of starvation, started in early spring as the snow in the mountains started to melt. At that time, some tribe members (mainly young men, boys, and sometimes unmarried women) left the winter camps and moved toward the Lake Tahoe to start the fishing season. By doing this they could save the leftovers from food reserves for people that had stayed in winter camps. They used caves and natural shelters as protection from the cold along with loin clothes and blankets made from rabbit skin to keep themselves warm. They fished for whitefish which some of them they consumed and some they carried back to winter camps so their folks could eat and gather strength for the return trip to the lake, which happened when it got warmer. It was the family's decision when to leave the winter camps and go to Lake Tahoe and it depended on the condition and age of family members (family with infants or older people tend to leave the camps later than fitter members of the tribe. The whole Washoe tribe should have been returned to the Lake Tahoe shores by the beginning of June. Almost every tribe member was involved in fishing when the season came. The Washoe used the lake resources to the fullest and caught as many fish they could. They had learned how to preserve the fish drying it on the sun and made the food reserves for the future.
 * "Gathering year"- could have been performed all year, but different ways of acquiring were used and the different type and amounts of food were provided. During winter the Washoe ate mostly the food they had gathered before the winter season started because very little vegetables could be found. As the spring came, more and more food became available. However, the food was limited over the place it was found and it could only feed a certain number of people, so tribe split up in smaller groups and went to look for food in different ways. The gathering was usually performed by women while men practiced fishing at the lake or hunting.
 * "Hunting year"- started when the first animals appeared at the beginning of the spring. It was only men's activity, so boys were trained from the youngest age. The Washoe tribe hunt for bigger animals like deer, bears or antelope as well as smaller ones: rabbits, birds, squirrels. The different techniques and times of hunting were adjusted for different types of animals.

Fall was the richest in food season of the year as all ways of obtaining the food could have been performed. The winter period was the time of starvation as the stocks of food run out quickly and almost no food could have been obtained over the coldest months of the year. However, Washoe people learned how to survive the hardest time of the year by learning how to use the resources the land had given them. They knew they needed to keep the balance as each way of obtaining food was equally crucial for these people to survive.