Shoreline

The TRPA Governing Board approved a new Shoreline Plan for Lake Tahoe in October 2018. The plan supports boating, paddling, swimming, and other water-based recreation, while also ensuring effective natural resource management for continued attainment of environmental goals in the Lake Tahoe Region. The plan includes updated shorezone regulations (Chapters 80-85 of the TRPA Code of Ordinances) and a Shoreline Implementation Program.

Lotteries and Allocations

Additional (new) piers and moorings are subject to separate lotteries:

Pier Lottery: held every two years on odd years.

  • Previous pier lottery and prioritization results can be found here.

Mooring lottery: held every year.

  • Previous mooring lottery results can be found here.

Permitting

The Shoreline Plan lifts a longstanding moratorium on new shorezone structures at Lake Tahoe, setting caps and regulations for new shorezone structures such as piers, moorings, and public boat ramps. The plan also creates a framework for marinas to enhance their facilities if environmental improvements are made part of the project. For more information about TRPA permits for piers, moorings, structures, and other shorezone activities, visit TRPA’s Applications & Forms Page.

 

Moorings

The Shoreline Plan authorizes up to 1,486 new private moorings at Lake Tahoe, including buoys, boatlifts, and boat slips. Fifteen percent of the remaining pool are available for permitting annually  through the mooring lottery. The Shoreline Plan requires property owners to register and permit all existing moorings with TRPA. Mooring registrations are renewed annually through the Mooring Permitting and Registration System.

 

Boating

The Shoreline Plan creates new programs to ensure shoreline structures and boating activity do not harm the environment, scenery, or recreation experiences at Lake Tahoe. These programs include coordinated enforcement against illegal boat moorings on the lake, more projects to prevent the spread of harmful aquatic invasive species, enhanced monitoring to better assess noise and scenic impacts from boating activity and shoreline structures, stronger boating safety education, and new provisions to keep boats with aftermarket exhaust systems that exceed TRPA, California, and Nevada noise limits from operating on the lake.

The cost of these programs is supported by fees apportioned to various shoreline users and structures. These fees include annual mooring registrations, a portion of annual watercraft inspection sticker fees, and boat rental concession fees. These additional funds help pay for boater education, no-wake zone enforcement, and projects to prevent the spread of harmful aquatic invasive species in Lake Tahoe.

 

No-Wake Zones

The new shoreline program includes stronger boater education and enforcement of the 600-foot no-wake zone at Lake Tahoe. The plan expands the no-wake zone to include all Emerald Bay and creates a 100-foot no-wake zone buffer around swimmers and paddlers and a 200-foot no-wake zone buffer around shoreline structures. These no-wake zones are in place to prevent unsafe boating in areas where boaters, paddlers, and swimmers share the lake, and to reduce noise impacts from boating.

 


Marinas

Marinas are key partners in reducing the impacts of boating and protecting Lake Tahoe from aquatic invasives species. Marinas regularly survey for invasive species and can report sightings through a collaborative Early Detection Rapid Response protocol. Under the Shoreline Plan, marinas are also required to submit annual reports on their aquatic invasives species management plans. If you are a marina operator, use the Marina Management Plan Guide for instructions on how to submit your plans and biannual reports.

 

 

Background

The TRPA Governing Board approved the Lake Tahoe Shoreline Plan in October 2018 after more than three years of strong public outreach and collaboration with a wide range of partners. Planning partners included the Lake Tahoe Marina Association, Tahoe Lakefront Owners’ Association, League to Save Lake Tahoe, Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board, Nevada Division of State Lands, and California State Lands Commission. The plan is the first comprehensive update to TRPA’s shorezone regulations in several decades.

Shoreline Steering Committee

The Shoreline Steering Committee worked together to set the policy framework and context for planning. The committee also engaged technical staff, scientific advisors, legal counsel, and other interested parties to understand and resolve issues.

Members

  • California State Lands Commission, Jennifer Lucchesi
  • Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board, Robert Larsen
  • Lake Tahoe Marina Association, Bob Hassett
  • League to Save Lake Tahoe, Darcie Goodman-Collins
  • Nevada Division of State Lands, Charlie Donohue
  • Tahoe Lakefront Owners’ Association, Jan Brisco
  • Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, Joanne Marchetta

Shoreline Joint Fact Finding Committee

A joint fact finding committee worked to set the direction for technical work and coordinate with TRPA’s staff on the best ways to approach gathering baseline information and conduct the environmental review process. The committee’s tasks also include framing studies, agreeing on information to be used for the planning process, identifying information gaps and determining methodology to fill those gaps, guiding action to complete technical work, and identifying specific targeted questions for others when needed.

Members

  • Ascent Environmental, Adam Lewandowski and Sydney Coatsworth
  • California Tahoe Conservancy, Penny Stewart
  • California State Lands Commission, Jason Ramos
  • Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board, Mary Fiore-Wagner
  • League to Save Lake Tahoe, Jesse Patterson
  • Nevada Division of State Lands, Elizabeth Kingsland
  • Scientists, Drs. Geoffrey Schladow and Sudeep Chandra
  • Tahoe Lakefront Owners’ Association, Jan Brisco
  • TRPA, Dan Segan, Dennis Zabaglo, and Kenneth Kasman
  • TRPA Coordinator, Rebecca Cremeen
  • The Watershed Company, Dan Nickel

Shoreline Environmental Impact Statement

The Shoreline draft and final environmental impact statements were prepared to analyze the environmental impacts of TRPA’s shorezone regulations and include mitigation measures to ensure compliance with TRPA’s environmental thresholds. A documents page for the environmental impact statement documents is currently under construction.