By Julie Regan
Lake Tahoe is leading the charge into Spring for all of us. Budding trees, songbirds, and warm days are bursting forth just in time for the 55th celebration of Earth Day next Tuesday. Started in 1970, the annual event is a touchstone for conservation, sustainability, and harmony between the natural and human environments. These are the principles on which the states of Nevada and California founded the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA), also marking 55 years this year.
It was a courageous move. In the 1950s and ‘60s, Tahoe was undergoing an enormous building boom. Plans for freeways and a city the size of San Francisco encircling the lake were on the table. Fortunately, it was also a time when environmental science was beginning to drive public policy. Studies on the clarity of Lake Tahoe’s water by UC Davis’ Dr. Charles Goldman warned state leaders that pollution and environmental damage were bringing Lake Tahoe to a tipping point. High levels of nutrients and widespread erosion were clouding the lake with algae and suspended sediment.
In the same era as the first Earth Day and the passage of fundamental federal legislation like the Clean Water, Air, and Endangered Species Acts, Nevada and California signed a unique Bi-State Compact creating the first planning agency of its kind in the nation. The research of Dr. Goldman and others formed the scientific basis for TRPA’s groundbreaking environmental standards and conservation programs.
Tahoe’s unique challenges and complexities continue to require innovative solutions, some of which provide a model for areas facing similar issues. TRPA’s 1999 prohibition of high-polluting marine engines in Lake Tahoe reduced fuel compounds in the lake to near undetectable levels. Environmental studies that supported the prohibition shaped similar regulations at other lakes and pre-empted a shift in the boating and jet ski industries to cleaner engines.
Similarly, the Lake Tahoe Watercraft Inspection Program is providing a national model for aquatic invasive species prevention. The broad support for the inspection program allowed TRPA to quickly pivot last month to begin requiring mandatory decontaminations for all visiting boats to increase protection against the invasive golden mussel recently discovered in the Central Valley of California.
Lake Tahoe has become a model for other areas fighting to protect natural resources, confront climate change, and support communities. The Lake Tahoe Environmental Improvement Program is often upheld as one of the most successful landscape conservation programs in the nation. Through it, more than 80 organizations have added 200 miles of bike paths, treated nearly 100,000 acres of forest for hazardous fuels, and removed aquatic invasive species from more than 480 acres of lake bottom.
Today, Lake Tahoe is facing new pressures and emerging threats. Rising temperatures, the threat of catastrophic wildfire, and extreme weather swings – from severe drought to atmospheric rivers – are testing the environmental progress we have made as a region. Lake Tahoe is also not immune to the global challenges around tourism. Lake Tahoe’s outdoor recreation opportunities and expanses of public land are as much of a draw to travelers and people in surrounding regions as they are for full- and part-time residents. Traffic congestion, full recreation areas, and the shortage of affordable housing are affecting the environment and the Tahoe experience.
These are complex problems that may look as daunting to us as the issues Lake Tahoe leaders in the 1960s faced. Over the past 55 years, partnership, collaboration, and well-informed public policy have led to some of Lake Tahoe’s greatest accomplishments. I believe that no challenge is insurmountable and that the courage to lead lies in each of us.
As we all get out and enjoy the glorious spring weather, I hope you consider the difference each of us can make and how the simplest actions can inspire others. Find an Earth Day event or follow the daily Earth Week challenges at takecaretahoe.org/earthweek.