Lake Tahoe Restoration Act: Experiencing the Impact 

Andrew Avitt
Pacific Southwest Region
June 17, 2024

Editor’s note: The Lake Tahoe Restoration Act could expire this September after nearly 25 years of supporting conservation efforts throughout the Tahoe Basin. This article highlights some of the accomplishments of that legislation.  

Millions of visitors travel to Lake Tahoe every year — from all over the world, across the country, and from nearby cities. They hike, bike, boat, bird watch, summit peaks, fish, ski, snowboard, snowshoe, sled, and more. They come to get away but also for the views of lush green forests and a crystal-clear lake surrounded by snowcapped peaks.  

About 55,000 residents call the basin home as well, and they’ll tell you, they’re lucky to live here. Kimberly Caringer, a long-time Arizonian, first came to the Lake Tahoe Basin for summer work while studying for her environmental policy degree. Her first impression? The scenery was amazing, the lake was clear blue and massive, and the summer temperatures were more forgiving than the scorching Arizona heat.  

But even more impressive to Caringer was the effort by locals to conserve the area.  

“I remember thinking this is the Olympics of environmental stewardship — real collaborative work to protect such an important place.”  

Now Caringer is a Tahoe local and works as the chief partnerships officer and deputy director of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency — a unique bi-state compact agency created by Nevada and California in 1969 to protect and restore Lake Tahoe while enhancing its communities. After establishing environmentally sensitive practices and growth management systems, in 1997 the agency came together with local, state, and federal agencies as well as the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, the private sector, and nonprofit organizations to fix over 100 years of environmental mistakes. Streams, meadows, and wetlands were damaged or destroyed, forests had been clearcut, towns planned around automobile use, and pollution from erosion and stormwater was reducing the lake’s worldfamous clarity at the rate of about a foot per year. The lake was at a tipping point.  

The partnership established one of the most comprehensive restoration programs in the nation, the Lake Tahoe Environmental Improvement Program, or EIP, which would later draw Caringer to Tahoe.  

“It needs to be a shared effort," Caringer said. "Saving Lake Tahoe can't all fall on either the federal government, state, or local communities. It has to be shared.”  

Today, the EIP demonstrates epic collaboration as more than 80 organizations collaborate to implement projects such as stream and meadow restoration, trail maintenance, wildfire risk reduction treatments, stormwater management, erosion control projects, and the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout Recovery Program. All of these require collaboration across jurisdictions and involve a delicate balance of funding.  

At first glance, Lake Tahoe would seem to have the funds to care for the lake and its surrounding resources. In reality, local and state governments can’t support the massive restoration needed on their own. Nearly 80 percent of the land in the basin is managed by the USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU).  

The creation of the EIP in 1997 brought national attention to Tahoe. That year, then-President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore joined Tahoe’s Congressional delegation at the lake to host the first Presidential Lake Tahoe Summit. The event made history and inspired Congress to pass the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act (LTRA) in 2000, authorizing $300 million for environmental projects and habitat restoration across the Lake Tahoe Basin. After a lapse in funding between 2010 and 2016, Congress reauthorized the act for seven years with $415 million set to expire in September 2024.  

“Before the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act, it was a patchwork of people and organizations just trying to cut and paste money together as best as they could,” said Caringer. “And even then, the funding didn‘t match the environmental projects needed in the region, estimated at $900 million in 1997.”  

Thanks to LTRA, the LTBMU and partners have implemented 17 large-scale stream and meadow. restoration projects since 2016. Some of the largest projects include the Upper Truckee River and Marsh Restoration, Third Creek restoration, and comprehensive planning for Meeks Bay. These projects will make a significant difference for wildlife and repair our natural ecosystems while allowing for sustainable recreation opportunities.  

A clear lake vs. invasive species  

Each year, around 15,000 recreational boats are launched into Lake Tahoe’s crystal-clear waters. One of the highest priorities of the EIP is to ensure these welcomed watercraft are not carrying some unwelcome visitors: aquatic invasive species.  

Since the beginning of the EIP, protecting the lake from existing non-native species and new aquatic invasives spreading across the western U.S. has been a major concern.  

“Aquatic invasive species can disrupt our natural ecosystem, impact recreation, and can be impossible to eradicate. Above all, they can affect the lake clarity Tahoe is so famous for,” said Caringer.  

Without support from the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act, aquatic invasive species control would be underfunded, and innovative projects to control existing aquatic invasive weeds and fish would disappear.  

Reducing wildfire risk in Tahoe  

Collaboration is critical when it comes to managing a shared resource like Lake Tahoe.  

Wildfire risk has always been present in this area, but the frequency and intensity have changed.  

“We're working with a forest impacted by Comstock logging during the 1800s Gold and Silver Rush era. Most of the timber in the basin was cut and removed. Now that timber has regrown into a dense single-aged forest,” said Brian Garrett, assistant vegetation management staff officer, who has lived at Tahoe and worked for the Forest Service for almost 35 years.  

Garrett continued, “And the development boom in the 1960s increased the number of residents closer to areas at risk from wildfire.”  

Tree mortality from drought, beetles, and invasive species has only exacerbated these conditions.  

“Our primary focus has been on fuels reduction in the wildland urban interface for the last 20 years,” said Garrett. “Now we're looking to increase that kind of work further out into the general forest.”  

The Lake Tahoe West Restoration Partnership is a shining example of how federal funding from the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act and partners can elevate projects to a landscape scale. The National Forest Foundation, LTBMU, and state agencies plan to treat approximately 59,000 acres of national forest land stretching from Emerald Bay to Tahoe City — nearly the entire west side of the basin — from the shore to the top of the ridgeline.  

“That's the scale we need to continue adapting to changing conditions. The Lake Tahoe Restoration Act has been essential in helping us move toward increasing the pace and scale of forest restoration,” said Garrett.  

The future of a forest and its lake  

The Lake Tahoe Restoration Act is set to expire in September. Unless Congress acts to reauthorize it, only about 30 percent of the $415 million authorized has been delivered. Supporters of the act’s renewal point out it isn’t about acquiring new funds. It’s about giving Congress more time to fund its existing commitment. That funding has historically been matched about five to one by local, state, and private investments.  

Caringer is optimistic. “We have shown the power of our partnership here and that we're a good investment based on the projects we have delivered. We’re making a difference for our communities and for the overall health of the lake.”  

From Garrett’s perspective, there’s still much more work to do. “The support has been really important for us in completing environmental improvement projects in the basin. From wildfire risk reduction to watershed health and water quality, on both national forests and non-federal lands, we have to keep moving forward.”