LAKE TAHOE

On Aug. 3, Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Director Vinson Guthreau met with California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot to reaffirm the longstanding partnership between the two states and advance shared priorities for the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Because the Lake Tahoe Basin straddles the Nevada/California border, protecting one of the nation’s most iconic alpine landscapes requires close coordination between the two states. During the meeting, the leaders focused on strengthening wildfire resilience, preserving Lake Tahoe’s famed clarity, advancing forest and watershed health, and expanding outdoor recreation opportunities throughout the Basin.

One bi-state effort between California and Nevada has shielded the lake from record amounts of runoff. Launched in 2011, the Lake Tahoe Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Program is an effort to restore and enhance the lake’s water clarity to historic levels by requiring local governments and highway departments on both sides of the lake to implement measures that help prevent clarity-harming pollutants from reaching the lake. The TMDL program incentivizes urban implementation partners to use customized strategies for holistic pollution reduction rather than having to take a one-size-fits-all approach, and it awards credits to urban implementers once pollutant control effectiveness is verified.

By restoring wetlands and streams, limiting dust from roads and construction sites, and improving stormwater systems and other anti-pollution actions, partners in the TMDL program kept an estimated 736,600 pounds of sediment known to harm clarity and water quality out of the lake.

Last year, highway departments and local governments on both sides of the lake exceeded their targeted pollutant load reductions.

In time, the TMDL program’s main goal is for people to once again be able to see to depths of 100 feet in Lake Tahoe. 

~ Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources press releases