FACT SHEETS
Lake Tahoe Presidential Forum
July
26, 1997
President Clinton and Vice President Gore will travel to Incline Village, Nevada to host the Lake Tahoe Presidential Forum on Saturday, July 26, 1997.
Before the Forum, the President and Vice President will participate in water clarity testing aboard a University of California, Davis, research vessel. The 37 foot vessel is equipped with research equipment for water clarity measurements, plankton sampling, bottom sediment testing and water quality sampling. The vessel can carry a remotely operated underwater vehicle with video camera, lights, compass and a sampling claw. The vessel, acquired through a National Science Foundation grant, is captained by Mr. Robert C. Richards, a veteran of the United States Navy.
Next, President Clinton will sign an executive order strengthening the federal government's ties with the Nevada and California, the Washoe Tribe, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and local governments, and proceed with Vice President Gore to the Presidential Forum.
Lake Tahoe is one of America's greatest places—a vast lake more than 1,600 feet deep, surrounded by spectacular mountains and blessed with some of the clearest water on Earth. Lake Tahoe is also one of America's best-loved places. That popularity creates special challenges to the basin's environment—and to the community's livelihood, which is forever linked with preservation of the Lake. The people who live around Lake Tahoe have responded to these challenges with innovative solutions based on partnership and collaboration, and their work provides an example for communities across the country.
Fact sheets regarding the Clinton-Gore Administration's new actions to protect Lake Tahoe, facts and figures about Lake Tahoe, issue workshops leading up to the Presidential Forum, the executive order, and biographies of Forum participants are attached.
Actions to Protect Lake
Tahoe
July 26, 1997
"Our land of new promise will be a nation that meets its obligations . . . a nation that fortifies the world's most productive economy even as it protects the great natural bounty of our water, air, and majestic land."
President Clinton
Second Inaugural Address,
January
20, 1997
Over the past two months, the Clinton Administration has sought to highlight the progress made in Lake Tahoe and to reaffirm our commitment to its protection. The Administration convened three workshops leading up to today's Presidential Forum—on water quality; forest restoration, recreation and tourism; and transportation.
The Administration heard two clear messages at the workshops: First, the Administration should reaffirm its role in helping to manage this national treasure by improving coordination among federal agencies and with California, Nevada, the Washoe Tribe, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, other local units of government; this cooperation should be guided by the people in the region. Second, the Administration should take meaningful new actions on water quality, transportation, forest management, and recreation and tourism to protect Lake Tahoe's environment, and with it the area's economy and quality of life.
Today, the President directed his Administration to begin acting on those recommendations. Over the past five years, federal agencies have committed an average of $12 million a year in the Lake Tahoe basin. The Administration is committing to double its annual investment in the basin for the next two years and will work with state and local partners to expand our joint commitment in succeeding years. Specifically, the Administration will take the following actions:
1. Protecting Lake Tahoe—and the Local Economy. The Administration is taking significant new actions to help Lake Tahoe's environment and economy.
Improving Lake Tahoe's Fabled Water Quality.
The President will work with Congress to secure funding for a new pipeline to carry wastewater out of the Tahoe basin. The Administration supports this effort aimed at preventing a catastrophic spill of wastewater into the lake by replacing the deteriorating wastewater pipeline at South Lake Tahoe.
In an expansion of the University of California at Davis' long history of scientific leadership at Lake Tahoe, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will award the University an $880,000 grant for new computer modeling tools to accurately predict the benefits of different water quality improvement projects. Additional grants and technical assistance will go to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) for developing a continuous monitoring data for use in the model. These actions together will allow planners to prioritize and evaluate the effectiveness of water quality improvement projects. In addition, the Administration is providing new resources for a number of other actions to improve scientific and public understanding of Lake Tahoe's complex environment, including new support for monitoring, research and public education.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) will boost funding and EPA will provide technical support for the master plan to upgrade paved roads in the basin to improve erosion control and stormwater management. DOT will also fund a new joint California/Nevada plan to utilize an advanced weather information system to reduce wintertime application of sand, salt, and de-icing chemicals, some of which enter the lake and harm water quality.
The USDA Forest Service (USFS) will significantly increase its work to obliterate old logging roads, eliminating 29 miles per year and, in 10 years, completely eliminating the unused roads and returning that land to its natural condition. Many such roads were built at the turn of the century to provide timber for the Comstock silver mines. Now unused, these roads shed sediment into streams and diminish the lake's fabled water quality.
EPA will provide additional funding to the states for wetland and stream restoration projects to filter out contaminants and improve water quality and habitat.
The Army Corps of Engineers, in partnership with the local community, is completing a federally-funded Tahoe Basin study to focus on water quality, wetlands habitat, and other environmental restoration opportunities in the Lake Tahoe Basin.
The USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) will provide technical expertise to implement a "backyard conservation" initiative for individual homeowners who ask for assistance with nutrient and water management of their landscape. NRCS will also provide technical assistance to individuals in local communities with erosion and sediment control efforts on private land.
Because Lake Tahoe is a source of drinking water for the basin, EPA will provide new funding under the Safe Drinking Water Act to TRPA to ensure protection of public health.
The USFS will conduct a $2.6 million comprehensive watershed assessment in the Lake Tahoe Basin over the next five years.
Guarding Against Catastrophic Wildfire. The Administration is acting to restore the forest and reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire.
Over the next five years, USFS will spend $2 million to clear brush and dead wood from more than 3,500 federally owned lots interspersed with private commercial and residential lots in the Tahoe basin. This action will protect private property from forest fires and help the environment.
USFS will use prescribed fire and other means to reduce fuels on approximately 3,000 acres of open forest lands each year. About 1,000 acres will be burned per year. These steps will help return natural ecological processes to Tahoe's forests.
USFS will continue efforts to acquire environmentally sensitive and valuable parcels of land in the Lake Tahoe Basin through various authorities including the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the Burton-Santini Act. These purchases, all done on the basis of willing seller/willing buyer, will help reduce development pressures in the Tahoe basin and ensure that special places are protected forever. USDA will commit $1 million of new funds annually in addition to the $1 million currently being provided.
The President will support the Lake Tahoe Basin Forest Health Consensus Group's efforts to shape, monitor and update a comprehensive and widely supported forest management strategy for the Tahoe basin, and ask that recommendations of the Group be forwarded to the Administration for changes in law or policy needed to support that strategy.
Improved Transportation. The Administration is taking action to improve transportation in the Lake Tahoe Basin. These measures will reduce congestion and cut transportation-related pollution of the air and water.
At the south end of the lake, EPA and Department of Transportation will award funds to implement the Coordinated Transit System (CTS). This CTS will coordinate and combine operation of mass transit vehicles owned by various public and private entities serving visitors at Lake Tahoe.
On the east side, DOT and USDA Forest Service will evaluate a new shuttle service for Lake Tahoe beachgoers. The East Shore Beach Shuttle, which began July 12, is designed to address erosion, congestion and safety hazards along SR 28.
On the north shore, the Administration supports attempts to provide $1.5 million in DOT funding and USFS will provide up to 60 acres of land for a transit center to reduce traffic congestion and pollution.
As the Vice President announced yesterday, DOT will provide $6 million to fund work at Reno/Tahoe International Airport to repair the cross-wind runway damaged during the recent winter floods. This will ensure that this critical gateway is open for travelers heading to Lake Tahoe.
The United States Postal Service will help Lake Tahoe and its residents by extending home and clustered box mail service to communities on the west shore of Lake Tahoe and by replacing its current antiquated fleet of diesel-powered trucks with cleaner burning compressed natural gas vehicles. These actions will reduce local vehicle traffic and air pollution. The Postal Service, which is an independent agency, is taking these important steps after listening to comments during Forum-related workshops this summer.
2. Working in Partnership. The Administration is expanding and strengthening coordination among its own agencies and with California, Nevada, TRPA, and the Washoe Tribe.
The President is signing an executive order directing federal agencies to establish a formal interagency partnership charged with assuring coordination and efficient management of federal programs, projects, and activities within Lake Tahoe. This will include the development of a linked database sponsored by the US Geological Survey. The partnership will also be directed to take a range of steps to ensure close coordination with state, local and tribal governments—and more input from local citizens. This will not be a top-down federal mandate on the states or TRPA, but a pledge to collaborate and share resources for the greatest possible benefit to Lake Tahoe.
The United States, through USFS, and the Washoe Tribe are entering into a government-to-government agreement to promote a stronger working relationship on issues affecting the Washoe Tribe in the Lake Tahoe Basin.
USFS and the Washoe Tribe will enter into a special use agreement to use an approximately 350 acre meadow for the care and harvesting of plants for traditional purposes.
USFS and the Washoe Tribe will enter into a special use permit for 12 to 15 acres to begin the process of establishing a Washoe Cultural Center. The agreement will include provisions for an additional parcel of land that will ensure tribal members' access to the water's edge for the first time in more than 100 years. This return to the water's edge is central to the Washoe's cultural identity; in Washoe, the word (DaOwAga) that translates approximately into Tahoe means "edge of the lake."
Two weeks ago, the Army Corps of Engineers and Tahoe Regional Planning Agency reached a partnership agreement on watershed restoration.
Earlier this week, California and Nevada announced a cooperative agreement to strengthen their already exemplary relationship on Lake Tahoe, a partnership the Administration supports and applauds.
EPA, California, and Nevada are already drafting an agreement to ensure that they coordinate in research and implementation of water quality restoration measures with local partners.
The agencies are directed to provide the funds necessary for these commitments within the budget targets set in the Bipartisan Budget Agreement.
The President is directing his cabinet to make every effort to ensure that all necessary agreements are in place not later than 90 days after the event.
Lake Tahoe Facts and
Figures
July 26, 1997
Lake Tahoe is nestled in the Sierra Nevada Mountains at an elevation of 6,225 feet, 22 miles long and 12 miles wide. It is the largest alpine lake in North America with a 105,000-acre surface. It holds 39 trillion gallons of water. It is 1,645 feet deep.
63 tributaries drain into the lake. The Truckee River is the only outlet.
Every 24 hours the lake level drops one tenth of an inch due to the evaporation of 1,400,000 gallons of water—a daily supply for 3.5 million people.
The average snowfall is 500 inches at alpine skiing elevations—up to 11,000 feet.
The Lake Tahoe Basin is 205,000 acres in size, falling in both California and Nevada.
5 million people live with 4 hours drive; visitation is estimated at 3.5 million per year.
The Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit was established in 1973 to manage land from three national forests—the Tahoe, Eldorado, and Toiyabe—within the Basin. 77 percent of the Basin is in national forest, 16 percent is in private ownership and 7 is state land.
State lands include five state parks and lands administered by the California Tahoe Conservancy and the Nevada State Lands Commission.
In 1996, the national forests generated $1,112,800 in recreation receipts and $139,000 in timber receipts to the government.
The Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit manages 945 campsites on federal land and works with seven privately-operated full service resorts at least partially on federal land.
Water clarity is diminishing at a rate of one foot each year. In 1968 a 10-inch white dinner plate could be seen from a depth of 105 feet; in 1997 it could be seen at 70 feet.
Summary of Three Issue Workshops
July
26, 1997
Hosted by EPA Administrator Carol Browner and Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Michael Davis on June 18, 1997
The Lake Tahoe Water Quality Issues workshop addressed the diminishing water clarity of Lake Tahoe and the effect this has on the recreation/tourism-based economy of the region. The workshop brought together a diverse group of participants and highlighted a number of areas of agreement on successes, challenges and needed actions. Sessions were held on three aspects of Lake Tahoe water quality: water clarity, watershed management, and wetlands and stream restoration.
Water Clarity. Participants agreed that Lake Tahoe water clarity is worsening, that the beauty of the Lake draws visitors and drives the recreation/tourism-based economy, and that further worsening of the water clarity will have a major negative impact on the region's economy. It was agreed that there is strong scientific basis for action and that tools and additional data need to be developed in order to help direct scarce resources to the most effective solutions.
Watershed Management. There was consensus that poorly-planned development and the resulting erosion have led to increased run-off into the lake, increasing the Lake's nutrient level and degrading water quality. Participants agreed that better environmental monitoring is needed, as well as increased coordinated research and planning efforts among all of the partners in the Basin.
Wetlands and Stream Zone Restoration. There was agreement that the loss and degradation of existing wetlands and stream zones has contributed greatly to the water clarity problem by reducing the natural filtration which they provide. The consensus was that there is a need for continued wetlands protection and restoration efforts, as well as for continued and accelerated sensitive land acquisition for erosion control, and logging road rehabilitation.
Hosted by Agriculture Secretary Glickman and Interior Secretary Babbitt on June 30, 1997
The Forest Ecosystem Restoration, Recreation and Tourism Workshop brought together a diverse group of local business people, environmentalists, scientists, local, state and tribal governments, and federal agencies dedicated to the restoration and protection of the Lake Tahoe ecosystem and the continued viability of the region as a recreation and tourism-based economy.
Recreation and Tourism. A consensus exists on the direct linkage between the environment and the economy. The partnership between environmental and business interests recognizes that the demand for recreation must be addressed without compromising ecosystem and watershed protection. Opportunities exist for all levels of government to avoid duplication of efforts when conducting environmental analysis to determine appropriate uses of public land to supply recreation opportunities. There is a need to develop a recreation master plan, assessing the need for improved transit facilities and service and a database/mapping system. Recreation fees could be established with funds invested locally to finance improvements.
Forest Ecosystem Restoration. The partners recognize that ecosystem restoration must incorporate human values. A Forest Health Consensus Group was created in 1992 to work on a strategy for sustaining forest health in the Lake Tahoe Basin. The threat of wildfire must be reduced through mechanical thinning, brush removal and prescribed fire. Funding is needed for these activities and for closing and rehabilitating unneeded roads, monitoring forest conditions to assist private landowners in reducing fire risk and soil erosion on their lands. The federal government should continue to acquire environmentally important lands.
Fire Hazard Reduction Around the Tahoe Communities. Uncontrolled wildfire in the Basin could have a devastating effect on the Basin's residents, visitors, environment and economy. Coalitions have been built among multiple agencies, organizations, and private property owners to share responsibilities in preventing fires. Public education and research needs to be increased to encourage the use of prescribed fire and to ensure all methods of hazard reduction are being considered.
Hosted by Transportation Secretary Slater on July 19
This workshop addressed the role of transportation in supporting the Tahoe Basin's most important industries—tourism, gaming and recreation—while reducing its effects on the environment. Tahoe's business community is in substantial agreement with its environmental organizations regarding desired transportation solutions. The biggest challenge facing implementation is funding from state, local and federal sources. To this end, local workshop participants indicated support for locally- controlled funding sources.
Access to the Basin. Basin access is critical to the health of the tourism industry. Because access relies almost entirely on the automobile, the states of California and Nevada must invest substantially to maintain road access during snows, floods, storms and earthquakes. To introduce additional transportation modes and technologies will require planning, public outreach and education.
Reducing Automobile Dependency. The substantial population growth in the urban areas surrounding Lake Tahoe, together with the increased interest in recreation, has led to a large increase in the number of day visitors and a concurrent increase in traffic congestion. Relative to overnight visitors, these day users provide about one-fourth the economic impact. Public and private transit fleets are beginning to be merged in South Lake Tahoe, and participants support extending the concept throughout the basin. Parking management is another tool for cutting congestion and pollution.
Bicycle, Pedestrian and Recreational Transportation. The surge in tourism has put pressure on the Forest Service's trail system, which is well suited for hiking but lacks sufficient bicycle trails. Pedestrians also face impediments, as Tahoe's major commercial centers have been designed almost entirely for the automobile. Participants called for the removal of institutional barriers that prevent roadway improvements from incorporating better bike paths and sidewalks. Strong support was expressed for expanding existing bike networks. Existing sidewalks should be significantly improved to increase pedestrian safety and access to parking and transit.
Environmental Effects of Transportation. Improvements in auto emissions technology have sharply reduced levels of many primary pollutants. Visibility, however, is reduced by haze from fine particle emissions, half of which are generated from outside the basin in the summer. To protect water quality, erosion and pollutant control systems along the Lake Tahoe highway system must be replaced and maintained. Widespread use of alternative fuel vehicles faces technological challenges caused by the high altitude and cold climate of the Tahoe Basin.