A long time coming - A chronology

Tahoe Daily Tribune

July 27, 1997

A chronology of what it took to get the President's Forum to Tahoe, and the course of the weekend

• June 1996: Sen. Harry Reid extends an invitation to President Clinton for a First Family vacation and to discuss environmental issues concerning Lake Tahoe.
• July 26, 1996: President Clinton announces he will not be coming to Tahoe for his vacation.
• April 3, 1997: President Clinton tentatively agrees to come to Lake Tahoe for a summit on the environment. Event is initially planned for late spring.
• April 24, 1997: Presidential Visit Steering Committee is created, with a dozen Lake Tahoe residents representing the area's diverse interests working with federal officials to plan event.
• May 12, 1997: Cabinet level meetings are planned, planners recommend that Vice President Gore preside over a working session on Saturday, July 26, with President Clinton concluding Sunday with an address.
• May 12, 1997: The White House sends an advance team to search for a location for the summit.
• Mid-May: Federal planners open Presidential Forum Coordinating Center in South Lake Tahoe. A dozen employees from Federal agencies in the West are assigned to staff the center to plan the presidential visit.
• May 29, 1997: Tahoe Basin residents are asked to bring issues to a forum planning session. Comments are summarized and forwarded to representatives of federal departments organizing the presidential forum.
• June 5, 1997: White House confirms that both the president and the vice president will be coming to Tahoe for the Lake Tahoe Presidential Forum. Two-day event is scheduled a day earlier than previously announced.
• June 18, 1997: First Cabinet-level workshop on water quality, hosted by Administrator Carol Browner of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at Tallac Historic Site.
• June 19, 1997: Washoe Tribe announces intention to ask the president for return of ancestral land in the Tahoe Basin so that members can renew a centuries-old tradition of spending summers on the shores of Lake Tahoe.
• June 20, 1997: White House planners are still trying to find a site for summit. Controversy arises over over possible use of exclusive Burnt Cedar Beach in Incline Village.
• June 30, 1997: Second Cabinet workshop on Forest Ecosystem Management/Recreation and Tourism. Hosting the conference in Incline Village are Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt and Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman.
• July 3, 1997: Presidential forum website up and running.
• July 18, 1997: Summit forum locations announced. Vice President Gore at the Tallac Historic Site in South Lake Tahoe and President Clinton at the Hyatt Regency's Lakeside Lodge in Incline Village.
• July 19, 1997: Third Cabinet-level workshop on Tahoe transportation, at the University of Nevada, Reno. Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater presides, and is joined by directors of Nevada and California departments of transportation.
• July 21, 1997: National Guard takes forum staffers and media on aerial tour of Tahoe.
• July 23, 1997: Governors Pete Wilson of California and Bob Miller of Nevada sign an agreement committing both states to supporting a $906.8 million package of environmental improvements at Lake Tahoe.
• July 25, 1997: Vice President Al Gore arrives in Lake Tahoe. After a hike at Mount Tallac, where he sees the state of the forest and lake, he presides over a symposium on issues put together in three Cabinet-level workshops. Afterward, he has a closed-door meeting with Washoe Tribe elders.
• July 26, 1997: President Clinton arrives in Incline Village. Vice President Gore joins him on the U.C. Davis research vessel Le Conte for a lesson in water quality. Afterward, President Clinton signs an Executive Order committing the federal government to the preservation and restoration of Lake Tahoe. Vice President Gore briefs President Clinton on the issues discussed at the vice president's symposium. A forum is held with a panel of Tahoe Basin residents and federal officials. The Washoe Tribe is granted about 400 acres of ancestral land in the Tahoe Basin. President Clinton also commits to federal spending of an additional $26 million in the Tahoe Basin over the next two years.