Summit an act of welded alliances

Tahoe Daily Tribune

July 28, 1997

Guest editorial
By John Garamendi

"Those seated on the left side of the plane can see Lake Tahoe," the airline captain alerted us as we started our descent into Sacramento. On this trip from Washington I was seated on the left aide so I joined the fortunate few who could view the marvelous jewel of the Sierra Nevada range. I easily observed the deep blue of the lake, the emerald forest and the remaining white patches of snow on the craggy peaks ringing the basin.

"It looks great," my seatmate said. "Not so," I replied. "If we were to descend, and land safely on the water, we would see a lake and a basin in serious trouble. However, it is not as bad today as it could have been, and it is possible to save this American gem."

"What do you mean?" asked my companion.

When only the Washoe Indians walked upon the sand beaches of Lake Tahoe there was a stable ecosystem that supported a thriving Indian community, mammoth cutthroat trout, crystal clear water that allowed a view more than 100 feet into the cold depths of the lake. The lake was as blue as the Sierra sky.

In the 1870s the miners of the Comstock Lode clear-cut the forest, sending a nutrient shock into the lake, but recovered as a half century of human neglect left the basin alone to heal itself. In the years following World War II came the California population explosion, the recreation subdivision and Nevada gaming casinos. A new shockwave ripped the pristine basin. This one continues to send pollutants into the lake and into the air, and disrupt the natural forest systems. The result: A forest with 30 percent of its trees dead and ready to fuel a disastrous fire, lake clarity reduced by one third and falling fast. From the fragile hillsides, cut by hundreds of miles of subdivision roads, disrupted streams carry silt rich in nutrients into the lake to feed the thriving green algae.

It's bad, but not as bad as it could be. In 1967 the first effort to save the lake was made when California and Nevada agreed to mutual planning agencies to control growth. Unfortunately, subdivisions and casinos continued to flourish, and the problems grew worse. The League to Save Lake Tahoe grew in power and by 1978 a new effort was under way to strengthen the controls. A hard-fought political battle was won and in 1982 a new bistate planning agency was formed. There would be no more subdivisions and no more casinos. There would be new efforts to heal the land and stop the pollution. Both states established agencies to buy up sensitive land, and the federal government used a new law to sell land in Las Vegas and buy land in Tahoe.

The intense political struggle continued through the 1980s and into the 1990s as developers and economic interests fought to enhance their positions, and environmental interests fought just as hard to save their blue lake.

The latest and most remarkable change may have been caused by exhaustion from the political and economic battles. But it is more likely that the new vision about Tahoe's future is the result of the proliferation of gaming casinos throughout America. The new economic reality is that Tahoe's economic future lies in the unique natural beauty of the basin. That is why the recreation industry is worth $1 billion a year. Casino owners, the ski industry, the motel owners and the chamber of commerce have joined with the environmental community in the belief that a healthy economy is dependent upon a healthy lake and that healthy lake is dependent upon a healthy economy.

A new political paradigm now exists in the basin, creating a fertile seed bed of opportunity into which will be the planted seeds of Tahoe's future. Last weekend the first-ever presidential conferences on the future of Lake Tahoe took place and a new chapter in the long history of this ancient lake began.

The flurry of activity preceding the conference was unprecedented. A regional leadership team worked for three months to frame issues. Four Cabinet secretaries have held three conferences to further develop the critical issues and devise appropriate federal roles. The vice president spent a day further refining these issues and on the day of the summit 200 local and state leaders joined Cabinet secretaries, two governors and the vice president to present their proposals to President Clinton. The lake's salvation is not yet at hand. Years of work lie ahead, and nearly $1 billion will be spent to solve the problems that continue to plague the lake. But the president's conference at Tahoe will forever be known as the moment that welded an alliance between two states, five counties, commercial enterprises, environmental forces and the federal government so that they can work together to save the lake.

John Garamendi represented Lake Tahoe in the California Legislature during his 16-year tenure. He is author of the bistate Tahoe Regional Planning Act, the Tahoe Conservancy and the Tahoe Bond Act. He is currently the deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior.