Environment Takes Center Stage at Lake Tahoe Forum

Environment Takes Center Stage at Lake Tahoe Forum



Aug. 2007  - Environmental problems 
and solutions are center stage today at the 10th anniversary Lake Tahoe 
Forum at Sierra Nevada College. The resort town of Lake Tahoe on the 
Nevada-California border is built on a deep alpine lake that is losing its 
clarity at the rate of a foot a year. Fire risk is high, development is 
consuming open space, and new research shows that the Tahoe climate and 
lake waters are warming. 
This trend could have profound implications for the natural features that 
make Tahoe a popular international vacation destination - snowfall in 
winter and the cobalt-blue lake in summer.


The Forum will review 10 years of research and conservation at Lake Tahoe, 
and consider preventing wildfires, reducing forest fuel load in the basin, 
and wildlife restoration, following the Angora Fire in July that claimed 
254 homes. 
To deal with these environmental problems, some federal money is 
forthcoming. 
At the Forum, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne signed approval 
documents for more than $132 million in funding for restoration, 
conservation and recreation projects in Nevada, including $45 million for 
Lake Tahoe and $87 million for Clark and Lincoln Counties. 
Lake Tahoe will receive $10 million to improve forest health by reducing 
the accumulation of woodland fuels; $30 million for watershed and wildlife 
habitat improvements; $500,000 for air quality and transportation 
initiatives; $250,000 for recreation and scenic programs, and $3.7 million 
for science and research that guide and evaluate these restoration 
efforts. 
"The funds for Lake Tahoe will help improve the health of the surrounding 
forests, continue scientific research to improve water and air quality, 
and support ongoing hazardous fuels reduction projects," Kempthorne said.

 
At the 2006 Forum, Kempthorne approved more than $48 million to help 
protect and restore the Lake Tahoe Basin. "The Department of the Interior 
remains committed to the spirit of partnership to protect this 
extraordinarily special area," he said today. 
Kempthorne joined former President Bill Clinton, Forum organizer Nevada 
Senator and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Senator John Ensign 
and California Senator Dianne Feinstein, federal administrators, state, 
and local officials at the special anniversary celebration. 
Today's keynote speaker former President Bill Clinton attended the first 
forum in 1997, pledging $50 million in federal spending to heal the 
troubled environment of the Lake Tahoe Basin. He signed an executive order 
that declared Lake Tahoe an area of national concern, citing the basin's 
extraordinary natural, recreational and ecological resources. 
Clinton's pledge was the start to funding for the Tahoe Regional Planning 
Agency's Environmental Improvement Program, which resulted in the federal 
government, and the states of California and Nevada each paying a share of 
the $900 million environmental plan. 
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada is hosting the 10th 
annual Lake Tahoe Forum, which will be followed by the Nevada Clean Energy 
Summit on Saturday. 
A new research report published Thursday by the University of 
California-Davis reveals that the Tahoe climate is warming up.

 
"The persistent increase in water temperature that we have observed since 
1978 is beginning to have noticeable impacts on the entire Lake Tahoe 
ecosystem," said Geoff Schladow, an expert on lake health and director of 
the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center. 
The study by Schladow and his team show that nights are warmer, cold days 
are fewer, less precipitation falls as snow, and lake waters are warmer. 
Since 1999, the average July surface water temperature of the lake has 
increased almost five degrees. The lake's surface waters were the warmest 
on record on July 26, 2006, measuring 78 degrees F. 
"The types of algae we see in the lake are changing, and they are starting 
to be present earlier in the year," Schladow said. "The lake is becoming 
more hospitable to invasive plants and fish, with warm-water species like 
bass and carp increasingly common." 
Annual variations in Lake Tahoe clarity are controlled largely by the 
amount of rain and snow that falls in the lake watershed. "Higher 
precipitation results in more runoff and affects the amount of soil 
particles and pollutants that are washed into the lake," said John Reuter, 
also an expert on lake health, and the associate director of the UC Davis 
Tahoe Environmental Research Center. 
The report, "Tahoe: State of the Lake Report 2007," is online at 
http://terc.ucdavis.edu. 

---