Next decade key to ecology preservation

[sTony]

Ecologically ailing Lake Tahoe might be on the road to recovery, but continuing the job during the next decade will come with a daunting cost of about $2.5 billion.

That's the latest estimate by Tahoe's primary land-use regulator, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, charged by Congress with the task of protecting a natural treasure.

More than $1.2 billion has already been spent by the federal government, Nevada and California, the private sector and local governments since 1997. The money has paid for projects to halt the erosion clouding the lake's pristine waters, to treat Tahoe's fire-prone forests and restore wetlands lost to development.

By some expert accounts, the effort is paying off. Earlier this year, scientists reported that the trend of Tahoe's diminishing clarity during the past 40 years has slowed in pace since 2001 -- a possible indication that the many millions being spent are having the desired effect.

"We've actually turned the corner," TRPA's executive director John Singlaub said.

That progress must continue, Singlaub said.

"We recognize there's a lot of competition for these funds," he said. "That's my biggest concern, that we'll lose the momentum that we have now."

On Saturday, Singlaub and others will gather at South Lake Tahoe in an effort to ensure that doesn't happen.

The annual Lake Tahoe Summit, this year hosted by U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, brings together politicians, planners, scientists, activists and land managers dedicated to protecting the landmark alpine lake.

First summit

The first Tahoe summit in 1997 brought President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore to Tahoe.

Ten years later, Clinton returned last August to stress the mission has lost none of its importance or urgency.

"You owe it to yourselves and your neighbors and the world to preserve this," Clinton said at the time.

Feinstein, expected Saturday to announce new federal legislation to benefit the Tahoe Basin, echoes that sentiment.

"Lake Tahoe is one of the most beloved and special places on Earth," Feinstein said. "But the lake and surrounding basin are natural treasures at risk."

Danger, Feinstein said, comes from many fronts, including catastrophic wildfires that could burn vulnerable forests and a warming climate that could pose a number of serious problems to Tahoe's sensitive ecology.

"As stewards of this jewel of the Sierra, it is our responsibility to do everything we can to preserve the lake," Feinstein said. "There is still much to do."

Summit topics

During Saturday's summit, experts will provide presentations on a number of issues threatening the lake:

# Climate change: One of the more pressing problems threatening Tahoe's future, and one that might undo progress made thus far, concerns impacts of a warming climate.

"You can't think of the long term without recognizing climate change," said Geoffrey Schladow, director of the University of California at Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center.

Schladow will discuss a development announced earlier this year, when scientists disclosed that the rate of Tahoe's clarity loss has slowed significantly during the past seven years.

But climate change, Schladow said, could come with serious problems. It could cause more precipitation to fall as rain instead of snow, clouding Tahoe's waters with additional sediment. It could halt the regular mixing of Tahoe's waters, fueling algae growth and otherwise altering a sensitive ecology.

# Wildfire: Last summer's disastrous Angora Fire, which destroyed 254 homes, was a blaze long feared at Tahoe. Scientists worried that, in the fire's aftermath, algae nutrients would drain into the lake, potentially fueling a massive algae bloom.

That didn't occur, possibly because 2007 was so dry, Tahoe's 14th driest year on record, preventing ashy runoff rich with algae nutrients from washing into the lake.

"I think we were quite lucky," said Wally Miller, a scientist at the University of Nevada, Reno who will discuss issues associated with Tahoe wildfires during the summit.

The danger was made clear after South Lake Tahoe's Gondola Fire in 2002. While that fire burned no homes, it resulted in a flush of ashy sediment into the lake "an order of magnitude" greater than what would normally be expected, Miller said.

That incident emphasized the need to stabilize slopes burned by fire and at the same time made the case to treat forests to prevent future fires, Miller said.

# Invasive and introduced species: UNR researcher Sudeep Chandra will take up the issue of the many species humans have brought to the lake, either by accident or on purpose.

The Mackinaw trout now flourishing in Lake Tahoe were introduced by humans, as were crayfish.

While there have been impacts, including eradication of native Lahontan cutthroat trout, Tahoe's ecology has suffered less from the impacts of introduced species than have many other lakes, Chandra said.

But significant dangers are posed by other species now gaining a foothold at Tahoe, among them warm water fish like bass and aquatic weeds.

And much concern is focused on the potential introduction of quagga or zebra mussels, which are now found in parts of southern Nevada and California and could seriously damage Tahoe's ecology if established there.

"The big buzz we should and need to focus on is preventing these invaders from coming into the lake," Chandra said.

Continued financial commitment to protecting Tahoe is crucial, said Rochelle Nason of the environmental group the League to Save Lake Tahoe.

Much of the work needed through the $2.5 billion list of projects required during the next decade results from the fact that most of Tahoe's roads and other infrastructure were built at a time when there was "virtually no regard" for the environment, Nason said.

"We're seeking to incorporate the kind of protections that are appropriate to a sensitive area," Nason said. "We've made a lot of progress, but there are still huge challenges."

By Jeff DeLong • jdelong@rgj.com • August 15, 2008

[Rod Martin]

I'm all for saving Lake Tahoe. But at what price and for who? That amount of money sure could have done a lot for countless other places. I would rather see increased use fees on people that use the lake, Homeowners around the lake,& maybe a special use area tax on the water shed for lake Tahoe. Keep it local.

[Kevin]

If they want clean, clear water, introduce the Quagga.

[Greg_Cornish]

If they want clean, clear water, introduce the Quagga.

If the quagga doesn't do well in Superior I bet it cant survive in tahoe