document review 7/15/09 Restoration in Progress Environmental Improvement Program Update planning horizon 2008–2018 Restoration in Progress table of contents The Commitment Continues: 2008-2018 Environmental Improvement Program 3 56 Executive Summary Recreation & Scenic Resources Lake Tahoe: A National Treasure It’s our moral obligation to be faithful 18 67 stewards of our Watersheds, Habitat, Applied Science ‘ ‘ & Water Quality heritage and protect this area for futur‘‘ e generations. So that’s why 42 79 we’re here Forest Management Program Support today. Vice President Al Gore Lake Tahoe Presidential Forum July 27, 1997 50 82 Air Quality & Transportation EIP Coordination and Measuring Progress — 2 The Commitment Continues: 2008-2018 THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM — Executive Summary LAKE TAHOE: A NATIONAL TREASURE Lake Tahoe is one of the largest, deepest, and clearest lakes in the world. Its cobalt blue appearance, spectacular alpine setting, and remarkable water clarity is recog - nized worldwide. The Lake’s earliest inhabitants, the Washoe Tribe, demonstrated a deep respect for the fragile environment that was their home and still revere this magnificent place. Recreational opportunities and scenic vistas have made Lake Tahoe a top national and international tourist destination. Like many national treasures, the Lake Tahoe Basin is threatened by the impacts of the land use and transportation patterns devel - oped in the last generation. The Lake's water clarity declined by nearly a foot every year from the late 1960s to the end of the cen - tury, and has only recently begun to stabilize. Fine sediment par - ticles and algae-nourishing phosphorus and nitrogen continue to flow into the Lake from urban and highway runoff, air pollution, and other sources. The Basin’s transportation infrastructure is inadequate to handle traffic in peak travel seasons and to accom - modate bike and pedestrian users, and public access to the Lake is limited. — THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM The Commitment Continues: 2008-2018 3 — Lake Tahoe is situated within the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range straddling the California-Nevada border. The main crest of the Sierra Nevada Range is found to the Elko west and the Carson Range to the east. Two thirds of Lake Tahoe is in California S and the remainder is in Nevada. i e Reno r r a Carson City Sacramento N ev San Francisco a n d c ev a a a li d fo a rn ia Las Vegas Lake Tahoe Fast Facts: Los Angeles • Lake Tahoe is 2 million years old • Average surface water temperatures are • Holds 39 trillion gallons of water 68˚ Fahrenheit in the summer and 41˚ in the winter • Size of watershed: 501 sq. miles • 63 streams feed into Lake Tahoe San Diego • Lake surface area: 192 sq. miles but only one, the Truckee River, *Map not to scale • 12 miles wide flows out • 22 miles long • Approximately 3 million people visit • 72 miles of shoreline Lake Tahoe every year • 1,645 ft. deep • The Lake is designated as an • 6,223 ft. elevation (natural rim) Outstanding National Resource Water • 2 states: CA, NV under the Federal Clean Water Act • 5 counties, 1 city • Lake Tahoe is the second deepest lake in the United States • 66,000 Tahoe Basin year-round residents • Lake Tahoe is so deep that a single drop of water entering the Lake • Majority of private property owners today will take about 650 years to are part-time residents find its way out • USFS and state agencies manage approximately 85% of land area — 4 The Commitment Continues: 2008-2018 THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM — We have a shared responsibility to build on “ our commitment at all levels to be sure the Lake and its environs are protected. “President Bill Clinton, Lake Tahoe Presidential Forum, July 26, 1997 President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore at the 1997 Lake Tahoe Presidential Forum. The Tahoe Basin is facing several new and A Shared Responsibility emerging challenges. The Angora Wildfire of Restoring and protecting Lake Tahoe has been 2007 raised awareness that the Basin’s over - a shared responsibility since 1969 when the stocked forests have dramatically increased the states of California and Nevada established the risk of catastrophic wildfire. The recent Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA), the appearance of several aquatic invasive species nation’s first bi-state environmental planning also threatens the ecological health of the Lake, and regulatory agency. The United States the quality of its beaches, and the drinking Congress ratified the Bi-State Compact which water supplies of many local communities. created TRPA and the federal government is a Looking to the future, the impacts of climate key partner in this shared responsibility. TRPA change pose a major threat to both the environ - has a unique role in working cooperatively with ment and economy of the Tahoe Basin. The its federal, state, local, and private partners to average surface temperature of Lake Tahoe in protect the ecological health of the Basin while July has risen by more than 5 degrees Fahrenheit providing for orderly growth and development since 1999, and more precipitation is falling as consistent with environmental standards. The rain rather than snow. If these trends continue, Agency’s 15-member board includes members sediment-laden runoff may increase, and the from the two states, locally elected officials, Lake may no longer mix enough to retain its and a non-voting Presidential appointee. clarity. These changes could also devastate the The Compact, as revised in 1980, gave TRPA tourist-dependent economy. authority to adopt environmental quality stan - Significant continued investments will be dards, called thresholds, and to define the needed from federal, state, local, and private capacity of the Region to accommodate addi - sources to effectively address these challenges, tional development. The TRPA Governing and to maintain a collaborative effort in pro - Board adopted the threshold standards in tecting the environment and the economy of 1982, and in 1987 they enacted a Regional the Lake Tahoe Basin. Plan setting forth strategies to achieve the — THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM The Commitment Continues: 2008-2018 5 — At left: President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore aboard a research vessel on Lake Tahoe. thresholds. The Compact also requires the The Federal Partnership Regional Plan to contain provisions to help The federal government has a long history of reduce dependency on the private automobile conservation in the Lake Tahoe Basin. in order to better protect air and water quality. Preservation efforts include congressional History of the Environmental approval of the Compact, the consolidation of three national forests into the Lake Tahoe Improvement Program Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) of the US TRPA launched the Environmental Forest Service to protect the watershed, and the Improvement Program (EIP) in an effort to passage of numerous funding bills. better implement the Regional Plan following At the 1997 Lake Tahoe Forum, President the Presidential Forum at Lake Tahoe in 1997. Clinton and Vice President Gore renewed the Recognizing that capital investments, research, federal commitment to Lake Tahoe by issuing and monitoring were essential components of an Executive Order creating the Lake Tahoe the Regional Plan, the EIP called for an invest - Federal Interagency Partnership. Through this ment of $908 million in capital projects and collaborative effort, the federal agencies agreed $58.7 million in research and monitoring. to increase federal funding to strive toward The EIP also identified hundreds of specific attainment of environmental thresholds, and projects and programs to be undertaken by to coordinate all federal activities in the Basin. more than 50 funding partners, including Oversight of the partnership is provided by the federal, state, and local agencies and the pri - Tahoe Regional Executives, which consists of vate sector. The projects were focused on the regional administrators of partner agen - improving air, water, and scenic quality, forest cies. Day-to-day coordination and program- health, fish and wildlife, and public access to level implementation rests with the Lake Tahoe the Lake and other recreation areas. The prime Basin Executive Committee (LTBEC), which directive of the EIP was to move the Tahoe consists of the local federal officials in the Basin closer to environmental threshold Tahoe Basin. attainment. — 6 The Commitment Continues: 2008-2018 THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM — The Lake Tahoe Restoration Act (LTRA) of Service, the Natural Resources Conservation 2000 authorized the Federal share of the EIP Service, the Federal Highway Administration, funding, which allowed the Forest Service to United States Geological Survey, and the invest $300 million in EIP projects and pro - Environmental Protection Agency. grams. In 2003, Congress amended the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act State Commitments (SNPLMA) to allow the proceeds from sales of The states of California and Nevada have also surplus federal lands in southern Nevada to played a key role in developing and implement - fund the federal share of the EIP. Through the ing the EIP. In 1997, Governor Wilson of LTRA, SNPLMA, and other sources, the feder - California and Governor Miller of Nevada al agencies invested more than $293 million in convened a gubernatorial summit in anticipa - the EIP from 1997 to 2006. tion of the Presidential Forum, and signed a The Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit Memorandum of Agreement pledging their (LTBMU) of the U.S. Forest Service adminis - support for the EIP. ters 75 percent of the land in the Lake Tahoe Voters in Nevada then approved a bond meas - Basin, and is responsible for a broad range of ure to provide $82 million, Nevada’s share of EIP projects and programs. Other federal EIP funding for the first decade. The Divisions agencies providing significant contributions of State Lands, Environmental Protection, and include the Army Corps of Engineers, the Transportation are largely responsible for over - Bureau of Reclamation, the Fish and Wildlife sight and funding of EIP projects in Nevada.