Lake Tahoe is a true natural gem, drawing tourists to its crystal clear waters, to its skiing, to its escape from the push and pull of our fast-paced lives.
At least, it used to be an escape.
Today, the area draws somewhere around 15 million people. Roads to and from the lake turn into traffic jams like you see on Interstate 15.
Campsites, trails and beaches are packed. Ski slopes are busier than ever.
All that’s led to the question: Is this level of tourism sustainable in an area that is so ecologically sensitive? Is there any way to limit people who want to travel there? And if so, what will that do to businesses, as well as the tax base that some of the environmental agencies might rely on?
One person deeply concerned about the lake is Jesse Patterson, chief strategy officer for the League to Save Lake Tahoe, otherwise known as Keep Tahoe Blue. We talked with him in the past about the growing murkiness of the water, invasive species and the impact of the Caldor Fire. He joins State of Nevada host Joe Schoenmann along with Andy Chapman, the president and CEO of Travel North Tahoe.
Patterson said no matter how you visit, your visit can leave an impact on the area. ”And we're really trying to make it easy to mitigate those impacts and let people continue to love Tahoe without loving it to death.”
He thinks there’s a balance that can be found. But, the area needs infrastructure to support the influx of visitors.
“So you need to have the waste bins, you need to have the parking spaces, and ideally, transit so you don't even have to bring your car. And these are all things we're looking to try and to solve and provide,” he said.
And some of that is happening. The city of South Lake Tahoe recently passed commitments for funding to get free and frequent transit. Patterson said they need all surrounding communities to reinvest in the area they profit from.
According to a 2022 report, businesses around the lake thrive on tourism – to the tune of about $5.1 billion each year, including Reno and towns on the California side.
“The businesses that I've spoken to certainly realize the importance of investing in Tahoe and protecting the resource that brings people here in the first place,” he said. “But no business can do it on their own. No jurisdiction can do it on their own, and certainly a nonprofit like us can't fund it on our own, although we've done quite a bit of that to show some solutions. So it's really all of us working together.”
During the pandemic, Chapman said, the area was inundated with first-time visitors, and he said Lake Tahoe wasn’t prepared. They also saw a heavy return of second homeowners who moved in full time. Because of those elements, education is key.
“We feel it's our responsibility to make sure we educate our folks who are coming up here, both visitors, residents, and second homeowners, really anybody in that user group, on how to interact with this jurisdiction,” he said. “We've developed a traveler responsibility pledge that we encourage folks to take and their six tenets of that pledge that go from mindful travel to being mindful of feeding wildlife and wildfire issues and trash concerns and things like that.”
In North Lake Tahoe, they just completed a pilot run of TART Connect, an on-demand, free-to-use passenger van that operates in five different zones. Chapman said they’ve seen 400,000 rides in the past 18 months.
“We have to make sure that the trash receptacles are in the right place, we have to make sure that there's parking, signage and information so people know where to park, as we've talked about transportation is one of the major issues up here, there's about a $20 million unmet transit need to implement the plan that the Tahoe regional planning agency has put forward,” he said.
Ultimately, all of their efforts are to help the lake. Mass transit reduces greenhouse gasses, which accelerates climate change. Reducing trash in inappropriate places reduces the amount of microplastics in the water.
“Whatever lands in the basin will end up in the lake if it's not removed,” Patterson said. “So whether you're hiking the flume trail or down on the beach, if there's a litter, you see that litter is going to end up in the lake, possibly as microplastics unless it's removed, and hence that's why we're asking everybody to do their part to mitigate their impact, but also help out others who you mentioned earlier may or may not be doing the best thing for the lake. And it's that kind of conglomerate of solutions and that attention to Tahoe that's going to help Keep Tahoe Blue for generations to come. It's not Make Tahoe Blue, it's Keep Tahoe Blue, which is a forever project.”
Hear the full interview above.
Guests: Andy Chapman, president and CEO, Travel North Tahoe; Jesse Patterson, chief strategy officer, League to Save Lake Tahoe
