Local agencies anticipate spotlight Obama's Lake Tahoe visit brings

Tickets to the 20th annual Lake Tahoe Summit quickly sold out on Monday once the White House announced President Obama would attend the event on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe.

The national spotlight will be on South Lake Tahoe, giving local agencies the opportunity to show the local efforts on keeping Tahoe Blue have worked by highlighting the progress that has been made to combat pollution, promote restoration, tackle invasive species and protect Lake Tahoe's shoreline.

President Obama will be the second sitting President to attend. The original Lake Tahoe Summit in 1997 was led by President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. Over the past 20 years, much has been accomplished through federal funding brought to the region through these summits, and the need will be shown on how future funding is needed to continue the efforts to protect Lake Tahoe.

"We are extremely grateful to see that President Obama is scheduled to attend the Lake Tahoe Summit this August, and we are very thankful for him and all of our other local, state, and federal partners who help make these summits possible each year," said Thomas Lotshaw of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, TRPA. "Many great things came out of the first summit 20 years ago and the visits by former President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, including the Lake Tahoe Environmental Improvement Program."

"So we have many great accomplishments to be proud of and to share this year, and many equally great challenges to start working on for the next 20 years," added Lotshaw.

Not only is the TRPA looking forward to the President's visit, so is the League to Save Lake Tahoe, long time sponsors of the annual event.

"The announcement that President Obama will participate in the Lake Tahoe Summit comes at a critical time for the health of Lake Tahoe," said Darcie Goodman Collins, PhD, the Executive Director of the League to Save Lake Tahoe.

"In the recent State of the Lake report scientists project that Lake Tahoe is locked into decades of warming due to climate change, even in a scenario where climate emissions are greatly reduced, making it more important than ever to take actions that can improve Lake Tahoe’s resiliency to increasing water temperatures and more precipitation falling as rain rather than snow," said Collins.

The Lake Tahoe Summit will be held on August 31 at the Harvey's Outdoor Arena from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Tickets were available on Ticketmaster where they are currently unavailable as of Monday afternoon.