Passionate commitment to keeping Lake Tahoe clear, clean and protected

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - For 23 years political leaders from the White House to state capitols have professed their commitment to protecting Lake Tahoe.

At the first Lake Tahoe Summit on July 27, 1997, then-President Bill Clinton and Vice-President Al Gore told of their commitment to keeping Tahoe blue after decades of erosion from roads, increased emissions from automobiles and boats, removal of wetlands and overgrown and dying forests were threatening its clarity.

That message and commitment remain the same as Governor Gavin Newsom, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak, California Senator Dianne Feinstein, Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, Congressman Tom McClintock, Congressman John Garamendi, and USFS Southwest Regional Forester Barnie Gyant spoke to hundreds of people at Valhalla Tuesday.

Lake Tahoe is a National Treasure that continues to thrive, Senator Feinstein said and she kicked off the Summit. She has helped host all 23 of the annual events on the shore of one of the clearest lakes in the world.

"Climate change is not an issue we can ignore," said Feinstein. "Global warming is already here and denying it is unforgivable."

The keynote speech was given by Governor Newsom. He told the audience full of the public, federal, state and local agency representatives that people like him come and go, but the commitment will continue with collaborative, cooperation and working together.

"Your clarity and conviction are more important than ever," said Newsom. "There is no greater cause than keeping this lake clear ."

In the last week, California has sued the Trump administration over their abandonment of the Clean Power Plan and plans to sue over his changes to the Endangered Species Act.

Newsome said it was Republican President Richard Nixon who was in charge when the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and Environmental Protection Agency were formed and the Endangered Species Act was created.

"I kinda miss Nixon," joked Newsom.

"If your officials (local to federal) are not protecting the environment they ought not to be in office," said a passionate Garamendi. "Ask the candidates 'are you willing to do what you can?' If not, ask for somebody else."

He said there are 3,000 feet of sediment "stored" in the lake, all representing eras from long ago. The Washoe were "light on their feet," Garamendi said and didn't leave the impact the rest of the human era has. Years of degradation from mining and logging are now represented in that sediment.

"Keep Tahoe clean, clear, cold and blue," said Garamendi. "Are we willing to do what has to be done [to do so}? I believe we are."

This was Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak's first Summit.

"We need to celebrate successes and keep an eye on the future," he said.

He said it is important to properly manage the dynamic of economic prosperity with the clarity of Lake Tahoe. He talked of more traffic and congestion and highlighted the decline of quality of life, clarity of Lake Tahoe, and decline of good tourist experiences, all signs of too many people coming to the lake. Those can be remedied with new transportation, elimination of unsafe highway parking and continued work on fixing the problem.

"We cannot afford to lose," said Sisolak.

Senator Catherine Cortez Masto from Nevada said the focus of the Summit today was much as it was in 1997 with Clinton and Gore: Lake Tahoe clarity, the joy of recreation, restoration, transportation, and the economy. She said what was missing then that is spoken of today is climate change.

"Today we do not have the luxury of side-stepping climate change," said Cortez Masto. "We cannot put off solutions and the effects on the environment."

She said collaboration is the key to combating climate change, something that hits the vulnerable portions of the population the hardest.

"I know we can learn from the collaboration and stakeholders gathered in Lake Tahoe," said Cortez Masto. "We need to focus on perfection, suppression and restoration. Together we can protect Lake Tahoe."

Another speaker Tuesday was Congressman McClintock, a staunch supporter of logging to keep the threat of wildfire away from the Lake Tahoe Basin. He said policies and regulations have taken a profitable logging industry that managed forests in the Sierra to something that costs money and is not feasible.

"We have abandoned our forests," said McClintock. "Poorly managed forests are the cause of increased home insurance increased costs and increase of fires."

He did highlight the new processes the United States Forest Service is now able to use when thinning forests. The environmental documents used to be hundreds of pages and now are just over a dozen, thus enabling projects to move forward more rapidly.

"All generations owe you a debt of gratitude," McClintock told the 86-year-old Feinstein of her unending commitment to Lake Tahoe. She said she fell in love with the lake as a 16-year-old at the North Shore's Camp Talawanda for girls.

The final speaker of the Summit was Forester Barnie Gyant. He thanked Feinstein on her years of dedication to the environment and Lake Tahoe.

"Without you, none of us would be here," he told the senator.

He also told the gathered crowd USFS remains focused on forest health.

As a wrap-up, host Tahoe Fund presented young people with the Shane McConkey Foundation's EcoChallenge award.

What was made clear is it will take a united effort from both political parties to preserve, protect and promote Lake Tahoe in a sustainable way with collaboration and cooperation.

There would probably be no public discussion on the environment without protestors. At the end of Governor Newsom's speech, a group from Butte County and the town of Paradise stood up with posters and a banner, asking to speak with him. The banner said "PG&E Serial Killers." Newsom said he would meet with them.

After the event, they "played dead" on the exit route to demonstrate those who lost their lives in the Camp Fire.