Lake Tahoe West Restoration Partnership

This page provides an overview of the initiative, information on upcoming stakeholder meetings, and essential documents and background information. For specific questions, please call or email the program manager, Sarah Di Vittorio, at 530-902-8281 or sdivittorio@nationalforests.org.

Click here to download a PDF description and map of the project.

Click here to go to the FTP site where you can download all stakeholder group meeting materials and essential project documents.

Click here to visit Lake Tahoe West Web

NEW Landscape resilience assessment (Version 1)

In December 2017, the Partnership achieved a major milestone with completion of Phase 1 of the Lake Tahoe West project: the Landscape Resilience Assessment. Led by the Interagency Design Team and with extensive stakeholder involvement, the Assessment uses the best available data to describe the current condition of the natural environment of the west side of the Lake Tahoe Basin and the resilience of those environmental characteristics, values, and ecosystem services to a variety of disturbances.

Click here to download the final Landscape Resilience Assessment, Version 1 (December 11, 2017).

During Phase 2 of the project, the Partnership will refine the Landscape Resilience Assessment with additional data and analysis. We expect to release a Version 2 of the Assessment by the end of 2018.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

The forests, lakes and alpine peaks of Lake Tahoe’s west shore make it one of America’s iconic landscapes. The region as a whole is home to 65,000 residents and attracts over 6.4 million annual visitors. Yet persistent drought, climate change, overstocked forests, and a potential bark beetle epidemic threaten its ecology, economy, and culture.

The goal of the Lake Tahoe West Restoration Partnership (Lake Tahoe West) - an interagency initiative of the California Tahoe Conservancy, U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, California State Parks, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team, and National Forest Foundation - is to restore the resilience of the west shore's forests, watersheds, recreational opportunities, and communities to such threats. The planning area includes 59,013 acres of federal, state, local, and private lands, from Emerald Bay to Squaw Valley.

STAKEHOLDER MEETING ANNOUNCEMENTS

There will be a Stakeholder Science Committee meeting on July 10, 2018, from 9am to 4pm, location TBD, to review Landscape Restoration Strategy development and modeling outcomes thus far.

On August 7, 2018, (time and location TBD) there will be a joint Stakeholder Science Committee and Stakeholder Community Committee meeting, subject TBD.

Stakeholder meetings are open to the public throughout this multi-year effort. RSVP from public parties is requested (but not required) by three business days before the meeting. Please email eritzinger@nationalforests.org to RSVP.

Click here to go to the FTP site where you can download all stakeholder group meeting materials and essential project documents.

Summer on the west shore. Photo by Dorian Fougeres.

Stakeholder Group Meeting synopses

CLOSING REMARKS AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Lake Tahoe West looks forward to testing new ideas and approaches that can readily be replicated throughout the Lake Tahoe Basin and the Sierra Nevada.

This initiative is supported by two Proposition 1 planning grants from the California Tahoe Conservancy to the National Forest Foundation, agreement number CTA 15 018L, as well as a State Fire Assistance grant from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region, grant award number 17-DG-11052012-145.

CONTACT

Sarah Di Vittorio, Ph.D. | sdivittorio@nationalforests.org | 530-902-8281

NFF Conservation Connect

Learn more about the NFF's other collaboration efforts here. For related collaborative efforts in California, see the Sierra Cascades All-Lands Enhancement (SCALE).

Lake Tahoe West Restoration Partnership