Lake Tahoe West Restoration Partnership

The Lake Tahoe West Restoration Partnership (Lake Tahoe West) is developing a Landscape Restoration Strategy to guide restoration activities on 60,000 acres of Lake Tahoe's west shore. The goal is to increase the resilience of this landscape and to protect against prolonged drought, climate change, and extreme fire.

The Partnership includes scientists, land managers, multiple federal and state agencies, and organizations representing business, recreation, and conservation.

In fall 2019, the partners began planning forest and watershed restoration treatments on the west shore. Projects to protect west shore communities from wildland fire are already underway.

This page provides information on the Partnership, upcoming stakeholder meetings, and essential documents.

For questions, please contact Sarah Di Vittorio, Lake Tahoe West Program Manager, at 530-902-8281 or sdivittorio@nationalforests.org.

The Lake Tahoe West Restoration Partnership from National Forest Foundation on Vimeo.

Key project resources

Landscape Restoration Strategy (web page)
Lake Tahoe West Landscape Resilience Assessment (December 11, 2017) (PDF, 12MB)
- Overview (pdf) of the Landscape Resilience Assessment
Project Description and Map (PDF)
Project FTP Site. Contains stakeholder meeting materials and essential project documents.
Lake Tahoe West Interactive Web Map

WHAT'S NEW

In September 2019 the Partnership achieved consensus on the Landscape Restoration Strategy. The full Strategy will be released in November 2019. Download this short Strategy overview (pdf) to learn more.

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 Lake Tahoe West 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.

Lake Tahoe West is a multi-stakeholder collaborative initiative convened by 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.

Upcoming STAKEHOLDER MEETINGS

November 5, 2019: Stakeholder Science Committee Meeting from 9:00am - 4:00pm at the Lahontan Water Board Annex, 971 Silver Dollar Ave., South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150.
December 11, 2019: Joint Stakeholder Science & Stakeholder Community Meeting from 10:00am - 4:30pm at the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, 35 College Dr, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150.

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 btiffany@nationalforests.org to RSVP.

Summer on the west shore. Photo by Dorian Fougeres.

Stakeholder Group Meeting synopses

Stakeholders and agency representatives smiling during their field visit on June 7, 2017. Photo by Mason Bindl.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This initiative is generously supported by two Proposition 1 planning grants from the California Tahoe Conservancy to the National Forest Foundation, agreement number CTA 15 018L, and 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