California Tahoe Conservancy: Progress Report

Through its land acquisition, planning, site improvement, and management activities, the California Tahoe Conservancy plays a major role in the basinwide effort to restore and sustain the equilibrium between the natural and the human environment and between public and private uses at Lake Tahoe.

To protect and restore the natural environment of the basin, with priority on preserving the exceptional clarity and quality of the waters of Lake Tahoe.
To increase public access and recreation opportunities for visitors to the lake.
To preserve and enhance the broad diversity of wildlife habitat in the Tahoe Basin.

To achieve these objectives is a very complex, difficult and expensive task, for several reasons.

It requires efforts not only to stop the degradation of the basin's natural resources and the decrease in the clarity of the lake, but to actually reclaim and restore the natural environment of the lake and its basin. And it involves the introduction of new public and private uses in an already subdivided and developed setting. This can be a complex and sensitive task, as it is not always easy for people to envision and accept the long-term benefits of such changes.

Urbanization of much of the basin, and the subdivision process, have resulted in the fragmentation of the landscape into thousands of separate parcels and ownerships. Because of this fragmentation, the Conservancy must acquire and improve such lands parcel by parcel, as they become available, while keeping in mind the Conservancy's goals and the complex and fragile relationship of the parts of the ecosystem to the whole.

As these holdings increase, however, they will provide the Conservancy with a significant resource base that will allow it to sustain their natural functions, adapt to ecosystem changes, and incorporate new and beneficial improvements over time.

Time itself is an important factor. There is an urgent need to deal with resources which are fast deteriorating. This is difficult because it also takes time to develop and implement projects that can effectively counteract that deterioration. It takes time to design site improvement projects so they will meet the basin's stringent regulatory requirements. It takes time for the necessary coordination with the many other concerned agencies and organizations. Extra time may even be needed to complete construction, because of the short building season in the Tahoe Basin.

To achieve its objectives, the Conservancy is implementing seven major programs:

To preserve environmentally sensitive lands through acquisition
To repair already disturbed areas through soil erosion control grants
To restore degraded wetlands and watershed areas
To mitigate land-coverage impacts on water quality and permit the transfer of development rights from more environmentally sensitive areas to ones that are less sensitive
To enhance public access and recreation opportunities
To protect, preserve, and enhance wildlife populations and the diversity of habitats that sustain them
To manage the lands it acquires so they can most effectively serve the purposes for which they were acquired

To implement these programs as rapidly as possible, the Conservancy uses two basic approaches simultaneously -- (1) direct activities by the Conservancy, which acquires and improves lands under all of its programs and (2) grants to other public agencies and organizations.

Because Conservancy acquisitions are on a "willing-seller" basis, the Conservancy must be responsive to landowner needs in a variety of ways. Thus, it acquires a wide variety of interests, including not only full fee title but also lesser interests such as conservation and public access easements or development rights.

The Conservancy also uses a variety of land acquisition techniques, including direct purchase, options, land exchanges, the acquisition of tax-delinquent properties, "bulk" acquisitions, "bargain" sales, donations, dedications, and assistance from non-profit intermediaries. It may also acquire land in a variety of special situations, such as helping to resolve a planning problem or assisting in the settlement of litigation.

Increasingly, the Conservancy is seeking to utilize its lands to form the foundation of larger projects involving public and private lands to get the greatest benefit from the Conservancy's acquisition, management, and restoration activities.

Conservancy projects must not only be in accord with a programs' objectives and regional planning objectives, they should also be sensitive on the local level to the concerns of residents and visitors and the needs of the basin's communities.

To assure this, the Conservancy has developed a comprehensive planning process for its major projects that engages representatives from a broad range of interests -- community environmental, business, and governmental.

This process helps to inform the public and other public agencies of the Conservancy's objectives, and also to inform the Conservancy of ways to improve the project.

The Conservancy is also utilizing planning activities to help resolve or mediate land-use disputes.

The Conservancy also restores and improves acquired properties so they can best serve the purposes for which they were acquired. With the assistance of public and private contractors, the Conservancy has undertaken a number of site restoration projects involving revegetation and erosion control activities and improvements for wildlife and public access and recreation. Many more are planned.

The Conservancy's ability to award grants greatly increases its effectiveness. Grants enable it to facilitate the ongoing commitment and capabilities of other public agencies and nonprofit organizations which have similar objectives. These agencies and organizations also may be the most appropriate manager of projects because they often own the affected property or public rights-of-way and have available staff and management capabilities.

Since 1985, the Conservancy has authorized the expenditure, directly or through grants, of more than $150 million to acquire or obtain various kinds of interests in more than 5,450 parcels involving more than 6,450 acres of land, and for the implementation of 325 erosion control, public access, wildlife enhancement, and restoration and management projects.

While striving to meet its own goals, the Conservancy also assists the various levels of government at Lake Tahoe in achieving their land use and resource management objectives by helping to fund their programs and projects.

The Conservancy encourages and facilitates basinwide efforts to acquire environmentally sensitive lands, control erosion, restore watersheds, provide public access and recreation facilities, and preserve wildlife habitat.

The Conservancy's programs help the basinwide planning process by allowing the consideration of public uses and the incorporation of needed erosion control and access elements in projects being planned by other agencies. (Agencies such as utility districts are often restricted to using their own funds for specific purposes only.) To help support local efforts which also meet state and regional objectives, the Conservancy has provided more than 100 grants to local governments.

The Conservancy is also helping private and public sponsors to meet mitigation requirements through its land coverage and other programs. The Conservancy's land coverage program has facilitated more than 2,400 private and public projects by helping proponents meet their coverage or other obligations.

It is also helping to provide an equitable alternative to owners of environmentally sensitive lands, within the context of overall resource management efforts in the basin.

The Conservancy has helped resolve land-use conflicts by agreeing to acquire the disputed lands when they have significant resource values. This has already proven especially helpful in a number of cases that had been subject to years of litigation. Through this process, is has, in cooperation with the Office of the Attorney General, acquired more than 624 acres of some of the most significant resource lands in the basin, including the mouth of the Upper Truckee River, Eagle Rock, and Moon Dunes.

During the past five years, there has been an important emphasis on private/public partnerships which recognizes the interdependence of environmental protection and sustainable economic activity.

This has led to collaborative and cooperative efforts to share information through organizations such as the Tahoe Coalition of Recreation Providers (TCORP), to join in the development of projects involving both public and private lands, and to form partnerships to seek both private and public funding of programs.

In this regard, the Conservancy has sought to support efforts such as forums on sustainable development, wildlife issues, public access to environmental data, and the development of a uniform signage program. It has also sought to increase the role of the private sector in the management of Conservancy lands.

The Conservancy's programs also provide economic benefits to the region by supporting development and local community efforts to achieve economic, environmental, and public access objectives. The Conservancy has provided more than $5 million for redevelopment projects in the City of South Lake Tahoe, for example, and funded projects in eleven community plan areas.

The resulting increase in property values also benefits local governments by increasing their property tax base.

Conservancy projects also create employment. Over 80% of the work on a project is done by the private sector, with about 60 people involved in design and construction on a typical site improvement projects.