At the Lake: Group has been working to Keep Tahoe Blue for 50 years

You see them everywhere: stickers, T-shirts and even Frisbees with the League to Save Lake Tahoe's mantra, "Keep Tahoe Blue." And the League has done well spreading the word, knowing education is the key to the lake's future.

Established in 1957 as the Tahoe Improvement and Conservation Association by a group of wealthy lakefront property owners, the organization's focus was divided between establishing state parks in the basin and controlling regional development, according to Rochelle Nason, the League's executive director.

In the 1950s and early '60s, development was largely unchecked, with local authorities having complete control over all growth. The Tahoe Regional Planning Commission (forefather of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency but with no enforcement powers) created a plan in 1964 to envision what Tahoe would look like in 1980.

Some of the commission's ideas included a four-lane highway around the lake, a major bridge across Emerald Bay, a freeway on the South Shore, new casino districts around the lake and an artificial island in the south, all presuming up to 300 percent growth in the number of residents and tourists.

The aggressive plan spurred the association into action. The group began advocating for more balanced planning and greater control of development. Soon after changing its name, the League began drawing attention to the problem at state and national levels. In 1969, its work paid off with the signing of the Tahoe Regional Planning Compact, which formed today's Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

"The situation had gotten so bad that two governors (Nevada Gov. Paul Lexalt and California Gov. Ronald Reagan) and a president (Richard Nixon), who were not known as environmentalists, had to step in. Local governments could not be trusted to protect a national environmental treasure," said former U.S. congressman and current TRPA board member Jerry Waldie.

In 1980, the TRPA came out with its 20-year plan, and the League was critical. "The TRPA was seeking to accelerate development on the theory that the additional development would be beneficial to the environment," Nason said. "We very much disagreed with the agency's approach, and the dispute ended up in court."

From the court case came an injunction on all forms of development around the lake, including renovations and repairs, and the ban was lifted in 1987.

Throughout it all, the League's goal always has been the same. "Over the years, the League has been the dominant force for educating the public in the problems facing Lake Tahoe and what's necessary in protecting the lake," said University of California, Davis, professor and limnologist Charles Goldman. "For a small organization, they've developed into an extremely powerful action group promoting conservation of the lake for this and future generations."

"As Tahoe has become an international destination, our membership has broadened," Nason said. "We've also been better able to engage the local population who lives here, so our education programs are able to serve the people who live here and the people who enjoy the lake from time to time."

- Portions of this story came from an August 2007 article by Evan Schladow in the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza.