The Lake Tahoe Collaborative Partnership: Expanding the Role of Community in Environmental Protection

O n the shores of Lake Tahoe in the summer of 1997, a historical meeting brought together national, state, and local political figures, as well as a comprehensive array of interest groups, stakeholders, and citizens, to talk, listen, and decide the future of Lake Tahoe. Facing a steady decline in its fabled water clarity, the lake had evoked broad civic concern and received attention from nearly all political and economic quarters. Conservationists and the tourist industry alike had a great deal at stake in reversing the water quality problems of Lake Tahoe.