Member-only story
Designate it, publicize it and they will come … and destroy it: Of untouchable rhetoric and the fight against overcrowded tourism at home and abroad (Well, not so much at home)
PART I: A latter-day David and Goliath saga
The lake is quiet, commercially primitive, other-worldly. It constantly changes color from shades of blue or gray depending upon the skies above and varying angles of seasonal light. It’s the only habitat in the world for Cui-ui fish, a species that’s been swimming those waters for 2 million years. Its fishery includes world-famous Lahontan cutthroat trout and is home to a large colony of American white pelicans.
About 120 miles upstream another jewel, Lake Tahoe, has been transformed into a playground. Tens of thousands of tourists pondering kitsch and posing for selfies. Flashing lights, bells, whistles and slot-machine hubbub. Mega-mansions behind gates monitored by video cameras and security guards protecting property of absentee owners who split their time between Tahoe and New York City, Singapore, Hong Kong, Paris or Moscow. Hyper-inflated real estate prices. Gargantuan hotel and condominium developments. Burger flippers making $10 per hour and sharing two bedrooms with six others for a memorable summer.
As a result of all of this, the lake is slowly losing its crystalline quality. Millions are being spent on a range of mitigation tactics by nonprofits, universities, local and state governments of two states and the federal government, but it’s not enough. When scientists started monitoring water clarity in 1968 they could see a white disk submerged to a depth of 100 feet; now it’s around 70 feet. The lake is losing about one foot of clarity per year. At that rate, children of children born today will know Tahoe only as bluish and murky.
Fine sediment — tiny, ground up particles much smaller than the width of a human hair — is the primary source of lake clarity loss. The sediment enters the water from development of infrastructure required to support massive year-round tourism that jams the basin and the lake’s 70-mile shoreline. Instead of…
