Lake Tahoe Fast Facts

Friday, July 25, 1997 | 11:27 a.m.

Lake Tahoe Basin at a glance:

-Lake Tahoe, at 6,220 feet elevation, straddles the Nevada-California line in the Sierra Nevada and is located about 200 miles east of San Francisco and 30 miles southwest of Reno, Nev.

-It is 22-miles long and up to 1,600 feet in some places.

-Famed for its clear, transparent waters, experts warn that Lake Tahoe is losing about 1 foot of clarity each year due to algae growth caused by nitrates that enter the lake from erosion, air pollution and development.

-Mark Twain once described Lake Tahoe as "the fairest picture the whole earth affords."

-The Tahoe Basin includes 206,000 acres, or about 500 square miles, 80 percent of which is controlled by the federal government.

-Tourism is the region's economic lifeblood. Lake Tahoe draws more than 2 million visitors a year, and the basin is home to about 50,000 permanent residents.

-The U.S. Forest Service estimates as much as 30 percent of the forests that ring Lake Tahoe's shores are dead or dying, weakened by drought and insect infestation.

-The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, the Tahoe basin's land-use regulator, has identified about $900 million in projects needed to stem erosion that is polluting the lake.