Tahoe plan wins approval

Thursday, March 26, 1998 | 5:13 a.m.

After two years of preparation, the ambitious program has already become a pivotal document in a concerted effort to deal with the Tahoe Basin's environmental woes.

The improvement plan identifies more than 400 individual projects with a price tag of $1.2 billion, of which $908 million are scheduled to be completed within the next decade.

Jim Baetge, the agency's executive director, has used the plan to rally support for Lake Tahoe by the agency's local, state and federal partners. Its goals served as a starting point for President Clinton at last year's Lake Tahoe Presidential Forum.

"I can't tell you what a big step this was to get to this point," Baetge said as the board approved the plan Wednesday. "We talk now in terms of project numbers, dollars and priorities. We couldn't do that just one year ago."

Adoption of the program provides a turning point in the TRPA's history. Since 1969, when the California and Nevada legislatures and U.S. Congress approved its bistate compact, the agency built a framework of environmental regulations that slowed development.

The newly adopted program points the way toward the agency's next mission: overseeing the hundreds of projects that scientists and planners believe are essential to reverse Lake Tahoe's declining clarity and restore the health of the basin's forest.

Besides listing projects to prevent erosion, restore damaged wetlands and improve forest health, the program allots the financial responsibility for achieving the goals. The federal government, as the basin's biggest landlord, will bear the greatest share of the cost during the next 10 years, paying for $297.2 million of the $908 million cost.

California is expected to provide $275.1 million, the private sector $152.7 million, local government $101 million and Nevada $82 million. All the jurisdictions are preparing financial plans to pay their share of the environmental program.