Funding Secured for Lake Tahoe and Nevada Projects

Nevada Senators, Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto, have secured funding through the 2024 Community Project Funding for research projects focused on sustainable recreation, the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act, and Tahoe infrastructure.

Deputy Press Secretary Eda Garcia said, “Senator Cortez Masto secured $5 million to help complete construction of two lot expansions to remove vehicles from the SR 28 highway shoulder and connect them with local hiking trails.”

“She also delivered funding to support research and conservation projects, including $3 million for the Desert Research Institute to conduct research focused on sustainable recreation and long-term planning at Lake Tahoe, and $1.8 million to fund a Research and Educational Platform vessel at the UNR Lake Tahoe campus to study the waters of Lake Tahoe.”

Lake Tahoe and the Truckee River are ecological epicenters that are vital to the native wildlife, plantlife, and natural habitats that have slowly weakened with the increased human traffic, pollution, and use of natural resources.

We are seeing more support on a national level that is needed to revitalize the area after the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act was passed nearly 25 years ago.

“ The Lake Tahoe Restoration Act supports critical environmental protection, wildfire prevention, and habitat restoration programs across the basin, and I’m leading bipartisan, bicameral efforts to reauthorize this legislation,” said Senator Cortez Masto.

The original Act, written in 2000, states that, “Lake Tahoe is in the midst of an environmental crisis; the Lake's water clarity has declined from a visibility level of 105 feet in 1967 to only 70 feet in 1999, and scientific estimates indicate that if the water quality at the Lake continues to degrade, Lake Tahoe will lose its famous clarity in only 30 years.”

That was almost 25 years ago, and according to reports we have seen an increase in clarity by one foot.

In addition, more than 80 Nevada subcommittees and projects were awarded funding around Tahoe, Reno, Sparks, Carson City, and Gardnerville.

These projects include funding for the Desert Research Institute to focus on long term planning for Lake Tahoe, Lithium Resource Mapping, Reno sewage upgrades, K-12 STEM education, a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer at the University of Nevada, Reno, and more.

The Tahoe Daily Tribune has a full report of all the allocated funding.

Not only do we want to restore the ecosystems and wildlife of the area, but the Tahoe Basin provides us humans with some of the best recreational activities in the world.

It may seem arbitrary to slide down mountains on planks in comparison to grand scheme and timeline of Earth as we know it, but I for one would like to continue to enjoy everything it has to offer and pass it down to the generations to follow.

I want to see glorious winters with tons of snow that makes the lake full and the rivers run through the summers, and I’m sure that all of you do too.