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Leo Schools is a resident of Zephyr Cove.
Recently Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Executive Director Joanne Marchetta wrote two guest columns telling what a wonderful job TRPA has done to protect and improve Lake Tahoe. In the article titled “Lake will benefit from positive action — not disagreement” (Tribune, April 22), she states that “When we disagree, often nothing happens. And the lake suffers most when we do nothing. Only careful, positive action will achieve the needed gains.”
Would you like to take a few minutes to untangle this illogical chain of thinking? I thought our country was founded on the principals of disagreement and compromise. Oh, she also states that she doesn’t like “polarizing rhetoric” and says it is a “bankrupt tactic.” Well, so much for “Give me liberty or give me death,” or “I regret that I have only one life to give for my country.”
In her recent guest column, “Working to keep Tahoe mussel-free” (she states that “TRPA responded quickly when we first learned of the threat.” Adam Jensen’s article on the quagga in Lake Mead (Jan. 22, 2007) hit me like an emotional roller-coaster, and the fear that I felt for Lake Tahoe forced me to write “Don’t let mussels muscle their way into Lake Tahoe (Feb. 22, 2007) in which I warned (yes, with some polarizing rhetoric) that holding an inter-agency workshop in April was too late. That was over two years ago!
I also presented my views to TRPA more than a year ago and explained how much devastation and destruction the zebra mussel would cause if we did not act now. So I am a little baffled by the statement “TRPA responded quickly when we first learned of the threat.” If over two years ago means quickly, then Lake Tahoe is in serious danger.
TRPA is proud that they have stepped up to the plate when nobody else would. They deserve much credit for taking the initiative to deal with this serious invasion. But what good is stepping up to the plate if you are going to strike out?
As stated in previous articles, ramp inspections will not work. They will not protect Lake Tahoe from the zebra/quagga. Over the last decade, TRPA has spent $1 billion on environmental quality improvement in the basin, but now we are told they are forced to charge fees to pay for boat inspections.
Unless we cut off the main arteries to Lake Tahoe and stop the boats before they get near Lake Tahoe and use zebra/quagga sniffing dogs, Lake Tahoe will be doomed to devastation and destruction. Charging fees to the locals and not blocking all places to launch boats at all times is a plan that simply will not work. We must stop wasting time and money on locals and focus on the real threat: boats coming from zebra-infested water.
Finally, we must do a better job explaining exactly why the zebra is such a serious threat to our eco-system and our economy. In my many talks with people that I meet, it soon becomes clear that the average person has no clue what exactly a zebra mussel is and why they are so dangerous. Many people think we already have them, and they confuse them with the Asian clam. Most people think that we have or soon will have a solution to eradicate the zebra. Try telling that to the people of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi where they are spending millions moving mountains of zebras.
In general, many people feel that it will not affect them until they experience water bills that will put them in the poor house. If the zebra is not stopped from entering the delta in California, our food prices will go sky high. Destruction of Lake Tahoe is serious enough, but since Lake Tahoe is not a contained body of water, millions and millions of veligers (baby Zebras) would float through Truckee and infest Pyramid Lake and almost the complete water system of Nevada.
The major argument against blocking the main arteries (Meyers, Truckee, Kingsbury, Carson City) is it’s too expensive. My answer to that is simple. Why not add up the cost of upsetting our eco-system, destroying our boats, eliminating fishing, ruining our beaches, having all structures in Lake Tahoe collapse, and making Lake Tahoe the last place any tourist would want to visit.
Finally, I want to state that I am and always have been a supporter of TRPA and all the good they have done in the past to preserve and protect Lake Tahoe, but on this issue I feel strongly that they are wrong and they are opening the door to one of the worse terrorists we have ever faced — the zebra mussel.
— Leo Schools is a resident of Zephyr Cove.
Would you like to take a few minutes to untangle this illogical chain of thinking? I thought our country was founded on the principals of disagreement and compromise. Oh, she also states that she doesn’t like “polarizing rhetoric” and says it is a “bankrupt tactic.” Well, so much for “Give me liberty or give me death,” or “I regret that I have only one life to give for my country.”
In her recent guest column, “Working to keep Tahoe mussel-free” (she states that “TRPA responded quickly when we first learned of the threat.” Adam Jensen’s article on the quagga in Lake Mead (Jan. 22, 2007) hit me like an emotional roller-coaster, and the fear that I felt for Lake Tahoe forced me to write “Don’t let mussels muscle their way into Lake Tahoe (Feb. 22, 2007) in which I warned (yes, with some polarizing rhetoric) that holding an inter-agency workshop in April was too late. That was over two years ago!
I also presented my views to TRPA more than a year ago and explained how much devastation and destruction the zebra mussel would cause if we did not act now. So I am a little baffled by the statement “TRPA responded quickly when we first learned of the threat.” If over two years ago means quickly, then Lake Tahoe is in serious danger.
TRPA is proud that they have stepped up to the plate when nobody else would. They deserve much credit for taking the initiative to deal with this serious invasion. But what good is stepping up to the plate if you are going to strike out?
As stated in previous articles, ramp inspections will not work. They will not protect Lake Tahoe from the zebra/quagga. Over the last decade, TRPA has spent $1 billion on environmental quality improvement in the basin, but now we are told they are forced to charge fees to pay for boat inspections.
Unless we cut off the main arteries to Lake Tahoe and stop the boats before they get near Lake Tahoe and use zebra/quagga sniffing dogs, Lake Tahoe will be doomed to devastation and destruction. Charging fees to the locals and not blocking all places to launch boats at all times is a plan that simply will not work. We must stop wasting time and money on locals and focus on the real threat: boats coming from zebra-infested water.
Finally, we must do a better job explaining exactly why the zebra is such a serious threat to our eco-system and our economy. In my many talks with people that I meet, it soon becomes clear that the average person has no clue what exactly a zebra mussel is and why they are so dangerous. Many people think we already have them, and they confuse them with the Asian clam. Most people think that we have or soon will have a solution to eradicate the zebra. Try telling that to the people of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi where they are spending millions moving mountains of zebras.
In general, many people feel that it will not affect them until they experience water bills that will put them in the poor house. If the zebra is not stopped from entering the delta in California, our food prices will go sky high. Destruction of Lake Tahoe is serious enough, but since Lake Tahoe is not a contained body of water, millions and millions of veligers (baby Zebras) would float through Truckee and infest Pyramid Lake and almost the complete water system of Nevada.
The major argument against blocking the main arteries (Meyers, Truckee, Kingsbury, Carson City) is it’s too expensive. My answer to that is simple. Why not add up the cost of upsetting our eco-system, destroying our boats, eliminating fishing, ruining our beaches, having all structures in Lake Tahoe collapse, and making Lake Tahoe the last place any tourist would want to visit.
Finally, I want to state that I am and always have been a supporter of TRPA and all the good they have done in the past to preserve and protect Lake Tahoe, but on this issue I feel strongly that they are wrong and they are opening the door to one of the worse terrorists we have ever faced — the zebra mussel.
— Leo Schools is a resident of Zephyr Cove.
