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California Tahoe Conservancy looks back at its 40th year: Highlights from 2024

LAKE TAHOE AREA, Calif. – The State of California established the California Tahoe Conservancy in 1984 with a mission to restore and enhance the natural and recreational resources of the Lake Tahoe Basin.

In the decades that followed, the agency did so by collaborating with federal, tribal, state, and local partners to advance that goal.

2024 marked their 40th year of furthering that effort. Here’s their accomplishments from this last year according to the agency’s 2024 Annual Report.



Upper Truckee Marsh South Acquisition

March 2024 brought about the acquisition of 31 acres, including the former Motel 6 building, and was a major milestone for the conservancy and the Upper Truckee. It fills a critical restoration gap between the conservancy’s 560-acre Upper Truckee Marsh property and the Tahoe Resource Conservation District’s 206-acre Johnson Meadow property.

The acquisition places 96% of the Upper Truckee River into public ownership and provides valuable restoration opportunities for wetland habitat, as well as enhancements to recreation and access along the river. Restoration along this river corridor is important to the agency and its partners because the Upper Truckee drains nearly a third of the Lake Tahoe Basin, having important implications for Tahoe’s clarity.



The Conservancy was supported by its numerous funding partners, the California Wildlife Conservation Board, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Tahoe Fund, and League to Save Lake Tahoe.

The Conservancy plans on removing the hotel and restaurant development in 2025, as well as engage the public in the site’s planning process.

Being a good neighbor

The conservancy has implemented what it calls a Good Neighbor Approach to fuels treatment on its properties by thinning overcrowded trees and brush on both conservancy and USDA Forest Service lots in certain neighborhoods.

The Conservancy Forestry Program along with partners and contractors have undertaken and continue to work on hundreds of open space lots in four major neighborhoods:

  • North Upper Truckee neighborhood (El Dorado County)
  • Gardner Mountain (South Lake Tahoe)
  • Tahoe Island neighborhoods (South Lake Tahoe)
  • Tahoe Hills (West shore)

The good neighbor strategy is intended to increase efficiency on projects that aim to reduce wildfire risk for neighbors, all while improving forest resilience.

Millions distributed in grants

The conservancy provided nearly $4 million in grants to programs, agencies and organizations in 2024 with various goals and impacts to the Tahoe region of California.

Certain projects target recreation and improving access. One such project is Placer County’s construction of the North Tahoe Shared-Use Trail Segment 1, which received $1.2 million from the conservancy. The Tahoe Resource Conservation District received $100,000 for a signage plan along the Upper Truckee River corridor.

Other granted projects aim to restore vital habitat, such as the Máyala Wáta (Meeks Meadow) restoration, which received $600,000. A quarter of a million dollars went to the Great Basin Institute to accelerate large-landscape forest restoration. The conservancy also awarded $792,125 to the National Forest Foundation to remove hazardous dead and dying trees damaged by the Caldor Fire.

Another $601,700 was awarded to North Tahoe Fire Protection District for wildfire risk reduction programs over the next three years in north and west shore communities and their surrounding forests. One example of these projects can be read about in the article titled, Carnelian Woods pile burn project highlights important partnerships and lessons.

Other grants were provided to stewardship and surveillance initiatives. This includes $150,000 to the Tahoe Resource Conservation District for New Zealand Mudsnail surveillance and $81,000 to Tahoe City Public Utility District for an inventory of green house gas emissions in tandem with North Tahoe Public Utility District.

$220,000 helped fund the creation of a new Lake Tahoe Basin liaison position for the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California.

The conservancy has expressed commitment to the Washoe Tribe and has prioritized the Tribe in its new Strategic Plan and first Racial Equity Action Plan adopted in 2024.

The Racial Equity Action Plan  seeks to tackle barriers and challenges to racial equity by first identifying and then addressing them.

The new 2024-2029 Strategic Plan lays out the following five focus areas and goals:

  • Access: Provide Recreational Opportunities and Access for All
  • Innovation: Drive Forward-Thinking Solutions and Accountability
  • Protection: Safeguard the Basin’s Environmental, Cultural, Tribal, and Recreational Attributes for Future Generations
  • Restoration: Restore the Basin’s Social and Ecological Resilience
  • Stewardship: Care for the Basin’s Natural, Tribal, and Cultural Resources

To learn more about the California Tahoe Conservancy, visit tahoe.ca.gov/.


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