STATELINE, Nev. – The North American Lake Management Society (NALMS) chose to hold their annual conference in the Tahoe area for the first time since 1999. The society, which hosts citizens, scientists, and professionals, helps foster collaboration across different groups working with lakes and their watersheds.

70% of the world’s lakes are located in North America, with a wide variety of ecosystems and geography surrounding those lakes. As a result, the membership of NALMS also is spread widely across all the states and several provinces in Canada.

Kellie Merrell, the current NALMS president, was excited to have Lake Tahoe be the site of this year’s conference. “We hadn’t been out west for the conference since 2017, and we had a very active host committee that was willing to step up and drum up a lot of local interest.” She credited Todd Tietjen and Deena Hanoun, the co-chairs of the conference, with the work they put in.

This year’s conference theme was “Flood & Drought, Fire & Ice: Managing Lakes Under Changing Climates”, a theme partially inspired by the location itself. Merrell herself said, “Lake Tahoe is such an iconic lake, with a history of limnology (lake science) and applied management.”

The two plenary speakers, S. Geoffrey Schladow and Sudeep Chandra, both spoke about the extensive history of science and observation in and around the lake. Schladow presented the scientific data from UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center’s State of the Lake, while Chandra spoke on the new technologies—and the gaps in information—being used today.

Chandra reached out to the audience to collaborate on some of the programs that were lacking, especially in monitoring the entire water system of the lake and biology systems. He emphasized that collaboration among members could be hugely helpful and that everyone could learn lessons from the various backgrounds that members came from.

NALMS is unique as a society because it includes everyone interested in lakes, from local communities to stewards to lake managers to scientists. Merrell emphasized how NALMS encourages the exchange of ideas and techniques across the various kinds of lakes people work, providing a forum for both local and regional efforts.

One of the major sessions at this conference focused on revisiting a book from 1995 called “The Freshwater Imperative”, which addressed issues in freshwater ecosystems and how to get policymakers involved with those efforts. Other sessions involved discussing how fires affect lake ecosystems, managing aquatic invasive species, and doing education and outreach about lakes to the public—all challenges that Lake Tahoe is familiar with. Members and presenters shared their thoughts and what they thought potential solutions could be.

Merrell said one thing really sets the society apart from others. “There are plenty of organizations and societies that focus on freshwater systems. But we have people who often work directly on the interventions and solutions for what’s going on. NALMS is a society of fixers.”

Eli Ramos is a reporter for Tahoe Daily Tribune. They are part of the 2024–26 cohort of California Local News Fellows through UC Berkeley.