Last year, I wrote about the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s renewed effort to update the Basin’s environmental threshold standards, some of which haven’t been updated since the 1980s. Threshold standards are Keep Tahoe Blue’s priority because they are the science-based backbone of environmental management in Tahoe that inform which developments are approved, how restoration projects are designed, and how the Lake’s health is tracked over time. They were created for everyone who loves this place — not just agencies and scientists — to understand how Tahoe’s environmental protections are working. When I wrote an open letter about threshold standards last spring, my team at Keep Tahoe Blue was encouraged by the direction TRPA was taking. A year later, we have more reason to be optimistic thanks to the agency’s work. Early in 2026, TRPA updated several threshold standards related to forest health and water quality. Most recently, in late May, TRPA introduced an aggressive timeline for modernizing the remaining outdated threshold standards before the end of 2027.

This is exactly the sort of urgency and pace that Keep Tahoe Blue has asked for. Transparent decision-making by the agency is critical too. Every enforcement action and project approval or denial must be tied directly to achieving and maintaining the goals spelled out by the threshold standards — and they must make Tahoe stronger and more resilient than it is now. The old principle of “do no harm” won’t work in today’s world.

The threshold standards have to reflect the present day while looking ahead to the future. Many of Tahoe’s threshold standards are based on science from decades ago. Since then, the threats facing Lake Tahoe have changed dramatically. Climate change is reshaping the snowpack, runoff patterns, and wildfire risk. Novel invasive species like the golden mussel — which is spreading rapidly across California but has not yet reached Tahoe — threatens to turn our blue Lake green. New environmental concerns, like microplastics, are now part of the conversation in ways they were not years ago. The threshold standards TRPA recently updated or streamlined have begun to reflect this new reality.

Also, strong threshold standards are only meaningful if they are measurable, transparent, and consistently applied. The 2023 Threshold Evaluation found that one in five threshold standards could not be evaluated because they lack clear, measurable targets or sufficient data. If thresholds are intended to guide environmental protection and accountability, every threshold should be measurable, reportable, and actionable. In other words, the public needs not only updated thresholds, but clear systems to track whether they are working.

There is now agreement on the next milestone: updating the remaining thresholds and completing the work. For several years, Keep Tahoe Blue has stressed that all threshold updates must be done by the end of 2027, before they are once again used as the scorecard for Tahoe’s health as part of the next Threshold Evaluation Report. That timing would ensure the threshold standards guiding decisions today reflect the best available science and emerging environmental pressures of tomorrow. The challenges facing Lake Tahoe are not standing still. Climate pressures are intensifying. New pollutants are emerging. The cumulative impacts of development and recreation continue to grow. The solutions must outpace those threats if the Lake is to remain as extraordinary tomorrow as it is today.

The timeline TRPA proposed in late May must be put into action as a major part of the agency’s workplan for 2026/27. Keep Tahoe Blue will be there every step of the way, just as we have for the past three years, to make sure these important changes are completed.

Keep Tahoe Blue’s mission does not have a finish line. Protecting the Lake will always be important, and no single agency or organization can do it alone. As Tahoe’s environmental watchdog, our team’s role is to make sure the momentum does not stall. We will continue to support the process, ask tough questions, and make sure that the public is informed and able to help. Because when it comes to Lake Tahoe, we can all do better. Tahoe deserves it, and so does everyone who depends on Tahoe, now and into the future.