When Keep Tahoe Blue opened our new headquarters — the Spurlock/Evers Environment & Education Center — in South Lake Tahoe last summer, our staff was stoked to swing open our doors and welcome the community in to learn what makes our region so unique, and how they can help keep it that way.

Honestly, we weren’t quite sure what the reception would look like. We had never offered a purpose-built space devoted purely to informing and inspiring locals, visitors, kids, and adults.

At Keep Tahoe Blue’s former home about a mile east on Lake Tahoe Boulevard, we had a small visitor center that had been dormant since the Pandemic, so our new Education Center was a giant leap forward. From our organization’s work in the community, we knew people had the care and curiosity for Tahoe; they just needed somewhere to scratch the itch. But, you never really know until you open the doors and find out.

Eight months into this experiment, my colleagues, our volunteer docents, and I couldn’t be happier with how the community has embraced this space. It has become the hub for environmental education and action we hoped it would be.

From kindergarteners to retirees, the Education Center has been a huge hit. People of all ages and backgrounds are coming in to find out more about our watershed, the perils of invasive species and plastic pollution, and easy steps they can take to protect and restore Lake Tahoe.

We teach this through interactive, mobile exhibits, allowing our visitors to see, feel, and hear more about Lake Tahoe through hands-on engagement. When the weather is right, we step outside into our teaching garden to explore the local plants and animals that make their home in Tahoe. Just like in all of Keep Tahoe Blue’s work, our volunteers are the magic ingredient. After learning the lessons themselves, our volunteers pass on their knowledge to visitors and students. Connecting to the next generation of Lake stewards brings them so much joy.

To date, nearly 600 local students — from kindergarten through eighth grade — have participated in lesson plans hosted in our Center. As Keep Tahoe Blue’s education manager, seeing these young people light up with excitement is the reason I do this work. It is so important to connect our young students with the natural environment all around them.  And they’ve responded. Our middle school and grade school visitors have embraced the idea that they can protect Tahoe, that they can be stewards who make a difference.

Prior to joining Keep Tahoe Blue, I taught outdoor education at Sierra Nevada College, so I saw the end result of early youth outreach efforts. When you teach the values of environmentalism from a young age, you help map out a lifetime of stewardship.

It’s not just local kids we are reaching now. In the next few months, we’ll welcome students from Reno and Sacramento into our Education Center. These are communities that think of Tahoe as their backyard too. If we can instill in them a strong conservation ethic, it multiplies our ability to protect this precious region.

While I’m so proud of the work we have done with our students, the Education Center is for more than just field trips. We have an open door policy here, which means that anyone is welcome to drop by. We’re in the heart of South Lake Tahoe, steps from the crosstown bike trail, across the street from a bus stop, and accessible by Lake Link shuttles, and shared electric scooters. We’ve seen an array of different people come through our doors, and the connections are always so gratifying.

For some of these folks, I got the sense that the idea of conservation and protection was daunting. They’re not ecological experts and wondered what difference they could truly make. But that’s the joy of this process. I was able to tell them how they can prevent litter by switching to reusable bottles and utensils, join a forest restoration event, or contribute important data using nothing more than their cell phones. It was like a light bulb went off. They could see that being a small part of a collective effort could make big impacts for the clarity and cleanliness of our Lake.

Along with acting as an incubator for environmentalism, the Education Center has also been an important community hub. We host regular speaker series events, bringing in marquee folks who help provide important perspectives and insights to the topics that matter most to Tahoe-lovers. We host neighborhood events, our partner organizations’ events, and other activities that connect to our shared purpose.

I’m incredibly optimistic about the future of our Spurlock/Evers Environment & Education Center. Right now, I’m eagerly plotting out our next phase of activities and am excited about all the possibilities. But I’m also taking a moment to reflect on our neighbors, and new and old friends who have embraced this space in just a few months.

The future is bright for Lake Tahoe, and it’s because we have such a wonderful community who is committed to protecting it. I’m thankful that Keep Tahoe Blue’s Education Center is an open door for anyone who’s interested in leaving Tahoe better than they found it.

Visit Keep Tahoe Blue’s Spurlock/Evers Environment & Education Center at 2877 Lake Tahoe Boulevard, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150. Learn more at keeptahoeblue.org.

Rosie Hackett is the Education Manager at Keep Tahoe Blue. She has dedicated the past 30 years to field instruction, curriculum design, environmental stewardship, wilderness expedition guiding, and high-performance coaching, and is a fervent believer in the power of outdoor education to change and enrich lives.