Keep Tahoe Blue
In 1969, a disastrous oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara inspired a movement to protect the natural environment. The first Earth Day was held just 15 months later. It mobilized 20 million Americans and led to the creation of the federal Environmental Protection Agency (1970), the Clean Water Act (1972), and Endangered Species Act (1973). Today, Earth Day is celebrated across 190 nations and has sparked thousands of environmental causes.
Thirteen years before the first Earth Day, a group of concerned Tahoe-lovers came together to fight plans to develop the Basin with four-lane highways ringing the Lake, a bridge over Emerald Bay, and a population to rival San Francisco. In response to this major threat, the League to Save Lake Tahoe was born.
A rendering of the bridge that almost was at Emerald Bay.
The League’s first victory came in defeating that development plan. In the decades since, we’ve been the catalyst for ending sewage dumping in the Lake, putting a stop to out of control development, strengthening Tahoe environmental planning under a unified bi-state umbrella, and securing hundreds of millions of dollars for Tahoe’s environment.

Much has changed in six decades, but not our mission –  to Keep Tahoe Blue.

We all have the privilege of using and enjoying this planet of ours, which means we also have the responsibility to preserve and protect it. Please join us and do your part.

Happy Earth Month.
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Banner image: Santi Visalli/Getty Images
League to Save Lake Tahoe | 530.541.5388 | keeptahoeblue.org
Protecting Lake Tahoe since 1957