Advocating for Community Priorities in D.C. as Part of ‘Team Tahoe’

By Tony Karwowski, NTCA president & CEO

In March, I had the opportunity to join 11 other “Team Tahoe” representatives on an advocacy mission to Washington, D.C. Our goal: to meet with elected officials to address some of the major issues impacting Tahoe communities and advocate for both funding and legislation that will benefit everyone who lives, works, and spends time here. My role was to represent North Lake Tahoe, our community’s priorities that stand to benefit, and our unique private-public partnership funding mechanisms that help leverage both state and federal dollars.

In total, Team Tahoe met with five senators, 11 house representatives, and three agencies over the course of two days. During this particular trip, we were focused primarily on four topics – the first being Fiscal Year 2027 funding from the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act to support forest health, water quality, combat invasive species, and restore native trout.

Through annual federal appropriations, Tahoe receives funding to support environmental improvement programs in the Basin. We’ve accomplished a lot thanks to the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act, and those funds serve as an anchor for the state, local, and private funding matches that are necessary to fully pay for the environmental improvement programs that have been planned, completed, or are underway.

This year, we requested $35M for projects that include hazardous fuels reduction and forest health, regional water infrastructure upgrades to protect communities, aquatic invasive species prevention and control, watershed restoration and water quality, Lahontan cutthroat trout recovery, and program oversight and accountability.

To address Tahoe’s needs that extend beyond what the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act supports, our second request was for support for the Santini-Burton Act Modernization, which will fund land acquisition and management and unfunded priorities such as sustainable recreation with the intent of addressing human impacts, plus wildfire prevention and more. Modernization of the Act will also allow the Washoe Tribe consistent access to these funds for acquisition and management of cultural lands in the Basin.

Third, we encouraged support for the upcoming Surface Transportation Reauthorization, which is critical to supporting Tahoe’s $5 billion annual economy, and support for the BASICS Act, which provides transportation access to recreation on public lands. If approved, the Surface Transportation Reauthorization would provide an opportunity to support continued progress toward achieving our region’s transportation vision, which includes safely connecting our neighborhoods and sustainably serving our community, while reducing traffic congestion, vehicle miles traveled, and environmental impacts associated with vehicle travel.

Finally, we spoke about Water Resources Development Act priorities, which authorizes the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to study, plan and implement water-related projects.

Opportunities like these provide in-person access to decision-makers who can help advance projects, programs, and initiatives that benefit our community. They also give us a chance to highlight and humanize the impact, while demonstrating the progress and strong public/private partnerships that are addressing some of Tahoe’s biggest challenges.

This is how this work is accomplished, and how at the federal level, the voice of our community can be heard. It’s why our role in this type of advocacy work is critically important. We’ll be sure to provide periodic updates on projects around the lake that are supported by these funding sources in upcoming CEO newsletters.