The nomination period has opened for the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s 2010 Best in the Basin awards program, which annually recognizes the best designed, planned and implemented projects in the Tahoe basin that also stand out as environmentally compatible.

The Best in the Basin program calls attention to projects of all categories – from natural restoration to commercial or residential construction – that carry with them environmental net gains for Lake Tahoe and its communities.

For more than two decades, the Best in the Basin program has recognized those property owners, contractors, architects and planners whose work and investment should be held up as examples to follow.

The nomination period ends Oct. 15. Categories are:

· new residential

· residential modification

· rebuild projects

· new commercial

· commercial modification

· commercial rebuild

· shorezone

· green building

· public service

· erosion control

· restoration

· BMP retrofit

· defensible space

· mixed-use project

· green remodel.

To qualify, projects must be complete or near completion. For an entry form and information about last year’s winners, click here.