The Lake Tahoe Restoration Act of 2015 was introduced today by the four senators representing California and Nevada.

The bipartisan legislation was crafted to protect the Lake Tahoe region by improving water clarity, reducing wildfire threat, jumpstarting innovative transportation and infrastructure projects, and combating invasive species.

The federal legislation would bring $415 million to the basin over the next 10 years. The money would be spent on:

·         Wildfire prevention – Provides $150 million for fire risk reduction and forest management.

·         Environmental improvement program – Provides $80 million to jumpstart projects spanning from new bike trails to creek restoration and fire treatment.

·         Invasive species management program – Provides $45 million to prevent the introduction of the quagga mussel and manage other harmful invasive species like the Asian clam.

·         Storm water projects – Sets aside $113 million to implement storm water management, erosion control, and watershed restoration projects.

·         Lahontan cutthroat trout recovery program – Allocates $20 million to recover the Lahontan cutthroat trout – a federally threatened species and Nevada’s state fish.

·         Increases accountability and oversight – Provides $5 million to ensure projects will have monitoring and assessment in order to determine the most cost-effective projects and ensure dollars are properly utilized.

·         Overall management improvement – Sets aside $2 million to cover the cost of land exchanges and sales on the California and Nevada sides of the Tahoe basin that will improve efficiencies of public land management.