The history of Lake Tahoe begins with the Washoe Indians who resided on its shores for thousands of years, with minimal impact on the landscape. The relatively brief American history at Lake Tahoe began in the mid-nineteenth century. Though awestruck by its beauty, the new arrivals were also intent on harvesting its abundant resources. In a mere half century, the basin’s forests and fisheries were destroyed, the lake’s pristine clarity dramatically reduced. Left alone, nature healed itself, and by the 1960s mature forests once again surrounded the lake and its water clarity improved, with visibility more than one hundred feet deep. However, Tahoe’s wonders brought a new kind of threat: millions of annual visitors and incessant development, including ski resorts and casinos. Saving Lake Tahoe looks at the interaction through the years between human activities and Tahoe’s natural ecosystems. It is a dramatic story of ecological disasters and near misses, political successes and failures. Utilizing primary sources and interviews with key figures, Makley provides a meticulously researched account of the battles surrounding the management of the Tahoe basin. Makley takes the story up to the present, describing the formation and evolution of a new type of governing body, the bistate Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, and groundbreaking efforts to utilize science in establishing policy. He depicts the passionate fights between those who seek to preserve the environment and advocates of individual property rights. Although Tahoe remains unique in its splendor, readers will understand why, with continued pressure for development, reversing environmental deterioration and improving the lake water’s clarity remain elusive goals.

John Muir called it the "Range of Light, the most divinely beautiful of all the mountain chains I’ve ever seen." The Sierra Nevada—a single unbroken mountain range stretching north to south over four hundred miles, best understood as a single ecosystem but embracing a number of environmental communities—has been the site of human activity for millennia. From the efforts of ancient Native Americans to encourage game animals by burning brush to create meadows to the burgeoning resort and residential development of the present, the Sierra has endured, and often suffered from, the efforts of humans to exploit its bountiful resources for their own benefit. Historian David Beesley examines the history of the Sierra Nevada from earliest times, beginning with a comprehensive discussion of the geologic development of the range and its various ecological communities. Using a wide range of sources, including the records of explorers and early settlers, scientific and government documents, and newspaper reports, Beesley offers a lively and informed account of the history, environmental challenges, and political controversies that lie behind the breathtaking scenery of the Sierra. Among the highlights are discussions of the impact of the Gold Rush and later mining efforts, as well as the supporting industries that mining spawned, including logging, grazing, water-resource development, market hunting, urbanization, and transportation; the politics and emotions surrounding the establishment of Yosemite and other state and national parks; the transformation of the Hetch Hetchy into a reservoir and the desertification of the once-lush Owens Valley; the roles of the Forest Service, Park Service, and other regulatory agencies; the consequences of the fateful commitment to wildfire suppression in Sierran forests; and the ever-growing impact of tourism and recreational use. Through Beesley’s wide-ranging discussion, John Muir’s "divinely beautiful" range is revealed in all its natural and economic complexity, a place that at the beginning of the twenty-first century is in grave danger of being loved to death. Available in hardcover and paperback.

We have come to love the West too much, and Lake Tahoe is a preeminent example of the cost of our endearment. The region annually attracts millions of visitors, more than any other scenic area of similar size in the United States. Runaway development to accommodate crowds has resulted in an alarming rate of environmental deterioration. Yet unprecedented recent efforts to protect the long-term ecological health of Tahoe provide hope for the future. ø Douglas H. Strong tells the environmental story of the Tahoe Basin from its use by the indigenous Washoe to the present. To whom does Tahoe belong and how should the area be used? These fundamental questions receive widely differing answers: some favor private ownership and free enterprise, others insist that major portions of the basin should be set aside in parks and reserves, and still others advocate controlled economic growth with an emphasis on protecting the environment. Strong?s extensively researched environmental history examines the struggle among these contending forces. Their efforts, failures, and accomplishments provide valuable lessons for those who care about the use of America?s natural wonders.

The story of Lake Tahoe is the story of people and the environment and their reciprocal influences. The environment shaped the lives of early people of Tahoe, and later, people shaped the Tahoe environment. Native peoples, pioneers, and early visitors conformed to the environment's demands and existed in harmony with their surroundings. By 1860, loggers, hoteliers, ranchers, developers, and tourists imposed their demands on Tahoe's resources, forever changing it for the generations that followed. Early on, the motivation for resource exploitation for personal benefit prevailed but then collided with and became subordinate to rising beliefs in the preservation and appreciation of our natural resources.This book's title, Yours, Mine, Ours, symbolizes Lake Tahoe's intertwined human and environmental histories as a three-act eco-drama with good and bad actors. In the first act, Yours, the Native American people and early pioneers benignly inhabit the Tahoe Basin. Act II, Mine, witnesses the Euro-Americans' eviction of Native Americans, seizure of the timber, land, and water, and the unsustainable uses of these resources for individual and corporate benefit. Act III, Ours, is the ongoing resolution of conflict and movement to collaboration. In the closing scene of Act III, stakeholders accept that Tahoe exists for all and deserves to continue as a resource preserved for the common good and managed for long-term sustainability.