About the California Tahoe Conservancy
The California Tahoe Conservancy (Conservancy) is a state agency, established in 1984, with a mission to lead California’s efforts to restore and enhance the extraordinary natural and recreational resources of the Lake Tahoe Basin. The Conservancy’s jurisdiction spans the 236 square miles of the California side of the Basin.
State Conservancies
California’s ten state conservancies play an integral role in conserving, protecting, and restoring natural resources and providing public recreational opportunities. Together, the conservancies comprise a coordinated effort, bringing government resources to designated regions of State and national significance. Learn more about the state conservancies and the Wildlife Conservation Board.
Managing Your Public Lands
The California Tahoe Conservancy manages and protects nearly 4,700 state properties, totaling about 6,900 acres, for the purpose of protecting the natural environment and promoting public recreation and access to Lake Tahoe.
Local and Regional Grants
The Conservancy has also provided over 320 grants to government partners and nonprofit organizations for projects to restore the Lake Tahoe watershed, provide public recreation and access, protect ecologically important lands, improve forest health and reduce the threat of wildfire. Read the Conservancy grant guidelines. Since 1997, such grants have supported the Lake Tahoe Environmental Improvement Program.
Tahoe Livable Communities
The Conservancy’s Tahoe Livable Communities Program helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions, restore sensitive lands, and revitalize the Basin’s town centers through the acquisition of environmentally sensitive lands, the transfer of development rights, and the sale, lease, or exchange of the Conservancy’s developable parcels in town centers.
Large-Scale Watershed and Landscape Restoration
The Conservancy collaboratively leads large-scale watershed and landscape restoration initiatives with over 50 public agencies to reduce wildfire threat, and plays a lead role in enhancing the Basin’s resilience and ability to adapt to climate change.
In all, the Conservancy has funded hundreds of environmental improvement projects, and has played a major role in the restoration of the Basin’s most environmentally sensitive areas, addressing the threat of climate change, and the reduction of wildfire risk within the Basin. In its first thirty years, these activities totaled over $450 million.
Tribal Consultation: The California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) and its departments, commissions, boards, and conservancies are committed to consulting and meaningfully engaging with California Native American tribes as it works to “help all Californians and nature thrive together” (CNRA Mission). California Native American tribes have lived and stewarded the lands, airs, and waters of what is known today as California since time immemorial and have a unique connection to and knowledge of the environment and the natural, cultural, and historical resources that CNRA and its departments protect, manage, and restore. As such, CNRA and its departments are responsible for consulting with California Native American tribes. Find more information about CNRA’s Tribal Consultation Policy, Best Practices, and Resources.
Visit the Conservancy’s Tribal Affairs page to learn more about the Conservancy’s commitment to consulting and partnering with the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California and other Native American tribes who have lived in and around the Lake Tahoe Basin.