'The backyard of 15M people': How tourism is ravaging Tahoe

"In recent years, we have seen a worrying trend around the world because tourism has focused so much on its growth, where it is on the verge of self-destruction, where we value quantity and profit, perhaps space, quality of experience." said Joan, executive director of the Marchetta Regional Planning Council at its February 2021 meeting .

Marchetta described the growth of tourism as slowly emerging on the coast and described it as a hurricane to turn into a perfect storm that responds to a perfect condition in an epidemic.

“The experience we all know as our backyard is now the backyard of 15 million people who have escaped isolation,” he said.

"Four walls and a one-day car from Tahoe," Marchetta said. So people kept coming and going. And after Kovid, I think they'll want and look for more good things to find now. "

A scenario like an epidemic: all the rubbish, dogs and human excrement was dumped, lying on the side of the village road, causing grief among the locals, disturbing the constant flow of visitors. The problem will remain. Lake Tahoe is at a crossroads and a meeting was held in February to begin a new conversation about its future.

Now, a year later, Taho’s decision-makers have a plan to introduce a new approach to the region that will focus on the local community, make local organizations effective land managers, and attract millions of visitors. Living in government lands in the basin. This is called a management plan .

Earth Day car queues are another day in Tahoe’s life

If the summer 2020 tsunami trip is amazing, the summer of 2021 feels like a disaster. The epicenter was at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, however; no tsunami alert was issued.The epicenter occurred under the Pacific Ocean floor, but no tsunami alert was issued.

Now that summer is approaching, the Taho environment is thrilling. Will we accept more forest fire smoke? Can we get a parking space on our favorite road? Will we be able to achieve a balance between the quality of life of the locals and the tourism provided by the economy? Will visitors receive a warm welcome on holiday, with no sign of protest or harassment from locals?

The second Saturday in April is a day of wonder on Lake Tahoe, the grand finale of a truly amazing ski season. That week, there was a storm and a few feet of snow, with more snow in January, February and March than in the Tahoe area. The storms of late summer are heavenly.

At 10 a.m., the vehicle heads for the Palisades Tahoe, one of Lake Tahoe’s most popular ski resorts. The main parking lot was already full of thousands of cars, and the parking lot manager pointed to the back parking lot, next to the air conditioning line, next to the clock tower, next to the Olympic People's Hotel, next to the parking lot. . I walked into one of the dozens of stations, a 20-minute walk from the elevator to the ski resort.

Why end up writing so many cars? Of course, I remember it being a celebration of Earth Day.

The annual festival, held in the town of Olympic Valley, celebrates the atmosphere, unites the local community and unites efforts to change climate. However, most of the participants in the festival drive private cars. It’s an amazing display of Taho’s hilarious experience almost every day.

The future of Lake Tahoe

A few days later, regional councilors and government employers meet at the Tahoe County Planning Council's monthly meeting to discuss the challenges facing the Tahoe Basin, including pollution, transportation, the housing crisis, and large-scale tourism.

First, the Tahoe Welfare Center presented its findings in a regional survey and analyzed Tahoe’s $ 5.1 billion economy, which led to an increase in low-wage and low-wage jobs. Too long. The average salary in Tahoe is about $ 53,000 a year. As of January 2022, the average price of a home in Lake Tahoe is $ 950,000. Nearly a quarter of respondents said they were struggling to make a living. In this context, most respondents to the Tahoe survey are not optimistic about the future of the region .

The next presentation was about a plan called Destination Stewardship. This is the roadmap for a new word in Tahoe: "Sustainable Tourism." The goal is to control some aspects of life in Tahoe - unbearable housing costs, the massive exodus of local workers who can't finish, the rubbish and dog debris piled up on the sidewalk, and the flow of vehicles for the Earth Day festival. they seem to exist. Out of control.

“We know this issue is not going to go away,” Julie Reagan, head of foreign affairs at the Tahoe County Planning Council, told the committee.

Tahoe is visited by about 15 million visitors each year. The basin covers more than 80% of government land. "These people will continue to come," Reagan said, "and we want them to come because we have government land."

So the question is, how did Taho cross that line? How do you reach millions of visitors every year and at the same time protect your economy from becoming dependent on tourism? How does Taho create good jobs that attract sustainable residents? How to build a cheap and desirable, but not spacious, neighborhood? But how can Taho be so welcoming and inclusive for the millions of people who come to enjoy their public land, their hatred of tourism, their local unrest, their protests, their attitude toward visitors?

Destination stewardship is a turning point on Lake Tahoe, an opportunity to explore the future of tourism and local life.

Greg Miller is the executive director of the Center for Responsible Travel, an expert in sustainable tourism and a consultant hired to conduct an interview with Tahoe leaders. At the council meeting, Miller spoke on issues such as "a shared vision of shared benefits," community centralization, commitment to sustainability, and the involvement of a "low-wealth community," including neighbors, second home owners, night guests, and visitors. .

Everything is very conceptual, without too many handles. However, Carol Chaplin, president and CEO of Lake Tahoe Visitors, told the committee at the April meeting that plans such as destination management are key to adapting her organization to the future agreed in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Meanwhile, tourism marketing teams, such as the Lake Tahoe Visitors Organization, have closed their huts, as have tourism management teams. In epidemics, people are told not to come and send travel rules when there are restrictions on COVID. They avoid photos of famous Tahoe-driven locations, such as Emerald Bay and Sand Harbor, preferring to enter unfamiliar destinations around the lake.

Destination stewardship presentation just started. Discussions have been scheduled for this month in the communities around the reservoir to add a local voice. The more voices you hear, the more successful the plan will be.

"It works on Google, it works on Facebook."

I heard my name when I was wearing ski boots at Palisades Park. An old friend I hadn’t seen in a long time was pushing a car with my baby in the car. Her daughter was wearing a baseball cap again, she was already a mountain girl. They were going to the Earth Day Festival. He is a contractor who has built several luxury homes in the exclusive community of Tahoe.

I carry my skis on my shoulder and follow him as the car slips past the car in the parking lot.

- How are you? I wonder. "You have to deal with it."

She smiled when she saw that he was really busy. Half of the former crew find it very difficult to hire Tahoen. As a contractor, he told me that he had to work for the rich, the only way to be alone in Tahoen.

“I usually can’t work from home,” my friend said. "If I work at home like we do, I can't stay in Taho."

A few years ago we thought it was possible to do a great job as a contractor or wait for a table at a restaurant like mine and still pay rent while you’re skiing 100 days a year. I think time has passed.

“My sister and her boyfriend stay here and go skiing,” my friend said.

"Really?" I said in astonishment and hope.

“He works on Google and Facebook,” he said.

The truth is that their community is changing, and if people continue to work remotely, it can really help balance the economy, so there is less dependence on tourism and low-wage jobs. The big question at the moment is whether Silicon Valley tech workers will live full-time in Taho or return to the Gulf and become another generation of second home owners.

Tahoe Basin residents prefer it - real estate developers including tech billionaires and lake palaces, yes, but also old ski patrols or restaurant managers who live in small A-frames in the trees. And it’s also loved by people living outside of the Tahoe Valley - in Trucky, Reno, Sacramento and the Bay Area and hundreds of miles around the world. This is a public place. The locals are well aware that tourism is what allows them to visit beautiful places. For visitors, Tahoe is one of the most popular public areas in Northern California, one of the easiest places to access the mountains, fresh air and find peace in turbulent times.

পর্যটন নিয়ন্ত্রণের বাইরে চলে যায়, যখন স্থানীয়রা অভিভূত এবং নিপীড়িত বোধ করে, যখন আশ্রয়প্রার্থী শহরের দর্শনার্থীরা একই স্তরের শহুরে ট্র্যাফিক, একই ঘৃণ্য শহুরে সম্পর্ক, সমস্ত ফ্রন্টে ঘৃণার মুখোমুখি হয়।

স্টুয়ার্ডশিপ এটাই সমাধান করতে চায়। আমি এটা ঘটবে আশা করি.