More than 1,000 people were expected to attend. “With the major leaders gathered at today’s event, it is my hope that this forum – coupled with the creation of the California-Nevada Basin Fire Commission that I suggested to Governors Schwarzenegger and Gibbons, will result in real changes to the proper management of our forest and keep Lake Tahoe blue.” Commissioned in 1997, the Tahoe Forum brings together environmental and government leaders, representatives of the federal government, business organizations from around the country in an effort to improve upon or create cooperative initiatives to maintain the beauty and integrity of the basin. 

A main focus of this year’s meeting was to review the efforts to prevent wildfires, reduce forest fuels, and allow residents more flexibility in creating defensible space on their private property. This year’s forum brought back many of the key role players that enacted the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act, for which Congressman John Doolittle was the lead author in the House of Representatives.  The act was co-sponsored by Senator Dianne Feinstein and the Tahoe Congressional delegation from the State of Nevada and was signed into law on November 13, 2000.  The bill authorized $300 million over ten years for environmental restoration in the Tahoe Basin, including activities to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires.