Tahoe Project Podcasts

Allen Biaggi is a third-generation Nevadan from Douglas County. At the close of his 3-decade career in public service Biaggi served as director of the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources which oversees the divisions of environmental protection, forestry, state parks, state lands, water resources, conservation districts, the natural heritage and the wild horse programs. During his tenure he served as Chair of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency governing board. Now in his retirement, he serves on the board of the Tahoe Fund.

Casey Beyer is one of California Governor Jerry Brown’s two appointees to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board. This is part 2 in the interview. Here he speaks about the role of Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Board members in the final preparation of the Regional Plan document and in setting a course for the Tahoe Basin in the twenty-first century.

Casey Beyer is one of California Governor Jerry Brown’s two appointees to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board. Politics and policy were a part of his family life growing up in Tahoe. In this interview he shares a bit about his life as a native of Nevada and how he approaches representing the interests of the Governor and people of California in Tahoe decision-making.

The August 13, 2012 remarks of Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval are featured in this podcast. He underscores the “unprecedented collaboration” between the states of Nevada and California on the Regional Plan update, which he calls “a masterful compromise”. Highlighting Nevada’s recent contributions to environmental improvement at Tahoe he talks about the Total Maximum Daily Load memorandums of agreement the state is creating with Tahoe jurisdictions, about the fire fuels removal work undertaken at Van Sickle bi-state park and about positive trends in water quality.

This is part 2 in the interview with Leona Allen, firefighter and lifelong Tahoe resident. In this interview segment she talks about what she and her family did in the wake of the Angora fire which burned down her father’s house. Her father wanted to give something back to his neighbors. Today a model garden for defensible space using native plants is Allen’s “labor of love” on the lot where her father’s house once stood.

Welcome to part 3 in the interview with Patrick Rhamey, Vice President of Real Estate with Edgewood Companies. In this interview host Michelle Sweeney talks with him about the Edgewood Tahoe Lodge project. The existing Stateline Stormwater system treats runoff from properties that are on Edgewood Companies' land in the Tahoe Basin. Can this system serve as a model for public-private collaboration opportunities elsewhere in the Basin?

Welcome to part 2 in the interview with Patrick Rhamey, Vice President of Real Estate with Edgewood Companies. In this interview host Michelle Sweeney talks with him about the Edgewood Tahoe Lodge project--one of the first to apply new Total Maximum Daily Load methodologies to planning.

The proposed Edgewood Tahoe Lodge project includes a suite of upgrades to the Edgewood Company land at the lake. Today this land and associated ponds and wetlands remove about 400,000 pounds of sediment from flow to Lake Tahoe. Upgrades linked to the project, including an operations and maintenance plan, are projected to remove an additional 100,000 pounds of sediment from the system. The Edgewood Lodge Project is one of the first to apply new Total Maximum Daily Load methodologies to planning. In this interview Patrick Rhamey, Edgewood Companies Vice President of Real Estate, gives insight into the company’s approach to the project.

“If we are going to save this lake it is because people care and we work together and we make the necessary compromises and we take the action to do so," said Senator Dianne Feinstein on the occasion of the 16th annual Lake Tahoe Summit. Thank you for listening at TahoeProject.org.

This is the press interview with Senator Dianne Feinstein and Governor Jerry Brown following the 2012 Lake Tahoe Summit

Welcome to part 4 in the interview with Leo Drozdoff, Nevada Department of Conservation Director and John Laird, California Natural Resources Secretary. Are we entering a new chapter in the relationship between California and Nevada with the new Regional Plan and the bi-state effort that has gone into it? John Laird says “If this is paradigm shift then people will have to act in that new paradigm for a few years before we know it”. Hear his and Leo Drozdoff’s reflections on the accomplishments of the past year and their words about the states’ commitment to Tahoe into the future.

Welcome to part 3 in the interview with Leo Drozdoff, Nevada Department of Conservation Director and John Laird, California Natural Resources Secretary. Here they talk about efforts to improve water quality at Tahoe, about the Total Maximum Daily Load effort to reduce pollutants to the lake and about California and Nevada’s differing approaches to environmental protection.

In August 2011 Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval and California Governor Jerry Brown said to Leo Drozdoff and John Laird, “Well, you are it,” referring to the leadership role they were being asked to take on the states involvement in the Tahoe Regional Plan update. Leo Drozdoff, Nevada Department of Conservation Director and John Laird, California Natural Resources Secretary have made building a positive rapport between the states of Nevada and California a priority. Their efforts have been to make the states a “helpful, productive force in Tahoe” says Drozdoff in this interview. This is the first in a four-part conversation featured at Tahoe Project.org.

Welcome to part 2 of 4 in the interview with Leo Drozdoff, Nevada Department of Conservation Director and John Laird, California Natural Resources Secretary. This interview was recorded following a presentation the two made at the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, Regional Plan Update Committee on August 2nd. They presented the recommendations of a California-Nevada Consultation process which Secretary Laird referred to as an “historic” accomplishment, “but not the end, just the beginning”.

On August 2nd, 2012 Attorney Daniel Siegel, representing the California Attorney General’s Office, commented on the Tahoe Regional Plan and the California-Nevada Recommendations presented by California Secretary for Natural Resources, John Laird and Nevada Director of Conservation and Natural Resources, Leo Drozdoff. These comments were provided at the Regional Plan Update Committee meeting of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. The question at the close of this segment is asked by Shelly Aldean, Vice Chair of the Governing Board representing the Carson City Board of Supervisors.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, Regional Plan Update Committee, received on August 2nd 2012 the California-Nevada Consultation, Regional Plan Update Recommendations presented by Nevada Director of Conservation and Natural Resources, Leo Drozdoff and California Secretary for Natural Resources, John Laird. Following is a 6-minute segment of their remarks compiled from their 30-minute presentation.

Leona Allen is a lifelong Tahoe resident, a Lake Valley Fire Protection District firefighter and a founder of the Lake Tahoe Basin Fire Academy. In this interview she shares insight into wildfire preparedness, her family's experience of loss in the Angora fire and the success of the Fire Academy where she is among the program faculty at Lake Tahoe Community College.

Welcome to part 2 in the interview with Dr. Darcie Goodman-Collins in which she talks about the League to Save Lake Tahoe's focus on water quality, about the proposed transfer of authority to local government and more of the issues central to the Regional Plan update.

League to Save Lake Tahoe Executive Director Dr. Darcie Goodman-Collins has been at the helm for five months now. She has seen to the consolidation of League staff into one office and is committed to the organization’s becoming more involved in the community. Learn more about the changes at the League in this Tahoe Project interview with Darcie Goodman-Collins.

"How do we maintain this real place? That is a challenge that keeps me awake at night," says Tony Lashbrook. In this, part 2, of the conversation with the Truckee Town Manager hear Lashbrook's reflections on Truckee's authenticity and unique assets and about his team's search for prosperity when the traditional tools for redevelopment are no longer available.