At the 30th Annual Tahoe Summit, Cortez Masto Celebrates Progress and Addresses New Challenges Facing the Lake

FTP for TV stations of her remarks is available here.

Incline Village, Nev. - Today, U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) joined residents, advocates, organizations, and elected officials at the 30^th annual Tahoe Summit. She spoke about the achievements of the last three decades and acknowledged the work being done to tackle new obstacles that have emerged since the first Tahoe Summit in 1997.

Senator Cortez Masto has been a longtime advocate for Lake Tahoe, leading congressional efforts to protect the lake for future generations. In 2024, she passed the critical reauthorization of the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act to secure more federal funds to preserve and strengthen Lake Tahoe. Cortez Masto also helped pass the Great American Outdoors Act, which was signed into law to repair and maintain public lands nationwide. This year, she introduced the Douglas County Lands Bill to conserve land in the Tahoe Basin and the Santini-Burton Modernization Act to deliver more funding for better land management.

Below are her remarks as prepared for delivery:

Good morning! I'm pleased to be with all of you to celebrate 30 years of summits here at Lake Tahoe.

You know, I was just here last month to attend a naturalization ceremony in honor of America's 250^th anniversary.

I thought it was so fitting that America's newest citizens were being sworn in at one of the most beautiful places in the country.

How lucky we are that we get to come together here every year and talk about the work we're doing to make Tahoe a better place for residents and visitors alike.

Before we start, I want to thank all the firefighters, law enforcement and first responders who have been fighting the Bug and Stallion fires in Reno these past two weeks. Your lifesaving work will not be forgotten.

And of course I want to thank our host and my partner in the Senate, Jacky Rosen.

I also want to thank Chairman Smokey of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California; today's speakers; all of Team Tahoe; and our guest of honor, Tommy Caldwell.

If you don't know Tommy, just know you're in for a treat. His story is the kind of thing you watch movies about, and I'm thrilled to have him here!

We also need to recognize that this will be the last Tahoe Summit before Congressman Mark Amodei retires from Congress. I want to thank him for all his work in support of Lake Tahoe. We'll miss him, even if I won't miss following him in a speaking lineup!

And we can't celebrate the 30^th anniversary of this summit without acknowledging the public-private partnerships that have been essential to our work. That's what Team Tahoe is all about.

Senator Dianne Feinstein coined the term "Team Tahoe." When she and Harry Reid founded the Lake Tahoe Summit in 1997, I don't think they could have imagined the progress we would make in this region - or the challenges we would face.

Back in 1997, the Tahoe Summit was all about lake clarity. At that time, Tahoe was working to curb fuel and emissions pollution in the water. And here we are today, adding EV chargers at the shoreline so residents and visitors don't have to fuel their boats at all!

We've come so far in 30 years.

The bi-state Environmental Improvement Program has put stormwater infrastructure along 800 miles of roads to keep the lake clear of contaminated run-off.

The Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team has reduced hazardous fuels across more than 100,000 acres to help prevent wildfires.

And, we passed the reauthorization of the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act in 2024 so we can continue to protect the ecosystem and sustainable infrastructure in the Basin.

We have a lot to be proud of. But since 1997, new obstacles have emerged.

Today, our concerns revolve around the rising costs of housing, the increasing danger of wildfires, and improving our transportation infrastructure. And, of course, they revolve around sustainable tourism - we need to balance our ability to welcome visitors with maintaining a livable community and environment for residents.

So we have our work cut out for us. But together, we are going to keep working to protect this place we all love.

Let's start with housing. The dramatic increase in home prices and the high cost of property insurance has made it more difficult for residents to live and work here.

That's why we've been working to sustainably expand the number of homes for working families in Tahoe, so we can bring those prices down.

Tahoe needs to be able to support a real workforce and keep middle-class families in their communities.

And right now, those residents, many of whom have been here decades, are getting priced out in favor of billionaires. That needs to change.

I know we can make it more affordable for families to build a life in Tahoe, without overwhelming our small towns.

That's why I fought to pass the landmark 21^st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which is now law.

I was proud to include provisions in this bill to help lower costs here in Tahoe, like increasing the income threshold for our largest affordable housing block grant so Tahoe residents can more easily access it. The bill also creates a fund to encourage preserving and upgrading older homes, including fortifications for wildfire protections.

As wildfires become larger and more frequent, those home upgrades have become increasingly necessary. It has also become increasingly necessary to make sure our firefighters and Forest Service workers have the resources and support they need.

Unfortunately, we've seen the Trump administration eliminate employees and slash funding to the Forest Service, making it more challenging to manage the land and to control, mitigate, and prevent wildfires.

I'm continuing to demand transparency and answers from the White House. It's critical that we all push for more support for our firefighters and Forest Service employees.

But I'm not stopping there. I'm also pushing to pass my Western Wildfire Support Act, a bipartisan bill to provide comprehensive resources to prevent wildfires, enhance firefighting efforts, and support communities impacted by worsening wildfire seasons.

We make the most progress for Lake Tahoe when we all work together.

We've proven that before, especially as we've navigated challenges with our transportation infrastructure.

Thanks to the collaboration of our public-private partnerships, last year was another record year for transportation investments in the Basin. Currently, more than 17 transportation projects are underway across the region.

These projects include critical infrastructure improvements to reduce vehicle miles traveled, improve access, expand connectivity, and make the community safer, especially in the event of wildfires.

I just introduced a package of bills to help expand access to more clean transportation options, including zero-emission buses and personal vehicles. And I've been pushing to make that technology available for recreational uses, too, including by putting EV chargers in marinas around the lake.

Perhaps our most persistent hurdle that has emerged in the last 30 years is finding the balance of sustainable tourism.

It's critical that we invest in innovation that keep visitors safe, protect Tahoe's natural ecosystems, and improve the quality of life for local communities.

That's why I'm working with every federal agency I can to ensure our tourism economy has both the resources and specific support it needs to continue sustainably.

As we all know, that's a difficult line to walk, and it requires input from stakeholders throughout the Tahoe Basin.

When I'm creating policy, that's the first place I start. I bring regional voices and experts to Capitol Hill to make the case for Lake Tahoe and our efforts to protect it.

That's how I went about putting my Douglas County Lands Bill together.

Among other things, this legislation would convey 67 parcels of federal land over to the Lake Tahoe-Nevada State Park. Not only would this bolster conservation efforts, but it would also consolidate the park land under local and state management. It's a bipartisan bill Mark Amodei and I are working to get passed, and we're going to keep pushing for it.

Finally, I want to talk about my Santini-Burton Modernization Act, which will also help us in our sustainable tourism efforts.

Santini-Burton has its own history going back even before the existence of the Tahoe Summit.

In 1980, the original Santini-Burton Act was passed into law. That legislation used the revenue from land sales in Clark County to acquire land and to curb the threat of over-development in the Tahoe Basin. It led to the purchase of 16,000 acres. And now, 90% of the Tahoe region is held in the public trust.

These lands include popular outdoor recreation and conservation sites like the Upper Truckee River, multiple entryways to the iconic Tahoe Rim Trail, sections of Tahoe's East Shore, and Blackwood Canyon.

Now, the priority is to ensure we can use the remaining Santini-Burton funds to address long-standing land management needs, like supporting outdoor recreation, environmental conservation, and public infrastructure.

That's why I'm working with stakeholders throughout the region to pass the Santini-Burton Modernization Act and to ensure the funds that are available for Lake Tahoe stay in Lake Tahoe.

The bill has already had a hearing in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and I'm working on the next steps to get it passed out of committee and onto the Senate floor for consideration.

I want to emphasize that this bill is the product of a multi-year collaboration by Tahoe's state and local governments, TRPA, the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, non-profits, and the private sector.

Those public-private partnerships are what this is all about. When we put our heads together, we produce results.

Over the last 30 years of the Tahoe Summit, no matter what challenges we've faced, our collaboration and combined efforts have allowed us to take Tahoe to new heights.

We still have work ahead of us, and we know that the next 30 years will bring their own hurdles, but it's critical that we keep working together to address them.

Let's keep it up.

Thank you!

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