A revised proposal from State Parks in 2013 doesn’t substantially change the open issues.

• Washoe Meadows should remain a state park and none of its originally designated lands should be taken away for a golf course development. The Legislature voted to acquire this land in 1984 in order to preserve extraordinary natural resources and protect the water quality of Lake Tahoe. These unique resources haven’t gone away and they shouldn’t be destroyed. Preserving the Tahoe Basin’s watershed remains among the key reasons Washoe Meadows should remain protected as state park and not be sacrificed to a golf course.

• Washoe Meadows State Park’s declassification in order to permit a golf course is a dangerous precedent.  If this state park can be sacrificed to development, no California State Park is secure.  Which state park may be next?

• The economic and environmental analyses the state used to justify building a golf course are flawed and out of date.

• This project is about restoring a river and protecting Lake Tahoe, as required by law. But the priority seems to be how to remodel a golf course. Scientists, experts, public officials and citizens agree that the health of the river and Lake Tahoe shouldn’t be sacrificed to a golf course. The Meyers Plan suggests that Californians could be enjoying many types of family-family recreation here, but the State Parks focus remains on just one group of users: Golfers. There are nine other golf courses in or near S. Lake Tahoe. Golfers have many alternatives to the Lake Tahoe Golf Course, which, because of its location, has been degrading Lake Tahoe for five decades.

We took legal action as a last resort when State Parks and the Parks Commissioners failed to follow the law and address the public’s environmental concerns, as required under CEQA.

We support the restoration of the Upper Truckee River, but destroying a state park to build a golf course isn’t the way to do it.

State Parks can begin to restore its reputation by rethinking its plan for Washoe Meadows and get back to its mission of protecting the state’s natural, cultural, and recreational resources. Learn more.