The trash photos went viral soon after the Fourth of July. Surely, you saw them. The beaches of Zephyr Shoals, an unmanaged stretch of beach on Tahoe’s east shore, looked like a dumping ground, scattered with coolers, cans, food wrappers, towels, shoes, and discarded tents. Volunteer crews organized by the League to Save Lake Tahoe collected 8,500 pounds, with 6,279 from the Zephyr beach alone, of garbage on the sand and in the water around the Basin on July 5.
By all accounts, we’ve reached a tipping point in Tahoe. During peak times in winter and summer, roadways around the region are jammed with cars, making access to popular places like ski resorts and select beaches nearly impossible.
“In the height of summer, it’s hard to get a spot at a restaurant or drive from one side of town to the other,” says Dave Wilderotter, a Tahoe City resident who opened his first Tahoe Dave’s ski shop in 1977 and now owns six shops in the area. “It’s not that there are just more people here, it’s that our mindset is different. It used to be more of a community feel. I don’t want to lock the gates to Tahoe, but it’s hard to imagine that we need more advertising to get people to come. We are slowly losing our quality of life.”