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Environmental History of Lake Tahoe with David Antonucci
February 27, 2024 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
This 40 minute presentation done by David C. Antonucci will be held at the South Lake Tahoe Library starting at 5:30 pm. This event is hosted by the Friends of the Library and the Tahoe Area Sierra Club. After the presentation, Antonucci will be selling and signing his book, The Environmental History of Lake Tahoe, with 10% of the profits going back towards the work the Tahoe Area Group Sierra Club does. Light refreshments will be offered and seating will be first come, first serve.
How did we get to where we are today? Many Lake Tahoe residents and visitors ask this question as they look at the contradictory contrast between the natural environment and the human-built landscape. The answer lies in the 170+ years of Euro-American occupation of the Lake Tahoe Basin and sequential cultural eras that left Tahoe impacted. It is a compelling story with a complex cast of characters, beginning with native peoples, loggers, and extending to land developers, environmentalists, tourists, politicians, and scientists.
The Environmental History of Lake Tahoe explains how Native Americans conformed to the natural environment, and any changes they imposed were temporary and in harmony with nature. The founding of the Comstock Lode triggered severe changes in the watershed, water, fishery, wildlife, and vegetation. Some of the impacts persist today. In the early20thcentury, Tahoe emerged as a significant tourism destination, bringing accommodations, commercial services, year-round roads, traffic congestion, and water pollution. Acrimonious political battles ensued over the future of Tahoe, resulting in the creation of a basin-wide planning agency, furious litigation, civil protests, and violence. Eventually, the opposing interests compromise and agree to work together to solve environmental problems while supporting the local economy.
Well-illustrated and presented in an understandable and engaging style, the Environmental History of Lake Tahoe will give you the knowledge you need to comprehend today’s Lake Tahoe.
About David C. Antonucci:
David is a 48-year Lake Tahoe resident with two civil & environmental engineering degrees. He has worked for the Lahontan Water Board, Tahoe City PUD, and in environmental engineering consulting for over 50 years. During the 1970s, David did water pollution enforcement at Lake Tahoe. He served as an expert resource for the California Attorney General, League to Save Lake Tahoe, Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. David has published other books on the 1960 Winter Olympics and Mark Twain at Lake Tahoe and currently working on his next book, Geology of the Lake Tahoe Basin — An Exploration and Discovery of the Complex and Unique Geologic History of Lake Tahoe.
