Climate Resilience Dashboard
EIP Project Tracker
Lake Clarity Tracker
Monitoring Dashboard
Parcel Tracker
Threshold Dashboard
Transportation Tracker
This indicator measures the protection, restoration, and enhancement of stream environment zones (SEZ). Prior to the establishment of TRPA regulations that limit development in SEZ, these lands outside of developed areas were degraded through harmful activities like grazing. SEZ plays a variety of critical roles including natural water filtration, storage, and conveyance of surface runoff. Naturally functioning SEZ also provides open space, flood flow capacity, riparian vegetation, fish and wildlife habitat, and buffer urban uses in developed areas. Through the Environmental Improvement Program, numerous SEZ restoration projects have been completed over the years and are planned for the future. SEZ restoration is tracked through the Lake Tahoe Environmental Improvement Program, and SEZ condition is monitored by EIP partners and TRPA.
Acres of SEZ Restored by Lake Tahoe Environmental Improvement Program Partners in the Lake Tahoe Region between 1980 and 2020.
Enhanced – Habitat is considered enhanced when actions are taken that heighten, intensify or improve one or more habitat functions for the benefit of special status species, water quality, property protection, recreation or scenic quality. Enhancements result in a net gain in function but not in area of the aquatic resource.
Restored – Habitat is considered restored when actions have been taken that re-establish or rehabilitate a SEZ with the goal of returning natural or historic functions and characteristics to a degraded SEZ. Restoration actions can rebuild a former SEZ and result in a gain in both SEZ area and function.
Lake Tahoe Environmental Improvement Program Project Tracker (https://eip.laketahoeinfo.org). https://www.laketahoeinfo.org/Indicator/Detail/9/Overview#
- Status
- Considerably Better Than Target
- Trend
- Moderate Improvement
- Confidence
- Moderate
- The threshold goal increases functioning SEZ by 877 acres from 17,544 to 18,421 (5%). Restoration programs have achieved 120% of the restoration target or 1,057 acres of restored SEZ, significantly better than target.
- While not included in the threshold standard assessment, an additional 95 acres of SEZ have been enhanced in the last 10 years.
Stream environment zones in the Tahoe Region and their rating. "A" rating is excellent condition, "B" is good condition, "C" is degraded condition, and "D" is very degraded condition.
- This indicator measures the protection, restoration, and enhancement of stream environment zones (SEZ). SEZs play a variety of critical roles including natural water filtration, storage, and conveyance of surface runoff. Encroachment on these areas reduces their potential to filter sediment and nutrients and the amount of surface runoff they can effectively treat. Naturally functioning SEZs also provide open space, flood flow capacity, riparian vegetation, fish and wildlife habitat, and buffer urban uses in developed areas. SEZ protection and restoration can also contribute to the achievement of other environmental threshold standards, including water quality, wildlife, fisheries, vegetation preservation, recreation, and scenic resources. Even seemingly unrelated threshold standards such as air quality and noise are affected by SEZs. For instance, aspen stands in SEZs next to roadways have been shown to moderate roadway noise and help block particulates from spreading to adjacent areas.
- Disturbance and degradation of SEZs in the Tahoe Region began in the 1800s through logging, grazing, stream, and river channelization, development, damming, fire suppression, and other activities, with environmental consequences that are still evident today. Higher temperatures and altered precipitation regimes forecasted as a result of climate change further threaten to alter the dynamics of SEZs in the basin.
EIP Indicators
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Acres of SEZ Restored or Enhanced
This EIP performance measure tracks the amount of SEZ that is restored or enhanced by EIP partners to regain natural or historic function and values.
Example EIP Projects
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Meyers Stream Environment Zone/Erosion Control Project
This project restored and enhanced 3.5 acres of SEZ in Meyers.
- In past threshold evaluations, it was estimated that there are approximately 21,944 acres of SEZ in the Region. In past evaluations, about 4,400 acres of SEZ were estimated to be disturbed, developed, or subdivided. Since the standard was adopted, 1,056 acres of SEZ have been restored, which is 120% of the standard. Therefore, this standard is “at or somewhat better than target”.
- Trend was determined by the amount of SEZ restoration that have occurred since 1982.
- Moderate. The EIP program tracks all SEZ restoration projects that have been completed over the years. However, the actual SEZ condition has not been tracked in the past. Therefore, confidence in the current status is moderate.
- Moderate. The EIP program tracks all SEZ restoration projects that have been completed over the years. However, the actual SEZ condition has not been tracked in the past. Therefore, confidence in the current trend is moderate.
- Moderate.
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