Source: Christopherson, John, and Ed Smith. 1995. The Tahoe Landscape: a BMP education program. J. Soil Water Conserv. 50:272-274.

This paper reports on the development of an educational, direct-mail newspaper for the Lake Tahoe Basin, designed to inform the general public about local needs in water and soil conservation. Christopherson and Smith tell of the diminishing water clarity of Lake Tahoe, associated with eutrophication and caused by the increase in nutrients and sediments from accelerated erosion, vehicle emissions, fertilizers, septic systems, etc. The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) was given the mandate by the U.S. Congress to improve the water quality of Lake Tahoe. The TRPA chose to encourage the voluntary use of Best Management Practices (BMP). As the result of a survey conducted by the University of Nevada, Reno, it was found that only 9% of the residents were familiar with the term "BMP." The University of Nevada Cooperative Extension and TRPA decided to implement a resident education program. The program was aimed to increase voluntary BMPs by the residents and increase awareness of cause-and-effect linkages between land use and water quality. A monthly, direct-mail newspaper was developed to meet their goals. The newspaper (THE TAHOE LANDSCAPE) contained "how to" information on BMPs and information on the cause-and-effect relationships. The newspaper was direct-mailed to 42,000 addresses in the Basin area. Through telephone surveys conducted in 1990 and 1992, a readership of 46 percent was found. The surveys were used to compare the environmental knowledge of the non-readers and the readers. The findings were that more readers than non-readers understood the causes of the diminishing water quality (37% vs. 26%) and eutrophication (65% vs. 45%). Approximately 38% of the readers knew the term BMPs versus a non-reader percent of 13.5. The most common BMPs that were implemented were revegetation, mechanical slope stabilization, and drainage improvements. The newspaper readers accounted for 80 percent of these implementations. The authors conclude that THE TAHOE LANDSCAPE had increased the understanding of environmental issues for the reader. It had also helped encourage voluntary participation in the extended preservation of the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Abstract author: Beth Wilcox, 20 October 1995.

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