Lake Tahoe, known for its idyllic beaches and crystal clear waters, receives 2 million unique visitors every year. Historically, this tourist destination status has put local communities and the environment under pressure to keep up with the influx of people visiting the area.
Several organizations in the Lake Tahoe Basin partnered together to protect the area and better serve its communities through ashared destination stewardship plan. Latinos are one of the largest communities in the Tahoe area, accounting for roughly 30-50% of the population, according to data in the Lake Tahoe Destination Stewardship Plan.
However, despite making up a sizable portion of the population, the Latino community feels excluded, noting that much of the content and signage caters only to English speakers,
“We heard a little bit of frustration and feeling like there's not enough representation and government and decision making by this community,” said Victoria Ortiz, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s Community Engagement Manager.
The Destination Stewardship Plan seeks to fix that, hoping to actively reach out to and represent the Latino population in both North and South Lake Tahoe.
The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency sent out bilingual survey forms in both English and Spanish in the initial stages of the plan, which received very little feedback from Spanish speakers. The agency also actively held meetings with both the North and South Lake Tahoe Latino communities, which Ortiz helped to organize and oversee. The concerns over transportation was a priority for Latino people in the North and South communities.
“Traffic is certainly a big concern, and frustration. So I would say that doesn't differ significantly from what we heard from the English speaking community,” she said.
Both English and Spanish speaking communities are also concerned about litter in the area, which primarily comes from visitors.
“Everyone really understood that we are a tourism based economy, we need to balance that economic driver and our livelihood that depend on it with the protection of the environment. But there's really a shared frustration about the trash and litter that's left behind by not just visitors, but also some residents,” Ortiz said.
One thing the TRPA learned was the importance of going through existing groups in the Latino community, who have the resources to reach Spanish speakers who feel excluded by most agencies in the region. Going through these existing groups can give them the ability to reach Latino communities in a way that is inclusive.
“Through the Family Resource Center, they have a group called Cafecitos, which is through the schools and connecting with parents, there's different leaders as well. So that was helpful for us, because I think that's been something that we always want to try to do. And we've struggled with seeing engagement on that end,” Ortiz said.
The Destination Stewardship Plan is a piece of a larger puzzle in Nevada, where state agencies are coming together to ensure that Spanish speaking communities are better represented in state parks and other public spaces.
Kendal Scott of the Nevada Department of Outdoor Recreation said that her agency is working to make Spanish content accessible to everyone living in or visiting the state.
“Every state agency is required to have a link or should at least work on developing a language access plan that outlines just the plan for when translation is needed. But we are trying to go above and beyond that requirement,” Scott said.
These translations could provide the Latino community with information on outdoor safety, environmental conservation efforts, and the health benefits of being outdoors. Scott hopes that this can improve accessibility to the outdoors for all Nevada citizens, starting with her project to promote the outdoors for health reasons.
“I worked to develop some messaging around the health benefits of spending time outdoors. So the physical, social, mental health benefits, we are working with some partners, including the Department of Wildlife and the Nevada Office of Minority Health and Equity,” she said.
Devin Middlebrook of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency hopes that organizations in the Tahoe area will be able to provide information about the basin in languages beyond Spanish. He believes that improving language services would make the area more accessible for everyone.
“Obviously in our region Spanish speakers are a major majority of that, but we get international visitors from all over the place,” he said.
Ortiz said the stewardship plan, officially released on June 19th, and is currently in the early stages of implementation, wants to ensure access for all.
“And the Latino community is a really important part of that. And we want to make sure that taking care of Lake Tahoe is a shared responsibility among everybody who comes to visit, live and work and play in Tahoe,” he said.
Sophia Holm is an environmental student reporter for Noticiero Móvil and KUNR.
