Starting in the 1920's and 1930's, the lake's resorts were host to many Hollywood elite and prominent political figures. Author Peter Goin's book, Lake Tahoe (Arcadia Publishing, 2005) details this part of the Lake's history and talks about the steamers that frequently ran from point to point on the lake, whose whistles added to the trademark ethereal experience of the lake during that time period. Goin's book is heavy with historical details but in terms of academic merit, there is very little except for the few pages devoted to the Washoe Indians and their legacy. Squaw Valley, a Lake Tahoe ski resort hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics, which helped to solidify Lake Tahoe as an internationally renown travel destination. By the late 1960's, concerns had growth relative to the environmental impact that tourism and visitors were having on the lake. The book entitled, Lake Tahoe: A Fragile Beauty by Thomas Bachand (Chronicle Books, LLC, 2008) further explores this shift to environmental accountability and sustainability. Besides the beautiful photographs, Bachand provides a very detailed account of this shift in the words of many of Tahoe's residents. The scope of the book is limited however, and discussions about the environmental...

In 1968, the Tahoe Regional Planning Authority was started to oversee and control further development around Lake Tahoe. Besides development, the lake has also been affected by a gradual warming trend which contributes to its increased murkiness over the years. The article entitled, "The Warming of Lake Tahoe," Published in 2006 in the Journal Climactic Change (Authors Coats, Richard, Joachim Perez-Losada, Geoffrey Schladow, Robert Richards, and Charles Goldman) discusses this phenomenon further. The article is very scientifically written, and tough to decipher without a basic understanding of biology and earth sciences. It does however present a very convincing case that both human activity and geothermal events have begun to warm the lake, causing its trademark crystal clear blue waters to turn murky and green. Today Lake Tahoe is home to numerous ski and vacation resorts as well as a multitude of casinos, restaurants, and shops. Visitors are drawn by the combination of sheer natural beauty, recreation, and relaxation that the lake provides, as it has for over 150 years. Lake Tahoe has become an integral part of Nevada history and has contributed to…