CA-NV license plates benefit Tahoe’s environment

Lake Tahoe license plates are paying off.

California Tahoe Conservancy and Nevada Division of State Lands, which oversee the distribution of funds from their respective states, in March allocated cash collected from the specialized plates.

Both programs started in 1998 as a way to fund environmental projects in the basin.

In California, the initial plate costs $50, then $40 to renew. Approximately 96 percent of those dollars reach the CTC.

In March, the CTC announced its intention to sign a two-year marketing contract with S. Groner Associates of Cerritos. A main goal is to increase sales by 20 percent from 2025 numbers.

New sales last year were 2,251, with 17,638 renewals. Renewals for the most part have been decreasing since 2021 when they were at 18,503. New sales that year were 1,868. Sales have increased about 9 percent each of the last two years.

Of late, the Conservancy annually receives $750,000 from the plates. There was a time when that figure was more than $1 million.

In Nevada, $25 of the initial $61 fee and $20 of the $30 annual renewal supports the causes in the basin. More than 36,000 Nevadans have purchased or renewed their

In total, more than $14 million has been generated by the Nevada plates, which has funded more than 197 projects in the Silver State.

At the March CTC board meeting $110,000 was earmarked for Lake Tahoe Community College’s Wilderness Education-Washoe Partnership Program; up to $60,000 to the city of Richmond for the Pathfinders: Youth Outdoors Program; and up to $30,000 to the Golden Gate Bird Alliance for the Birding for Everyone Fellowship.

Those dollars are all part of the Tahoe for All grants program.

“One of the uses for California Lake Tahoe license plate funds is to support recreation and public access in the Lake Tahoe Basin in line with the Conservancy’s mission, strategic plan and racial equity action plan. In California and nationwide, outdoor access and its benefits are not equitably available to all communities,” Chris Mertens, CTC’s recreation and public access program supervisor, said. “The Conservancy board has emphasized that Tahoe for All grants should provide opportunities for people from across California to access programming that occurs within the basin.”

Other recent or ongoing projects in Tahoe receiving California license plate money include:

• Demolition of Motel 6.
• Management and maintenance of Carnelian West Beach, Patton Landing Beach, Sandy Beach, Moon Dune Beach, North Tahoe Beach and Secline Beach. (CTC owns them all.)
• Facility and access improvements at Patton Landing Beach and North Tahoe Beach are expected to begin in 2027.

The more than $1.2 million the Nevada Division of State Lands distributed this year went to:

• Bourne Meadows Basin biochar effectiveness project. This summer marks the beginning of project monitoring.
• Lam Watah boardwalk construction is planned for this fall.
• Spencer’s Cabin Historic Restoration at Spooner Lake. Design will begin this year, with restoration completed in 2027.
• Guiding whitebark pine restoration in the Lake Tahoe Basin.
• Sand Harbor State Park boat dock repair to be completed by summer.
• Tahoe AIS Defense Team and Eyes on the Lake golden mussel prevention.
• Chipmunk genetic analysis and land management implications. The study starting this spring will provide the first documented data on Allen’s chipmunk.
• TRPA’s Tahoe in Depth summer and winter 2026 editions.
• Updating TRPA’s Lake Tahoe Recreation Threshold; a first since 1982.
• Highway 50 summit wildlife and trail crossing study to determine the feasibility, location, and possible structure of a pedestrian and animal crossing.

Note: A version of this story first appeared in the Tahoe Mountain News.