Sunset: South Shore's fresh look: Lake Tahoe's biggest town gets new lodging and parks

With cobalt blue waters ringed by granite peaks, Lake Tahoe has always ranked high on Westerners' must-do vacation lists. But over the past two decades, there's been a growing concern about the health of North America's largest mountain lake. With development encroaching and pollution growing, Tahoe's famously clear waters have been taking on a cloudy, greenish tinge.

This year in South Lake Tahoe, the opening of a transit center and a hotel complex next door marks a milestone in ongoing efforts to save the lake by redeveloping the city's aging infrastructure. While completion of the $300 million plan will take many years, these first steps are putting a new face on Tahoe's most urban area while offering visitors improved links to lake and mountain recreation.

Tahoe on the brink

The causes of the lake's decline are as complex as its sensitive environment, but by 1980 it was dear that the main culprits were water and air pollution. Destruction of sediment-filtering wetlands by development allowed runoff loaded with pollutants--lawn chemicals, dirt, parking-lot grime--to flow unchecked into the lake. Coupled with particulates from air pollution, this chemical-rich soup acted as a powerful fertilizer, stimulating the growth of algae and clouding Tahoe's waters.

Research showed lake clarity had dropped by an average of more than a foot per year since 1960. Haphazard planning and lack of design controls didn't help, and by the early 1980s, the strip along U.S. 50 was tired and tacky.

About that time, environmentalists, led by the League to Save Lake Tahoe, began working with developers and government agencies to create a plan that, by the late '80s, had three goals: Replace blight with updated lodging and shopping; reduce pollution and restore natural habitat; and increase recreation access.

Is it working? Experts are guardedly optimistic: lake clarity improved slightly in four of the last five years.

Restoration from the shore up

In the summer, you can see some of the changes for yourself by biking along an easy path (or by driving the route) that connects you with better ways to get up on the mountain or down to the lake.

Start near the California-Nevada border, where the new Heavenly Village at Lake Tahoe adds grandeur to the casino corridor. Anchored by a pair of five-story, timber- and granite-trimmed hotels that dominate two blocks along U.s. 50 from Park Avenue to Stateline, the complex feels like the town's new heart. Couples and families stroll past shops and bustling cafes. In the center is a gondola serving Heavenly's ski area and biking trails.

The development's impact on the Stateline area is more than cosmetic. Its landscaping is designed to reduce polluting runoff by absorbing water; what isn't caught flows into a $20 million network of storm-water catch basins, drains, and filters that now snakes beneath U.S. 50 near Stateline.

The recent opening of the Stateline Transit Center, also in the village, is a first step in achieving another goal: reducing local traffic and air pollution. As the central hub for shuttle vans, buses, and the Nifty Fifty Trolley, the center will use GPS technology to coordinate area transit. Push a button at one of the 31 kiosks, and a satellite will track down the nearest ride and cue it to pick you up.

The restoration of local habitats has both beautified the shore and helped reduce runoff. Linear Park, a paved path along U.S. 50 between Ski Run Boulevard and Pioneer Trail, features native plantings and a gently curving bike path. Across the highway, a broad stretch of green fronts a manmade wetland.

One of the most appealing and dramatic examples of restoration is the Upper Truckee River Marsh. The lake's largest remaining wetland, it had been ravaged by the adjacent Tahoe Keys real estate development, a dredge-and-fill environmental fiasco of the '70s. Experts with California Tahoe Conservancy have reestablished much of the river's natural course and restored 500 acres of wetland to its former viability--and beauty.

Today tall rushes bend in the breeze along glittering braids of watery channels. Listening to frogs thrum and red-winged blackbirds sing, it's easy to imagine Lake Tahoe's unblemished past, and--if current restoration efforts continue--its newly burnished future.

RELATED ARTICLE: Exploring the new South Shore

Using our map as a guide, follow designated bike routes to visit South Lake Tahoe's key redevelopment areas. Start at U.S. 50 at Park Avenue. Allow at least two hours by bike. Tahoe Bike Shop rents road and mountain bikes ($30 half-day, $40 full day; 2277 Lake Tahoe Blvd.; 530/544-8060). For a travel planner, contact the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority (www.bluelaketahoe. corn or 800/288-2463).

1 Heavenly Village at Lake Tahoe. New complex has lodging, shops, and cafes. The gondola (10--sunset through Labor Day; $20; 800/243-2836) whisks you to hiking trails and head-swiveling views Marriott's Timber Lodge and Marriott Grand Residence Club (from $225; www.marriott.com or 800/845-5279) offer upscale rooms here; the Grand Residence has a spa and deluxe suites.

2 Stateline Transit Center. Open since spring, it provides service from Emerald Bay to Zephyr Cove in summer. Fee depends on type of vehicle; some vehicles transport bikes. www.laketahoetransit.com or (530) 542-6077.

3 Linear Park. Paved pathway through native plantings shaded by tall pines parallels U.S. 50.

4 Ski Run Marina. Glass-and-timber complex with shops and restaurants. Meadow naturally filters runoff, as do small "islands" of river rock. The wonderful lake views from Riva Grill (lunch, dinner daily; 530/542-2600) are equaled by the food.

5 Upper Truckee River Marsh. Extensive restoration project by California Tahoe Conservancy; good birding. (530) 542-5580.