For most visitors to Lake Tahoe, it's all about that lake: so huge and blue that it is easy to forget where all that water came from.

The biggest single source is the Upper Truckee River, which flows from south to north on its tumble through South Lake Tahoe, draining snowy peaks that ring Tahoe's southern end all the way into Alpine County.

Along the way, the river flows through Lake Tahoe Golf Course, an 18-hole course within Lake Valley State Recreation Area along Highway 50.

It is here that a Tahoe-sized controversy is coming to a boil.

To restore 1.5 miles of the river, the California Department of Parks and Recreation proposes to move half the golf course into adjoining Washoe Meadows State Park. The goal is to reduce erosion at the golf course that threatens Tahoe's famous water clarity.

The river would be restored to a meandering path, with slower, shallower flows and streamside trees, grass and shrubs.

Part of Washoe Meadows, on the other hand, would be converted from forest to golf course.

The idea alarms both golfers and residents – for very different reasons.

"They would be swapping degraded land for basically undisturbed land," said Carla Ennis, a resident of 34 years who lives on the border of Washoe Meadows park. "Our whole point of view is really in favor of saving some little shred of wildlife habitat. Why can't we just let things be?"

Golfers fear the project will drive up greens fees and change the golfing experience. There could be economic ripples on the whole region, said Bill Bryan, a Carmichael resident and second-home owner in Meyers who played the course with two friends Wednesday.

"Why destroy a beautiful golf course when there are other options?" Bryan said. "It's not going to draw people to Lake Tahoe. It's going to hurt the local economy something fierce."

Bryan paid $49 for his round of golf. The only other 18-hole regulation course on the South Shore is Edgewood Tahoe at Stateline, which offers spectacular lake views and greens fees to match: $110 to $240.

The state Parks and Recreation Commission is scheduled to vote on the plan at an Oct. 21 meeting at the golf course.

"We're trying to find the balance to make it available to various forms of recreation," said Cyndie Walck, the project manager and a state parks department hydrologist. "It kind of ends up being a lot of compromises that don't make anybody happy."

A force of nature

The river's original, meandering course was dredged into a straighter, deeper channel long before the Department of Parks and Recreation acquired the property in 1984. This probably began with a logging boom in the late 1800s, when the river was used to float logs to market.

Today that straighter channel churns through the golf course, with fairways and greens immediately adjacent. There is little or no habitat on the banks for birds and fish, and the river moves so fast that it has eroded the banks and scoured deep holes.

The Upper Truckee River is now one of the largest single sources of erosion into the lake, and most of the sediment it carries comes from the golf course.

The channelized river naturally seeks to reorient itself. As a result, its hydraulic power for years has eroded away at the golf course, in some places removing 50 feet of bank width over the past 20 years.

All that sediment ends up downstream in Lake Tahoe.

"It's one of the more treatable inputs of sediment to the lake," Walck said. "To restore the river, the golf course either has to go away, or it has to move."

Residents differ on how to solve the problem. There is a lot of conflict over converting part of Washoe Meadows State Park, which also borders the river.

The parks department has never completed a general plan for the park. It has no designated trails or other amenities. It is little-known except to locals, who have been criticized for seeking to protect a private playground.

Some say that isn't their intent.

"The park has had that property for 27 years and they haven't put up a sign or any trail markings," said Lynne Paulsen, a leader of Washoe Meadows Community, a group that opposes the golf course plan. "We don't want it to ourselves. We want people to know about it."

To others, golf itself is the enemy.

"I like no golf course," said Jason Catalano, a third-generation resident who was walking dogs through forested Washoe Meadows State Park on Wednesday. "I'd rather have the natural ecosystem intact. We don't have much of that left."

Golf revenue a factor

The parks department has considered eliminating golf, but is not recommending that option. It is frank about why: The golf course is one of the top five revenue sources in the state parks system.

Next year, the department plans to close 70 parks statewide because of budget cuts, and is looking for ways to generate more revenue – not less – at the remaining parks. It estimates the golf course also generates about $6 million annually in economic output for the local community, along with 70 jobs.

Some locals favor changing the course to nine holes, or switching to a more compact 18-hole "executive" course. Parks officials have studied both options, which would leave Washoe Meadows State Park undisturbed – but would compromise the golf experience and possibly jeopardize revenues.

The agency's preferred alternative would move nine holes into what is now Washoe Meadows State Park and adjust the boundaries of both properties.

The new holes would displace "forest upland" habitat, of which Walck said there is plenty in the Tahoe Basin. Hundreds of trees would have to be cut down to make way for tees and greens.

Walck estimates the restoration would cost about $10 million. Half that amount is expected to come from grants, the rest from the golf concessionaire. Walck acknowledges this would likely mean steeper greens fees, at least temporarily.

The project also would provide the first public streamside access for swimming, kayaking and fishing in areas now off-limits within the golf course. And it would link the existing regional Sawmill Trail, a popular biking and jogging route, through the property.

Most important, Walck said, the project would allow 1.5 miles of the river to return to its natural, meandering course. A major source of erosion would cease. The manicured green footprint of the golf course would be replaced by shaded riverbank, floodplain and meadows. There is precious little of that kind of habitat left in the Tahoe Basin, she said.

"It's really about bringing back the continuity of that habitat," she said. "It's like an animal highway, having a good riparian corridor."

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