Tahoe locals protest tourists who leave trash, won’t wear masks. ‘We’re being bombarded’

Too much trash. Too many campfires. Too many people crowding beaches. And not enough masks.

Starting Friday afternoon, locals in the Lake Tahoe region are planning a series of protests aimed at telling tourists to either stay home, or at least clean up after themselves.

Longtime South Lake Tahoe resident Josh Lease organized the protests after growing increasingly frustrated at swarms of people on beaches and festering piles of trash.

“I ask you all to please share your stories, pictures of heaps of garbage,” he wrote in a widely shared Facebook post announcing the protests earlier this week. “As a community I know (we) do our best to clean up after our temporary visitors, but when the locals aren’t going out because we’re being bombarded with disrespectful so called humans it’s hard to want to go out … and (play) our role to help Keep Tahoe Blue.”

The protests are scheduled 4 p.m., Friday and 9 a.m., Sunday in Truckee, Tahoe City, Meyers, Incline Village and Kings Beach, according to the Tahoe Daily Tribune.

It’s the latest flare-up in the tourism-dependent region since the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns began in March. Alarmed at tourists potentially bringing the coronavirus to their towns and overwhelming hospitals, local tourism industry officials took the unprecedented step of actually urging people to stay home.

Preparing for extra garbage

Those campaigns have since ended, but frustrations continue over full vacation rentals, campgrounds, beaches and parking lots as well as flagrant disregard for local mask orders especially during the July 4th holiday weekend.

The holiday crowds prompted El Dorado County health officials to say they were troubled by a subsequent spike in COVID-19 infections in that corner of the otherwise relatively coronavirus-free county.

Trash has been a serious problem. Local waste-management agencies say they’ve had to bring in extra Dumpsters to handle it all, and they’re barely keeping up, leading to strains on their budgets.

Then there’s the fire risks as the summer fire season ramps up as a potentially record-breaking heatwave hits the region this weekend. Despite officials banning campfires this year, Tahoe National Forest firefighters have had to put out a record-breaking 19 escaped campfires so far this summer.

The U.S. Forest Service reported that’s more than double the previous record of escapes set in 2018.

Placer County Supervisor Cindy Gustafson who represents the Truckee area, said she understands the frustrations, but she hopes the community doesn’t embrace anger at the protests. Instead, she urges those frustrated to participate in the local tourism bureau’s “Take Care” program, which urges responsible recreation.

“Let’s put that energy into helping educate and helping clean up,” she said.

This story was originally published August 14, 2020 at 11:50 AM.