A historic partnership among research institutions and local and federal agencies to advance research in the Lake Tahoe basin will be announced today when U.S. senators and top policy-makers from California and Nevada meet to assess progress at Tahoe during the past two years. The new agreement is intended to help researchers and agencies work together to preserve and restore the Sierra Nevada crown jewel. While much is known about the increasing algal growth, declining clarity and influences of development on the lake's watershed, further coordinated scientific inquiry into such areas as watershed repair and air quality is vital, say agreement co-signers. The memorandum of understanding between the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and a host of federal agencies and research institutions will coordinate the collection and sharing of data -- resulting in more efficient and effective research. Those signing the memorandum with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency include the University of California, Davis; U.S. Geological Survey; University of Nevada, Reno; Desert Research Institute; and the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station. "This is a perfect example of how the spirit of cooperation has thrived in the Tahoe basin in the two years since the presidential forum," said U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, who organized today's forum. "I am confident that this memorandum of understanding between these accomplished and dedicated agencies will make a powerful and positive impact on the Lake Tahoe basin. This just goes to show what we can accomplish when different agencies work together toward a common goal: protecting and preserving Lake Tahoe." "We are pleased that UC Davis was able to play a role in bringing together this unprecedented agreement between the agencies and academic enterprises that will now work in concert to protect and preserve Lake Tahoe," says UC Davis Chancellor Larry N. Vanderhoef. "This level of cooperation will do nothing less than combine the best possible resources and expert scientific knowledge to resolve the lake's most urgent environmental problems." Robert Flocchini, acting director of the UC Davis John Muir Institute of the Environment who participated in the drafting of the agreement, says the environmental problems associated with the lake are "so complex that, for a set of solutions to be found, individual research groups must partner together, to synergize, through a multidisciplinary effort." "Sound research is an important foundation upon which land managers and public officials build policy decisions that impact on environmental restoration and maintenance projects in the Tahoe basin," said Ken Hunter, vice president of research at the University of Nevada, Reno. "This memorandum of understanding will allow UNR, UC Davis, Desert Research Institute and the TRPA to work more closely and effectively with each other, and with other federal and state agencies charged with keeping Lake Tahoe blue." Highlights of the agreement include establishing a committee to determine what environmental issues may benefit from broader research inquiry; developing more formal coordination among Tahoe-area researchers to avoid duplication of efforts while resolving the most pressing problems; contributing to the Tahoe Research Planning Agency's research master plan; and developing outreach plans to share research results and recommendations. "I have a responsibility to my governing board and to the public to make policy recommendations based on the best scientific information available," said Jim Baetge, executive director of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. "This agreement will enable us to adjust and implement the Lake Tahoe Environmental Improvement Program with the greatest confidence that we are doing all we can to preserve this natural treasure." "This agreement formalizes the beneficial relationship already developed between the signatory agencies and institutions. It is exciting to bring together so much scientific power to address the issues of so great a national treasure," said Terry Rees, associate district chief of the U.S. Geological Survey. The landmark agreement is being announced during a half-day gathering at Sand Harbor State Park, at Sand Harbor, Nev., titled "Lake Tahoe: Working Together to Preserve a National Treasure" convened by U.S. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), and attended by U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, local, federal and state officials and researchers. The meeting today follows up on a visit two years ago by President Clinton and Vice President Gore to see firsthand the degradation of Lake Tahoe and to learn of the need for intervention to preserve the world's 10th-deepest lake. For more than 40 years, UC Davis researchers have strived to understand more about the health and potential restoration of Lake Tahoe. Currently, Professor Charles Goldman and his research associates at the Tahoe Research Group are working to learn more about what can be done to stem the loss of clarity in the lake, a situation that "must be addressed in the next 10 to 12 years before the lake reaches a point of no return," Goldman says. UC Davis research findings over the years resulted in the banning of dumped sewage into the lake, strict building control, installation of major erosion-control projects, establishment of water-quality thresholds and control of non-point source pollution.