Truckee Stewardship Plan

In October 2020, Visit Truckee-Tahoe (VTT) formed as the first 501c6 official tourism authority for Truckee, California. About Us.

To address population surges due to increased residency and peak period visitation (summer/winter), the VTT Board developed a Two Year Strategic Plan FY 23/24-24/25 inclusive of a Truckee Stewardship Plan.

Get involved with Sustainable Truckee - Sign up for Truckee Stewardship Plan news, workshops, and surveys using this google form.

A Changing World

Rapid growth in travel and increased rural residency, has caused considerable friction between residents, governments, tourism organizations and visitors. If left unmanaged, this rise in usage for a beloved place will undermine everyone’s quality of life, which will in time, forever degrade a place and sense of community. Taking action with needed changes in infrastructure, programs and services is imperative.

Tourism & Visit Truckee-Tahoe's Responsibility

We believe all people have an inalienable right to feel safe, welcome and connected to our community while experiencing Truckee’s mountains, lakes, rivers, scenery and fresh air. Authentic, outdoor experiences should be accessible for everyone no matter who you are, where you live or where come from.

And while tourism is foundational to the fabric of Truckee’s community and locally-owned small business vitality, we must artfully balance economic results with impacts for both residents and visitors.

The goal is preserving local quality of life, visitor quality of experience, community character, and protection for our environment - keeping Truckee true to our roots, an authentic mountain town.

Sustainable Truckee - Programs, Services & Sponsorships

Upon formation in fall of 2020 and pre Covid-19, Visit Truckee-Tahoe launched the Sustainable Truckee initiative which now includes 20 programs, services and major funding sponsorships designed to protect Truckee’s environment, community and visitor-dependent economy. This forward thinking initiative laid a new foundation and serves as a case study for how and when to invite visitors to popular, rural towns.

Truckee Stewardship Plan

The Truckee Stewardship Plan is a major component of VTT's Two Year Strategic Plan (FY 23/24-FY 24/25) which focuses on an equitable approach, not tourism "business as usual", to protect our core values and manage growth. The Plan is a long-term roadmap with a high degree of citizen input that requires infrastructure improvements with metrics, accountability, and partnerships.

The Plan also requires continuous Truckee Resident Sentiment Surveys on which areas are most negatively impacting quality of life (i.e. trash/toilets, transportation, trails degradation, etc.).

The Truckee Stewardship Plan overlaps and interconnects with the Lake Tahoe Stewardship Plan in key areas such as regional messaging. However, the two plans have distinctly different geographic boundaries. In general, the Truckee Stewardship Plan map shares similar boundaries to the Truckee River Watershed.

Truckee Resident Sentiment Surveys

Visit Truckee-Tahoe is using FlashVote to measure resident sentiment in 2023. Results will help inform the Truckee Stewardship Plan. The first of two resident surveys was released on June 7, 2023. The survey identified key issues and impact areas regarding summer recreation in Truckee. The second resident survey is planned for end of July 2023.

‍View Resident Survey #1 results and key insights.

Truckee Stewardship Plan – Council

The courage to change business as usual, build new bridges and think completely differently in a rapidly changing world is the only way a Stewardship Plan is going to be effective as a guiding roadmap. The Truckee Stewardship Plan Advisory Council, includes some of the most forward thinking leaders who are willing to take a completely different approach for the greater good of Truckee’s community.

The Truckee Stewardship Council has different geographic boundary oversight, jurisdiction, and authority than the Lake Tahoe Stewardship Council. In general, the Truckee Stewardship Plan map shares similar boundaries to the Truckee River Watershed.

Visit Truckee-Tahoe - VIP Partners

The effort to develop a Truckee Stewardship Plan is a multi year project that began in 2020. With the help of our VIP Partners, we are well underway in developing a strategy for a tourism evolution from extraction (take) to regeneration (give and grow). View Our Partners

Visit Truckee-Tahoe is also a funding partner of the Lake Tahoe Stewardship Plan, which is interdependent with Truckee’s plan. View Lake Tahoe Stewardship Plan.

CCC - Champion, Convene, Catalyze - Monthly Leadership Forum

Being Destination Stewards takes thoughtful outreach and careful listening to the individual voices of every stakeholder, especially those who oversee organizations greatly impacted by high usage time periods when our infrastructure breaks down.

In winter 2021, Nevada County Supervisor Hardy Bullock (District Five: Truckee + Unincorporated Areas) created the CCC - Champion, Convene, Catalyze roundtable for all leaders to come together for near-term solutions due to peak period issues. Visit Truckee-Tahoe actively participates on monthly meeting planning and presentations.

The CCC provides a forum that keeps sustainability at the forefront of planning and engagement. This group is a cross section of destination, land-use and community leaders focused on the advancement of sustainable tourism for Truckee. The aim is to ensure that tourism preserves and even benefits the environment, locals' livelihood, and quality of life for our residents, and quality of place for our visitors.

Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) & United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS)

To ensure that Truckee embraces the highest social and environmental standards, our Plan is inspired by the Mountain IDEAL Standard, a GSTC (Global Sustainable Tourism Council), a recognized framework for sustainable destinations in mountainous areas, as well as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).