Uneasy Settlement
Many of the members agreed the Forum has made great strides and that the Interim Report submittal is a valuable contribution. Forum member and Tahoe Architect, Elise Fett, said: "We have come a long way and the members have worked together to achieve so much."

Much of the day was spent in debate over wording and interpreting language. Forum member and Executive Director of the League to Save Lake Tahoe, Rochelle Nason, strongly believed the Transmittal Cover Letter needed much work, "I think it is important that we define what recommendations we are submitting for review and the areas where we have not reached consensus and are still undecided."

Dissent
An hour into the meeting the members were discussing the final wording for the Preamble. On bright yellow paper with highlights in red lettering, an unannounced letter surfaced for general consumption. It was titled: CRITICAL JUNCTURE FOR PATHWAY 2007 AND THE LAKE.

The byline read: 3-16-06 observations by Forum member, Michael Donahoe, National Conservation Representative. By the fifth sentence in the letter Donahoe was urging the reader to pick-up another document crafted by Forumn member, Steve Teshara. It was titled: "Unclear Process Leads to Unclear Results."

Simultaneously, Forum member, John Singlaub of TRPA, addressed wording on page 3 line 7 of the Preamble. He explained, "...provisions of Resolution 82-11 should be exchanged with provisions of the (TRPA) Compact." Singlaub offered his take on the undercurrent of the situation: "Some Members are having trouble with wanting to do more than has been requested in this process."

Michael Donahoe and Steve Tershara contended: "Moving forward to form more recommendations and management strategies makes no sense without the (awaited) scientific data needed to develop Carrying Capacities, Indicators, and Standards."

Donahoe and Tershara further interpret, the P7 Process (set in motion at the first Forum meeting in 12-14-04) to have clearly outlined on page 9, "...the TRA Compact Requires TRA to first establish Environmental Threshold Carrying Capacities (ETCC's) ..."

They argued that going on to Management Strategies, before having Indicators and Standards and without the proper scientific data is the wrong direction. "We see no choice but to stop, wait for the key scientific studies/models to be completed, study basin-wide carrying capacities 20 years into the future, develop/adjust thresholds, and conduct the proper environmental documentation."

The Forum Will Press On
The meeting ended with emotional goodbye to Lisa Beutler and Dale Schafer, (Forum) mediators from the Center for Collaborative Policy. Starting April 27 a newly contracted team will mediate the Forum meetings. In a final bid for due celebration, several members joined the two mediators for a farewell libation in the casino bar.    --By Jules Witek