The Sierra Nevada contains three national parks, twenty wilderness areas, and two national monuments. Its crown jewel is Lake Tahoe, the largest alpine lake in North America. A premier destination for tourists and environmentalists and the traditional home of the Washoe people, the history of Lake Tahoe and the Tahoe Basin is a complex mixture of geology, conquest and resettlement, industry, adventure, and grand vistas. In The Nature of Lake Tahoe, artist and visual scholar Peter Goin presents a visually stunning history of the Tahoe Basin over a hundred-year period, 1860 to 1960. That centenary period includes and reflects major changes to the lake and its environs. After the advent of color photography, the nature of Lake Tahoe’s visual history forever changed, often replaced by photographs of sunsets, skiing, and crystal-clear water. The images collected include previously unpublished photographs and gatefolds that showcase Tahoe’s elemental identity.  This project, archive, and book contains many restored photographs, images that reinforce Lake Tahoe as a barometer of environmental health, providing evidence of Lake Tahoe’s new nature.