The California Tahoe Conservancy brought together more than 75 people from government, consultants, residential and environmental groups for a two-day look at the progress of restoring the Upper Truckee River. Dr. Jeanette Howard, of the Nature Conservancy, says part of the problem is getting the parties to agree on what it means to restore a river.

"First you have to define what restoration looks like, what do you want to restore this to and there are a variety of tools to get to that place, but first identifying a vision for this watershed as a whole and what does health mean?" said Howard.

There was general agreement that more leadership is needed to identify funding sources, resolve scientific conflicts and bring consistency across all jurisdictions.