A longtime environmental advocate was honored for his decades of work to protect Lake Tahoe during a major gathering of regional leaders.
E. Clement “Clem” Shute, a California attorney recognized for his extensive legal and environmental work, received the Dianne Feinstein Lake Tahoe Award during the 2025 annual Lake Tahoe Summit held today in South Lake Tahoe.
The award honors people who have shown a longstanding commitment to protecting and improving the Lake Tahoe environment and is named after the late Senator Dianne Feinstein.
Shute was involved in Lake Tahoe conservation efforts from the early days of the environmental movement.
According to the award presenters, he played a key role in the creation of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) in 1969, the first bi-state agency of its kind. He later helped strengthen the agency’s regulatory foundation and defended its policies before the nation’s highest courts.
In 2011, more than 40 years after first helping establish TRPA, Shute returned to serve as one of California’s representatives on the agency’s 15-member Governing Board. For the next nine years, he played a central role in negotiating an update to the Lake Tahoe Regional Plan in 2012. TRPA Executive Director Julie Regan credited Shute’s leadership during that period with helping to repair and strengthen the partnership between California and Nevada.
“Clem embodies the spirit of collaboration and partnership that has underpinned Lake Tahoe’s protection for more than 55 years,” Regan said. “During the Regional Plan Update, his extensive knowledge and commitment to collaborating with Nevada officials brought the bi-state partnership back together. Lake Tahoe remains one of the clearest bodies of water in the world thanks to leaders like Clem over the decades.”
Shute began his legal career in the California Attorney General’s office, where he worked with the San Francisco Bay Area Conservation and Development Commission. His contributions in appellate courts led to significant environmental law precedents. In 2002, he helped defend the Lake Tahoe Regional Plan before the U.S. Supreme Court in Tahoe Sierra Preservation Council v. TRPA, a case that remains influential in land-use law. In 2015, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the California State Bar.
Shute’s connection to the lake dates back to his childhood, when he spent vacations with his family on the North Shore.
“When given the chance to help ‘save Lake Tahoe,’ the choice was easy,” he said. “Looking back, it’s incredible to see just how much has been accomplished collectively. It is humbling to be included among the major figures in Lake Tahoe’s preservation, and I feel those who were alongside me share in this award.”
Senator Feinstein, who co-founded the Lake Tahoe Summit along with the late Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, was the first recipient of the award in 2021. The summit, now in its 30th year, continues to bring together federal, Tribal, state, and local leaders to confront environmental challenges in the Tahoe Basin.
In 2022, scientist Dr. Charles Goldman received the award for his pioneering research that revealed how poor development practices were harming the lake’s clarity.
