Best Management Practices are methods to help developed properties function more like natural, undisturbed forest and meadowland. Water that is conveyed to a lake by an undisturbed watershed is usually quite pure, because the watershed's soils and plants act as a natural water purification system.

BMPs help developed properties mimic natural conditions, preventing sediment and nutrients from entering our surface waters and filtering runoff water through the soil. By implementing BMPs, property owners can help slow the loss of lake clarity. BMPs prescribed for residential properties usually fall into the following categories: vegetating and mulching bare, disturbed soils; infiltrating storm water runoff from impervious surfaces; paving dirt driveways and roads; and stabilizing or retaining steep slopes and loose soils. Mulching and vegetating soils helps them to absorb rain and snow melt like a sponge, mimicking natural conditions. TRPA regulations require that native and/or adaptive vegetation is planted, reducing the amount of irrigation and fertilization needed, thereby reducing nutrient loading and runoff even further. Runoff from impervious surfaces is stored and infiltrated in specially designed systems, which allows the storm water to filter through the soil instead of letting it collect and run off the property. Paved driveways are a good BMP because dirt driveways become compacted over time, allowing storm water to flush dirt off of them into surface waters. Also, vehicle tires pick up sediment from dirt driveways and track it on to street surfaces, where it flushes into storm drains and ultimately Lake Tahoe during the next rainstorm. Unstable slopes and loose soils can be stabilized in several ways depending on the steepness of the slope, including attractive methods that utilize native vegetation and rock. Steeper slopes may require wood or rock retaining walls, terraces, or willow wattles.