Butt, A. Z., K. Comanor, K. Krauter, D. S.Olsen, J. P. Potyondy. (1999). Impacts of land use on sediment concentrations of selected streams, Lake Tahoe basin; analysis of GIS data. American Water Resources Association Technical Publication Series TPS, vol.99-3. Bethesda, AWRA - American Water Resources Association:509-515.

Abstract
To investigate the relationship between land use and a watershed's sediment load, we compiled information for seven Lake Tahoe Basin streams from the Tahoe Environmental GIS database. For each stream, we delineated four buffer zones (50, 100, 250, and 500 m) surrounding the stream. Within ARC/VIEW, we calculated percent cover for five land use types (residential, commercial, natural, recreational and miscellaneous) within each of the buffers and within the total watershed as a whole. By plotting the average sediment concentration versus percent coverage for each land use type, we found each land use type had a maximum correlation with a unique buffer zone. Natural land use exhibited a negative correlation within all buffer sizes and a maximum correlation within the 100 m buffer zone. Maximum correlation (R (super 2) = 0.79) for recreational use was in the 50 m buffer, while correlation for commercial land use increased with increasing buffer size. In correspondence analysis, no land use type is primarily associated with any one buffer, indicating that no buffer is dominated by a single land use type. Multiple regression models of percent land use and average sediment concentration for each of the buffers also indicated significant interactions (R (super 2) >0.81) between the land use types. Analyzing land use classes in the varying buffer sizes clearly shows that planning must consider both existing and proposed land use type and distance from the stream if land use planners in the basin wish to reduce sediment discharge (and the resultant eutrophication) to Lake Tahoe.