This organized oral session is a case study of the application of science to the restoration of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in the Lake Tahoe basin. Restoration has been an active pursuit for decades in the basin, but increased attention and funding over the past 10 years has resulted in tremendous progress toward restoration goals, as well as a wealth of information on the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to unprecedented restoration challenges. Restoration is focused not on Lake Tahoe alone, but rather the entire watershed with attention to the highly interdependent nature of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and the complex socio-economic context of the lake basin. Presentations span the range of ecosystem elements that are the primary targets of restoration, discuss their individual challenges and interactions with other primary elements in the system, and describe the nature of restoration efforts. Primary targets of restoration include the clarity of Lake Tahoe and water quality, air quality, watershed function, health and function of conifer and aspen forests, and biological diversity. The socio-economic context and its critical bearing on the success of restoration efforts are discussed, including progress toward an adaptive management approach to research, monitoring, modeling, and decision-making.