TBI was established in 1990 to help preserve Lake Tahoe in California and Lake Baikal in Siberia, as well as other significant and threatened lake ecosystems around the world. This preservation is realized through environmental education programs, research, and international exchanges of students, scholars, and practitioners in science, policy, economics, and other related disciplines. TBI is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the United States based in the City of South Lake Tahoe (California, USA). TBI has staff operating in South Lake Tahoe, Irkutsk (Irkutsk Oblast, Russia), and Ulan Ude (Republic of Buryatia). Operations are managed by the US-based Executive Director and programs are coordinated by the US-based Programs Director in conjunction with Russia-based Program Coordinators in Irkutsk and Ulan Ude.