By Associated Press

A regional boss for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is lauding the work of a Reno-area nonprofit building a 116-mile bicycle path that follows the Truckee River all the way from Lake Tahoe to Pyramid Lake.

The Tahoe-Pyramid Bikeway was one of eight organizations in the western U.S. the EPA named as 2013 winners of its “environmental champion” award.

EPA Southwest Administrator Jared Blumenfeld said Tuesday the group had an “incredible vision” to connect the two lakes with a bike trail traversing the “spectacular landscape.”

The effort that began in 2003 will be 75 percent complete when the newest section is scheduled to open Aug. 23 between Floriston and Farad, Calif.

The final gaps remain in the mountains between Truckee and Verdi, and east of Reno near Sparks and Fernley.