 In June 2000, Andrei Suknev made a presentation about the Great Baikal Trail project to representatives of the World Bank, the United States Forest Service, Greenpeace, and the leaders of environmental agencies in the Irkutsk Oblast and the Republic of Buryatia.This presentation met with a lively response from the Deputy Chief Forester of the Lake Tahoe watershed, Ed Guy, who was familiar with the Tahoe Rim Trail, a similar system of trails at Lake Tahoe.In 2001, Guy organized a trip of senior officials from the U.S. Forest Service to Lake Baikal.