forests

Christmas tree permits for cutting on National Forest land in the Lake Tahoe Basin are sold out as of Tuesday, December 13, 2016. The Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit sold approximately 4,500 permits this year.

It doesn’t take a wildland fire professional to see how fuel reduction can protect forests and communities.

It just takes a field trip to the site of the Emerald fire near the southwestern shores of Lake Tahoe.

Despite burning at the same time and under similar conditions to the disastrous Little Valley fire, the Emerald fire was much less destructive.

If conditions are favorable, prescribed fire operations will return to the region on Tuesday, October 11 near Big Meadow off Highway 89 on Luther Pass.

There are 300 acres full of hand piles ready to burn. Christmas Valley residents may get some smoke as the flow will be in a north/northeast flow.

At the Lake Tahoe Summit last month, we saw the power of what we can accomplish when we work together. Progress over the last two decades was showcased when President Obama made his first-ever visit to Tahoe and said conservation and restoration efforts like ours are more important than ever as the nation works to adapt to a changing climate and create a more resilient environment.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE - To reduce fuels in the forest, as well as to promote forest health, the thinning of trees will resume between Fallen Leaf Lake and Camp Richardson Corral this week. Crews will also be working in the Spring Creek Homeowners Tract.

Whole tree and mechanical cut-to-length (CTL) tree removal will take place in these areas over the next several months, weather permitting and some areas will be closed for public safety as they do the cutting.

Lake Tahoe was at a crossroads in 1997. The lake’s famous water clarity, once measuring 100 feet, was declining year after year because of stormwater pollution from roads and developed areas and erosion from streams damaged by logging and cattle grazing.

Thinning of trees for fuels reduction and forest health will resume on Thursday, July 7 on approximately 178 acres of National Forest System lands on the northeast side of Highway 267, north of Lake Vista Road above Kings Beach and Tahoe Vista. Mechanical whole tree removal will take place off Forest Road 16N52 over the next several months and the area will be closed for public safety.

The number of dead trees in the Sierra Nevada are now at historic levels and have fueled the risk of catastrohpic wildfires according to the U.S. Forest Service.

They announced Wednesday that they have identified an additional 26 million dead trees in California since October 2015, bringing the total to at least 66 million dead trees in the state. The most recent additions are located in six counties across 760,000 acres in the Southern Nevada region.

June is wildfire awareness month at Lake Tahoe. And nine years later, the 2007 Angora Fire remains a vivid remember that wildfire is one of the greatest threats facing our environment, our homes, and our businesses. We must prepare accordingly.

Our region continues to take important steps to manage that wildfire threat, improve the health of our forests, and create fire adapted communities that are prepared for the next wildfire at Tahoe. But there is more work to do.

To keep Tahoe cherished and known for its beauty, locals try in their best efforts to “keep Tahoe blue.” Sadly, negative effects in our ecosystems come from humans which could damage the clarity of the lake and the air quality. Bad air quality comes from numerous sources, such as car emissions, uncontained fires, and contributors to toxic runoff into the forest; these sources of pollution must be stopped.

The South Shore Hazardous Fuels Reduction and Healthy Forest Restoration project on 10,000 acres near Fallen Leaf Lake has resumed.

Crews with the U.S. Forest Service will be mechanically removing whole trees off Fallen Leaf Road near the campground over the next several months and the area will be closed for public safety.

The goal of the project is to reduce the risk of severe wildfire and create healthier forests.

Mountain Resort Televsion reporter Nicole Marsel talks with Forest Schafer and Marybeth Donahoe about how our forests adapt to wildfire and how you can learn more information on making your yard and neighborhood a more fire adaptive area, keeping you and your family safe.

The meeting is this Thursday May 12th in South Lake and Next Thursday May 19th in North Lake.

Thanks to the U.S. Forest Service employees from the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, the Bread & Broth diners on Monday night May 2nd enjoyed a festive Mexican dinner at St. Theresa Church Grace Hall. With funds from the Forest Service employee association’s Wellness, Recreation and Morale fund, the B&B cooks prepared beef tacos, Mexican black beans and Spanish rice to celebrate the upcoming Cino de Mayo holiday.

Officially Earth Day is over, but the spirit runs throughout the Lake Tahoe Basin all year long. One way that the public can help the environment is to join forces with the Sugar Pine Foundation.

Restoring and conserving our environment at Lake Tahoe means setting our aspirations at the right scale. That’s what TRPA and many partners are working to do through strategic initiatives to ensure the health of our basin’s forests, streams, and lake, and to improve our communities and transportation infrastructure.

The New Year is getting off to a phenomenal start with snow falling at Lake Tahoe. It seems long ago since we’ve had snow around the lake, but as California and Nevada continue to grapple with four years of drought and water shortages, the snow couldn’t be falling at a better time.

Just seventeen days ago, Joel Suenkel was leading troops in Wiesbaden, Germany as an Army Colonel. The 30 year veteran of serving in the Armed Forces wrapped up his career when he retired on December 1. Just five days later he was in South Lake Tahoe in his new position as Deputy Forest Supervisor of the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit of the US Forest Service.

His first day on the job happened to be his new employer's annual Christmas party. Suenkel spent that evening meeting his new co-workers

The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) lifted fire restrictions on National Forest System lands on Friday, October 30, 2015.

“While conditions have allowed the Forest Service to lift fire restrictions, wildfires can still occur,” said Fire Management Officer, Kit Bailey. “Visitors to our National Forests need to educate themselves about how to safely build and extinguish a campfire, and should continue to be careful and remember that campfires are only allowed in certain areas.”

During the 2014 Kokanee salmon run at Taylor Creek, spectators left pathways at the popular U.S. Forest Service Visitor Center in South Lake Tahoe to approach bears in search of a selfie photo with a bear. Not only was this dangerous for the human, it was dangerous for the bear and USFS threatened to close the area to the public.

Lawmakers from Nevada and California met Monday on the shores of Lake Tahoe to discuss how to protect a national treasure as it faces continued threats to water clarity, invasive species, wildfire and drought.

Ever since President Bill Clinton held the first meeting in South Lake Tahoe in 1997, the annual focus of the Lake Tahoe Summit is to protect what Mark Twain called "the fairest picture the whole world affords."

More than 10,000 acres of scenic meadows, forests and trout streams in the Sierra Nevada 10 miles west of Lake Tahoe have been preserved in a deal in which environmentalists hope to prove that thinning out overgrown forests can increase California's water supply.

The Northern Sierra Partnership, an environmental group based in Palo Alto and founded by longtime Silicon Valley leaders Jim and Becky Morgan, joined with the Nature Conservancy and the American River Conservancy to buy the land for $10.1 million from Simorg West Forests, a timber company based in Atlanta.

Perched around a secluded campfire in the Rocky Mountains, Glenn Martin jerked forward, said, "Ow," and died. The wayward bullet that struck him in the national forest has campers and other users calling for changes in recreational shooting policy.

Martin, 60, died July 3 in the Pike & San Isabel National Forest, 30 miles southwest of Denver. The 3.1-million-acre forest holds the record for the most gun-related violations reported in the country, a review of federal records by the USA TODAY Media Network shows.

Kyburz Fire 667 personnel. Lowell Fire 771 personnel. Washington Fire 1,113 personnel.

These recent fires in the forests near Lake Tahoe have had hundreds of fire fighters on the ground, digging fire lines, cutting down trees and putting out fires. It's not an easy job, the hours are sometimes endless or never enough. But those that do it, love it.

The U.S. Forest Service has been training the next front line of defense against forest fires.

This week, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency voiced its strong support for legislation to reauthorize the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act that has been introduced in Congress by Tahoe’s Senate delegation.

Sponsored by U.S. Senator Dean Heller (R-Nevada) along with Harry Reid (D-Nevada), Dianne Feinstein (D-California), and Barbara Boxer (D-California), the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act would authorize up to $415 million in federal funding over 10 years to help continue critical environmental restoration work at Lake Tahoe.