trees

It is still a few days away, but the warnings are already being issued for a winter storm headed to the Sierra Nevada.

A winter storm warning has been issued for Lake Tahoe, starting late Wednesday day and going until Thursday night. The National Weather Service issued the warning, saying there is a potential for significant snow accumulations that may create hazardous driving conditions.

The annual Barton Foundation Festival of Trees and Lights opened Wednesday at MontBleu with tree judging and the Senior Stroll.

The winners of the designer and school trees and wreath contests:

Designer Tree Category

Best Interpretation of Theme: No Place Like Home, by Cyndy Brown – Carlton

Most Elegant: Tantalizing Tango, by Belen Urrutia

Most “Out of the Box” (Creative): Steampunk Christmas, by Jeri Oishi & Enchanted Florist team

Best of Show: Tantalizing Tango, by Belen Urrutia

LTUSD Trees:

Nicole Byer, a 2012 graduate of Whittell High School, is the artist behind the Barton Festival of the Trees posters and Gala invitations.

Currently a senior at the School of Art Institute of Chicago, Byer made contact with organizers of the Festival last year and offered her services for their artwork needs for this year's Festival of the Trees.

Over the summer she met with Kindle Craig and Sara Conrad of the Barton Foundation, the organizers of the annual holiday program.

The recent reversal of sign ordinance fees reflects on the poor leadership of South Lake Tahoe’s government. After an eruption of dissent from the business community, the City had to reverse its onerous sign permit fees and acquiesce to the demands of the business community.

Last year, it was the "Bear Selfie" craze that showed how people can disrespect nature. This year, the issue can be known as "Tree Tagging."

"Family" is a word that can sum up what happened during Friday's STHS homecoming parade and football game.

Though not related, about 70 graduates, most of them from the Class of 1984, came together over the weekend to honor another one of their classmates stricken with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

Kevin Sullivan, 50, is the second graduate of South Tahoe High's class of '84 to afflicted with ALS. Todd Fields died in 1999 at the age of 33.

In September, longtime physician Dr. Paul Marlowe will say farewell to his patients and the urgent care practice where he has provided care for 32 years as he embarks on an adventure with his wife Lorraine. The uniquely quirky and endearing Dr. Marlowe is known throughout the community for providing exceptional care since 1983.

Early in 2015, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), as well as our partners at the National Weather Service, predicted 2015 to be a significant year for wildland fires throughout the Western States. A combination of a sustained period of drought, coupled with weather that is conducive to nearly perfect burning conditions, have challenged local firefighting resources. Those predictions have rang very true as we continue to hear about new fires occurring almost daily all over the Western States. This year will go down as one of the most hazardous years for wildland fire.

Thousands flock to the Sierra Nevada every fall to watch the color changes of the aspen trees along with the annual upstream migration of the Kokanee Salmon in Taylor Creek to lay their eggs and complete their life cycle.

The bright yellows, oranges and reds of the aspen are emblematic of fall in Lake Tahoe, but this year that will not happen in the typical fashion that people have become accustomed to.

In a stroll through many of the aspen groves on the South Shore it looks like fall has already happened with dried leaves leaving the branches and making their way to the forest floor.

Thinning of trees for fuels reduction and forest health is underway on approximately 50 acres of National Forest System lands adjacent to Gardner Street near Panther and Tata lanes in South Lake Tahoe, and on approximately 30 acres on the southwest end of the Spring Creek Tract off Highway 89.

Sample Tahoe’s newest cocktail creations at the sixth annual Signature Cocktail Contest. Hosted by the Barton Foundation, the community event will take place Wednesday, September 23 at the Riva Grill at 5:30 p.m.

Contest attendees can sample an assortment of cocktails created by Tahoe mixologists who are comprised of bartenders from local establishments, each showcase a unique concoction with Tahoe Blue Vodka and have been known to add less traditional ingredients like cotton candy or potato chips.

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.

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.

The U.S. Forest Service will begin the first phase of their retrofitting of the Camp Richardson campground on July 21, something that has been in the planning stages since 2009.

During this first phase, they will remove approximately 250 trees in the campground on the north side of Highway 89. This portion of the project will last about two weeks. Work will be completed on this side of Highway 89 in October.

Phase two on the south side of Highway 89 is anticipated to begin in September 2015 and be finished by June 2016.

Classical music scores from the hit PBS TV-series “Downton Abbey,” Hollywood classics “Sense and Sensibility,” and the Hitchcock masterpiece “Psycho” along with flamenco and dance-inspired symphonies will highlight the second weekend of Lake Tahoe SummerFest. Ana Vidović, premier classical guitarist of her generation, along with Jeremy McCoy, a critically acclaimed double bass player with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, are the guest artists Aug. 7-9.

Tahoe Arts Project will be bringing the Missoula Children’s Theater back to Tahoe the week of July 6-10. Auditions will be held for the Missoula Children's Theatre (MCT) production of Aladdin on Monday July 6 at the South Tahoe Middle School Multi-Purpose room from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Those auditioning should arrive at 10:00 a.m. and plan to stay for the full two hours. Some of the cast members will be asked to stay for a rehearsal immediately following the audition.

Location

As one can imagine, Donielle Morse has been very busy lately. As the Water Conservationist specialist for the South Tahoe Public Utility District (STPUD), Morse spends her days informing, teaching and keeping up on the new state water mandates.

Drought or no drought, water conservation is necessary and its the reason South Lake Tahoe is faring better than most communities in the West. Since 2007, local water users have cut back 27% of their annual water usage.

The Sixth Annual Native Species Festival will be held at the Taylor Creek visitor Center in South Lake Tahoe on Saturday, May 30 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

This free family event is hosted by the U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit and is a great way to spend the day outdoors and learn about the native species of the Lake Tahoe Basin.

The Visitor's Center is located three miles north of South Lake Tahoe on Highway 89.

Even as campers pour in to the El Dorado National Forest for the Memorial Day weekend, dangers remain.

Several members of a group of campers from Sacramento didn't even realize they were near the King Fire's burn zone as they set up tents at the Ponderosa Cove Campsite.

Fortunately, one camper did understand the risk from burned trees and branches that can still fall on unsuspecting hikers.

In a move to increase revenue by $13.571 million, Liberty Utilities filed an application Monday with the California Public Utilities Commission to raise rates to their 49,000 customers in the Lake Tahoe region by 17.34%.

The change would begin on January 1, 2016. Liberty Utilities said in a press release that the projected new residential rate of 16.73 cents per kwh (compared to the current 14.26 cents per kwh) is still equal or less than residential rates for neighboring electric utilities.

The ongoing drought, warmer-than-usual weather conditions and the fuel for fire those conditions produce could lead to a “perfect storm” this summer where multiple states in the West could be having large, simultaneous fires, state and federal fire officials told Gov. Brian Sandoval Monday.

“The system is going to be heavily taxed this year,” said Kit Bailey of the U.S. Forest Service. “We have preparedness levels of one through five and I’m a little concerned that we may get to an unprecedented level, a level six, and that is kind of a worst-case scenario.

Closed since last fall's fire which burned over 97,000 acres near Pollock Pines, the King Fire area opens to the public on Saturday, April 25.

"I've decided to reopen the national forest lands in the King Fire area to the public beginning Saturday, April 25, in conjunction with the general opening of fishing season," said Forest Supervisor Laurence Crabtree. "Parts of the fire area are still hazardous, but that will continue to be true for years."

"You have to adapt to changes in life or you won't survive," John Rice told a crowd at Wednesday's 'Tahoe Talks' held at LTCC.

"Change is happening, clearly we're in a drought, whether it's here for short term, or long term, time will tell," said Rice, the VP and General Manager of Sierra-at-Tahoe. "The ski industry has the most to lose in a drought."

Join the Sugar Pine Foundation as they start their seasonal group plantings.

Community Planting Schedule

Saturday, April 11th, 10 a.m. - noon, 1286 Golden Bear Trail, SLT, CA. - Join Vail employees and South Lake Tahoe Resource Center families to plant sugar pines behind the Lake Valley Fire Protection Station.

Sunday, April 12th, 10 a.m.- 1 p.m., Waddle Ranch, Truckee, CA -