restoration

The North and South Lake Tahoe Chamber of Commerce leaders at Lake Tahoe have joined together to launch a Region-wide public participation campaign to harness the groundswell of support for a new vision to restore and revitalize the Basin. Called TahoeFuture.org, the campaign will focus, over the next 8 months, on two critical land-use and transportation plans that create a blueprint for a revitalized Lake Tahoe.

The economic and environmental future at Lake Tahoe will be discussed among 350 researchers, scientists, policy makers and economic stakeholders at Incline Village this week during the Tahoe Science Conference Tuesday through Thursday.

Summer is a perfect time to learn about birds that migrate to the Lake Tahoe Basin for the season. Join Kirk Hardie, Co-Executive Director of the Tahoe Institute for Natural Science for two events introducing the migratory birds of the Lake Tahoe region. Kirk will present a talk on these avian visitors to the area on Thursday, June 14, 2012 (no-host bar at 5:30pm, presentation begins 6 pm, $5 donation suggested) at the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences on the Sierra Nevada College campus and a bird watching walk on June 16 starting at the UC Davis Tahoe City Field Station.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency has scheduled a series of open houses and public hearings to give the public an opportunity to provide input on the draft Regional Plan Update and Regional Transportation Plan, as well as the environmental documents that were released at last month’s Governing Board meetings.

Some seven years, countless meetings and 2,500 pages later, the TRPA draft regional plan and supporting documents are finally ready for your reading enjoyment. While not the action-packed read of a Harry Potter or dark pleasure of "Fifty Shades of Grey," the four tomes of the TRPA holds some unexpected plot twists.

Key among those surprises is the Threshold Evaluation Study, a report I consider the prelude to the Regional Plan because understanding what worked well environmentally after the 1987 Regional Plan helps inform us what needs attention in the new plan.

The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit is looking for volunteers who love working outdoors, educating and helping people, and would like to help preserve one of our nation’s most popular wilderness areas, Desolation Wilderness. The public is invited to attend one of two informational meetings in South Lake Tahoe in May to learn about different volunteer opportunities, training, minimum requirements and how volunteer help is important to the preservation of Desolation Wilderness.

Do you love Lake Tahoe and have an interest in learning more about the lake? Do you enjoy science, learning new information, and sharing your knowledge?

Residents who would like to help people learn about the region's environmental assets and challenges are needed to serve as volunteer docents at the Thomas J. Long Foundation Education Center and the UC Davis Eriksson Education Center. Located in Incline Village and Tahoe City respectively, the two UC Davis education centers are well positioned along the North Shore of Lake Tahoe.

Several environmental gains over the last five years have been made at the Lake Tahoe Basin, according to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s “Threshold Evaluation Report” released Wednesday, which highlights water quality as a continued area of concern.

The comprehensive report offers a snapshot of the health of the ecosystem in the Tahoe Basin by documenting the status and trends of more than 100 environmental standards ranging from air and water quality to fish and wildlife. The biggest improvements were documented in air and water quality, and scenic resources.

FLORISTON, Calif. - Hillsides charred by a 2001 wildfire might finally bloom with fields of native plants this spring, thanks in part to a restoration plan sponsored by the Sierra Business Counc...

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not” — Dr. Seuss
As you may know, sugar pines and other white pines are plagued by a non-native invasive pathogen. White pine blister rust kills about 90 percent of sugar pines it infects. Scientists and restoration managers have agreed that the only effective restoration strategy is to identify seed trees resistant to the rust and plant their progeny. That is exactly what the Sugar Pine Foundation does and you can help too. Last fall, a volunteer described planting sugar pines as “creating life in our neck of the woods.”

Lake Tahoe Community College’s Haldan Art Gallery is the next stop for the Nevada Arts Council’s traveling exhibition program. There will be an artists’ reception April 12 from 6 to 8 p.m. for “Great Basin Exteriors: A Photographic Survey.”

Work on restoration of the section of the Upper Truckee River known as Sunset Stables Reach 5 could begin as soon as this summer following a decision by the U.S. Forest Service this week.Lake Tahoe...

The U.S. Forest Service and Lake Tahoe Community College will host a free screening of “Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time” On March 28. Filmmakers Ann and Steve Dunsky will be available to answer questions after the screening.

A grant to the U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit will help develop a “Children’s Forest” for exploration and education in the Pope-Baldwin Recreation Area, off Highway 89 near South Lake Tahoe.

For the second straight year the Tahoe Conservancy will enforce a seasonal dog prohibition at the Upper Truckee Marsh at south shore Lake Tahoe. The dog ban is meant to protect sensitive wildlife areas, including threatened and endangered species, during breeding season. The Upper Truckee Marsh provides critical breeding habitat. The dog ban begins May 1.

Lake Tahoe clarity improved in 2011, but overall has remained nearly stable since 2000, according to a summary issued by UC Davis scientists who study the lake. Data released today by the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency reported the average annual clarity level for 2011 at 68.9 feet, a 4.5-foot improvement over 2010, when average clarity levels were the second-worst on record.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency received a positive ruling in the opening stages of the lawsuit challenging the Homewood Mountain Ski Area Master Plan that was filed by the Sierra Club and the Friends of the West Shore.

South Shore native Darcie Goodman-Collins has been named the new executive director of the League to Save Lake Tahoe, officials announced today. She replaces Rochelle Nason who resigned last September.

“I’m very excited to move back to Lake Tahoe. I grew up skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, and waterskiing on our beautiful lake. I am passionate about science, education, and the Lake. I will lead the League’s efforts to restore the Lake and work hand in hand with the local community to do so,” said Goodman-Collins in a news release.

The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) has approved a project that will reduce wildfire risk to communities on Lake Tahoe's South Shore and restore the health of the area's forests. The South Shore Fuel Reduction and Healthy Forest Restoration Project will thin trees and brush on more than 10,000 acres of national forest system land from the Nevada state line to Cascade Lake.

The year of 2011 was anything but quiet for the California Department of Fish and Game.
Pesky bears, a roaming gray wolf, significant poaching arrests, tsunami relief work and dramatic wildlife rescues were among the stories that captured the public’s attention.
DFG also welcomed new Director Charlton H. Bonham, who was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown in August.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The U.S. Forest Service began aspen restoration work Monday near the bike path running behind Pope and Baldwin beaches adjacent to California State Route 89.A Forest Serv...

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency received a notice of intent to file suit on the recent approval of the Homewood Mountain Resort Ski Area Master Plan project, officials said.
EarthJustice, on behalf of the Sierra Club and Friends of the West Shore, lists both TRPA and Placer County as defendants in the lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court of Eastern California. Absent from the suit is the League to Save Lake Tahoe, which implied that it likely wouldn't sue when the project was unanimously approved last month by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency's Governing Board.

Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board at the Jan. 11-12 meetings in Apple Valley will consider a resolution regarding the California Tahoe Conservancy restoration project in lower Blackwood Cr...

By Heather Gould
On the west side of town, two new buildings are under construction and one is for sale: a Raley's gas station at its shopping center at the "Y" and a new California Conservation Corps facility in Meyers, next to Lira's Supermarket, are currently being built, while Sierra Recovery Center is seeking to move out of its location on Emerald Bay Road.
The CCC's motto is "Hard Work, Low Pay, Miserable Conditions and More . . . " But things are about to get a little more comfortable for both corps members and staff.