Sierra Club presents talk on urbanization of black bears in South Lake Tahoe

The Tahoe Area Sierra Club is holding an educational presentation on the urbanization of black bears and their population on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe. Toogee Sielsch, a 41-year-long South Lake Tahoe resident and local black bear expert is the speaker. It will be held in the Aspen/Board Room at Lake Tahoe Community College on Friday, March 22 at 5 p.m.

This presentation will be 40 minutes, diving into the topic of bears. There will be an ASL interpreter present during the presentation.

There will be light refreshments offered. Seating will be first come, first serve so please register and find more information at https://act.sierraclub.org/events/details?formcampaignid=7013q000002IAJFAA4.

About Tahoe Toogee

Toogee Sielsch, or more commonly known from his social media presence as Tahoe Toogee, is a local South Shore resident for 41 years who through his years from living in the region had become interested in the black bears and learned more about the bear behavior during his walks. Professionally, he works as a Senior Vector Technician for El Dorado County and during his free time uses his black bear knowledge to help educate the public about them and helps local agencies find non-lethal ways through different techniques to move bears from local homes. He’s been on over 300 active bear call evictions/ aversions for property owners and local agencies including the Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, Fish and Wildlife, and law enforcement. Toogee has also been interviewed or provided visual content to numerous news organizations to help educate a wider audience about urbanized bears such as a BBC wildlife documentary, NPR podcast, and has helped and featured on National Geographic's July 2022 issue on an article about urbanized wildlife by being their field guide/bear wrangler.