Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care eyes Echo Creek Ranch for relocation

A 16-acre parcel near where Highways 89 and 50 meet is being scoped as a possible and permanent relocation site for Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care.
The property, known as Echo Creek Ranch, sits in an estate and trust by the late Alex Graf and once had a value of about $7 million during the height of the real estate boom. 
However, with the passing of Mr. Graf in December and the property value lowering, there's an expressed interest to relocate the 34-year-old wildlife center from its location at Cherry Hills Circle in South Lake Tahoe and build a much larger facility. Graf was a founding partner in Tahoe Keys Resort, Inc. and a long time supporter of the Lake Tahoe tourism community. The Lake Tahoe Wildlife Board of Directors will discuss different options regarding the property on Tuesday at its monthly meeting.

The price that has been discussed is $1.9 million, which, through fundraising and grants, is within grasp, said LTWC Founder Tom Millham who runs the facility with his wife, Cheryl.
"We've talked with them many times and now what they are asking is more manageable. It's still a lot of money for us, but it can be a reality if everything can come together," Millham said.
And when he says "everything coming together" he means clearing environmental land use hurdles set out by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and El Dorado County. 
In the coming weeks, a meeting will be set with TRPA planners to see if the property is indeed compatible with the needs of the wildlife center and those rigidly maintained by the agency, which sets land use policies for the Lake Tahoe Basin. After that, a formal proposal would go to the governing board of the TRPA. If the Millhams were to get an OK from the TRPA and approval by the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors, they would likely go ahead and buy the property. El Dorado County Board of Supervisor Norma Santiago, who also sits on the TRPA Governing Board, supports the concept, Millham said.
"Right now we are wait and see. You could say that I'm cautiously optimistic," said Millham. "If they give us the green light on this, I can see us moving quickly to get the first phase in next year. After that the other phases would come up as we increase our fundraising efforts."
Echo Creek Ranch is located on 16 acres zoned commercial and for years it has been used for group recreation. The landowner partnership worked for more than 10 years with local agencies to acquire appropriate permits to meet required ordinances. The property rests on Highway 50 close to the Highway 89/50 junction in Meyers. 
It has been a dream of the Millhams to stage something much larger at Lake Tahoe to care and nurtural injured or abandoned wildlife. Not only that, but it would also be a place that would provide an educational experience for visitors to Lake Tahoe.
"It would be a big project for all of South Lake Tahoe and Meyers. It would give visitors a place to stop, to see the facility, for us to show everyone what we do in a large enough setting where we can actually take in more animals than we can now," he said. "It would bring something to the Meyers area that I know they would be extremely happy with." 
The Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care facility has been operating in a residential neighborhood for more than three decades and doesn't have the capacity to treat and provide long-term care for the large number of animals and birds that it receives. 
The facility needs to be moved to a larger and more appropriate location within Tahoe to allow for a full service wildlife park, Millham said.
The park envisioned would contain a full-scale wildlife rehabilitation center, an area to view the care and treatment of injured wildlife, a wildlife facility education center that provides free-roaming areas within natural habitat, and a long-term home for animals and birds that cannot be re-introduced into the wild. 
The wildlife park would feature nature trails, a picnic-area, an educational welcome center, a training center for interns, volunteer classes, an amphitheater and a retail outlet providing complete visitor services.
The project would be phased in over time to reduce costs in the initial phases, with major construction and operations to occur as additional funding grants, visitor revenues, retail sales are secured. The $1.9 million price tag is indeed the largest cost, but additional money would be needed to complete the phases over time, Millham said.
The vision for the wildlife park is to be a destination site for residents and visitors. Showcasing Tahoe's native species and natural habitat — the only facility of its kind in the Sierra Nevada. With this, visitors can learn how to be stewards of the environment while learning about the care and treatment of wild animals, according to a 2007 vision plan for the facility. 
More than 20,000 injured and displaced animals have been provided care at the facility. LTWC has grown to an organization that provides a service to more than nine California and Nevada counties in the Lake Tahoe region and it one of the only facilities of its kind in the nation permitted to rehab river otters and up to 7 bear cubs. 
When the Millhams began their work at their in-home facility they had fewer neighbors. Now, with neighbors on all sides and close proximity to animal cages, the new location is needed because the facility isn't in compliance with the residential land use zoning rules of the TRPA  and El Dorado County. While the county and neighbors have been patient, there has been some pressure in recent years for the facility to move to a permanent location. 
The Millhams, their board members and volunteers have been looking for an appropriate site since 1995.  
Since about 88 percent of the Tahoe basin land base is publicly-owned, and a sizable area is needed for the wildlife park, the Echo Creek Ranch is seen as a solid solution. The wildlife park can complement the mission of land management agencies by advocating a conservation ethic to promote healthy, diverse, and productive lands, while enhancing the broad diversity of wildlife habitat, Millham said.  
The Echo Creek Ranch property is close to ideal in size and scope to maintain a visitor and rehab center and up to 25 outbuildings to house the animals. On the site now is a large house, around 4,000 square feet that houses people for weekend groups, reunions and parties. One house is nearby but the buildings that would go up would be set far enough back to not cause problems. And, surprisingly, the animals that the Millhams tend to and rehabilitate are not those that make a lot of noise.
"If this were to happen and we were to get the approvals required, knowing our community and its generosity and the wildlife care community, we can really make this happen," he said. For more information about LTWC, to show your support or to donate go to www.LTWC.org or call (530) 577-2273.