California Tahoe Conservancy gives over $400k to West Shore forest health

LAKE TAHOE - The California Tahoe Conservancy Board today authorized $414,074 to the California Department of Parks and Recreation for projects that improve forest health and reduce the risk of wildfire at Tahoe State Recreation Area and Ed Z’Berg Sugar Pine Point State Park. The funding is the first allocation of more than $6.8 million in Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act funds awarded to the Conservancy at last year’s Presidential Summit.

“On the eve of the ten-year anniversary of the devastating Angora Fire, today’s action to reduce the risk of future wildfires feels especially important,” said John Hooper, the Conservancy’s Vice Chairman of the Board.

The Board also awarded $20,000 to the League to Save Lake Tahoe for its Eyes on the Lake Program which trains volunteers to identify and report new or spreading aquatic invasive plant infestations in and around Lake Tahoe. The grant is part of the Conservancy’s new “Plates for Projects” summertime campaign which partners with local organizations to jointly promote Lake Tahoe License Plates and projects funded using License Plate revenue. More information on the campaign and this year’s partnership can be found here: www.keeptahoeblue.org/platesforprojects.

The Board also approved several long-term agreements with El Dorado County and the City of South Lake Tahoe for projects that will purify water flowing into Lake Tahoe and restore a heavily degraded section of Bijou Park Creek.

In addition to the projects in south shore, the Board approved the sale of development rights necessary to support the long-awaited Tahoe City Lodge Project, the first new hotel built in Tahoe City in decades and a flagship project of Placer County’s Area Plan.