Forest thinning project resumes at the North Shore of Lake Tahoe

Thinning of trees for fuels reduction and forest health will resume on Thursday, July 7 on approximately 178 acres of National Forest System lands on the northeast side of Highway 267, north of Lake Vista Road above Kings Beach and Tahoe Vista. Mechanical whole tree removal will take place off Forest Road 16N52 over the next several months and the area will be closed for public safety.

Mechanical whole tree removal involves cutting the entire tree and moving it to the landing area to remove the limbs and cut it into sections. This type of mechanical operation requires closure of the project area during operations due to the hazards posed by heavy equipment and falling trees. The Forest Service has issued a forest order closing the project area (unit 5) to pedestrians from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. daily through October 1, 2016. Hazards may be present even when operations have ceased for the day and the closure is not in effect. The Forest Service will post closure signs in the area and the forest order is posted under the heading Carnelian Fuels Reduction Project at http://www.fs.usda.gov/goto/ltbmu/ForestOrders.

The forest thinning is part of the Carnelian Hazardous Fuels Reduction and Healthy Forest Restoration Project, which will treat approximately 3,300 acres on North Shore of Lake Tahoe to reduce the risk of severe wildfire, improve forest health, and provide defensible space to neighboring communities.

In addition to temporary closures of recreational areas, other short-term impacts from fuels reduction projects include changes to the appearance of basin forests. Treated areas look disturbed at first, but recover visually within a few years. Overall benefits to forests in treated areas include reducing fuel for wildfires and providing the remaining trees with less competition for resources such as water, sunlight and nutrients, which allow the trees to grow larger and become more resistant to drought, insects and disease.

For more information about the project and to view the closure order and map, visit http://www.fs.usda.gov/goto/ltbmu/CarnelianProject.