alerttahoe

The Parasol Tahoe Community Foundation has announced a donation of $18,057 to the Tahoe Resource Conservation District (Tahoe RCD) to enhance wildfire suppression capabilities on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe. This donation will result in the expansion of strategic and tactical Wildfire Pre Attack plans covering the entire Lake Tahoe Basin. Pre Attack Plans help first responders by identifying critical infrastructure, vulnerable population groups, evacuation routes, water sources, Temporary Refuge Areas, and locations where forests have been thinned before a wildfire strikes.

The purpose of the Donald W. Reynolds Community Non-Profit Center (DWR), run by the Parasol Tahoe Community Foundation, is to provide an economical and collaborative environment for non-profit organizations. Tahoe Prosperity Center is all about collaboration, so we are thankful to be one of the resident non-profit organizations in the building.

Over 50 possible major forest firest have been prevented in the Lake Tahoe Basin since the AlertTahoe camera system was installed around the lake over the last four years. The combination of technology, human observation and firefighters on the ground kept those small fires contained to a space of less than one acre.

Achievements in preserving Lake Tahoe were celebrated August 22 during the 21st Lake Tahoe Summit at Tallac Historic Site, but it was clear there is a lot more to do and the job will never be over.

Started by former President Bill Clinton in 1996, this annual gathering of government, public agencies and private partners highlights what has been done, what is being done, what what still needs to be done in keeping Lake Tahoe clean and clear.

South Lake Tahoe resident, and Tahoe Prosperity Center DEO Heidi Hill Drum was awarded Citizen of the Year by the North Lake Tahoe Resort Association, Chamber, Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Hill was given the honor during the 63rd annual Community Awards Banquet on April 6.

“I was very surprised and I am grateful to be recognized, but I am just the messenger," Heidi noted at the ceremony accepting the award. "Our dedicated Board of Directors and staff are just as deserving of the honor recognizing the importance of our work in the region.”

The focus of the 20th Anniversary of the Tahoe Summit is on the environment. And there is much to celebrate as lake clarity has improved; collaboration among agencies is strong and numerous restoration projects have been completed. But 20-20 hindsight also means that if only we had thought more about the impacts that focusing solely on the environment would have on our economy and community, we could have accomplished much more. Now, twenty years later, we find ourselves trying to play “catch up” on these other two areas.

Nine years after the devastating Angora Fire in South Lake Tahoe, the AlertTahoe system of cameras around the Lake Tahoe basin is helping to prevent another such disaster.

June 6, 2016: The Sagehen Fire, north of Truckee, broke out and was quickly extinguished by the USFS, Northstar and Truckee Fire Departments.

June 9, 2016: The Truckee Meadows Fire Department quickly put out the Patrick Fire off Interstate 80, near Reno.

If you live in Nevada, chances are you felt an earthquake in 2015. The University of Nevada, Reno's Seismological Laboratory said there were 17,500 earthquakes in the state during the year, 231 of those recently in south Reno.

South Tahoe High graduate Graham Kent in the director of the Nevada Seismological Lab. "While the Reno shaking is fresh in our minds, what's really bumping the number up from the background rates is the energetic sequence in far northwestern Nevada, the Sheldon sequence," he said.