Conservation

Events continue on the South Shore to mark the 10th anniversary of the Angora Fire.

Angora Fire First Responder Remembrance Ceremony
Saturday, June 24, 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
Lake Valley Fire Protection District Station 7, 2211 Keetak Street, South Lake Tahoe, CA

Angora Commemoration
Saturday, June 24, 10:30 a.m. to noon
Valhalla Grand Lawn, 1 Valhalla Road, State Route 89, South Lake Tahoe, CA
Sponsored by the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team

Speakers for the event:
Welcome South Lake Tahoe Mayor Austin Sass

South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue along with multiple local agencies are coming together and hosting the 4th annual Wildfire Safety Expo on Saturday, June 17 from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the TJ Maxx parking lot located at the “Y” where
Highways 50 and 89 intersect.

Everyone one is invited to the free event with lots of information about being prepared in case of a wildfire.

The snow is melting, water is flowing, and wildfire fuels are growing. Despite all the moisture, the wildfire threat remains a concern. Preparing your home and community now is more important than ever. June is “Wildfire Awareness Month” in the Lake Tahoe Basin, and members of the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team are continuing last year’s campaign by asking all Tahoe residents and visitors to “Think First to Keep Tahoe Fire Safe”.

This June is wildfire awareness month at Lake Tahoe. It also marks the 10th anniversary of the Angora Fire, the most destructive wildland fire in memory at Tahoe.

An illegal and abandoned campfire started the Angora Fire on June 24, 2007. The fire quickly spread toward Meyers, stoked by strong winds and forests overgrown with hazardous fuels. In a few days, the fire burned 3,100 acres and destroyed 254 homes.

The Silver Rush, a new 4,159-foot long zip line opening this summer at Heavenly's Epic Discovery, will take users from tree-to-tree at speeds up to 40 miles per hour. Overlooking the Carson Valley, Silver Rush is comprised of five segmented zip lines; the final of which flies guests over the waters of East Peak Lake.

Once the ride is completed, guests enjoy a scenic ATV ride back to the top of the Gondola. It is a three-hour long experience.

Boating season in Lake Tahoe is here, and with it comes the return of roadside stations that will inspect and decontaminate motorized boats and watercraft heading to the lake.

All motorized watercraft require inspection for aquatic invasive species (AIS) prior to launching into Lake Tahoe, Fallen Leaf Lake and Echo Lake. Invasive species, such as quagga mussels, New Zealand mudsnails, and hydrilla, are known to multiply quickly and colonize underwater surfaces, including docks and piers, water supply and filtration systems, buoys, moored boats, and even the beautiful rocky shoreline.

The South Lake Tahoe celebration of Earth Day will be on Saturday, April 29 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Bijou Community Park. The North Shore will be holding theirs on April 22.

Earth Day South Lake Tahoe style features a full day of education on ways to counteract global climate change through recycling and composting, alternative energy, water conservation, sustainability, and reducing our ecological footprint. For over a decade, volunteers from the Tahoe Earth Day Foundation have put on the event for all ages.

“Choices, what are yours?” was the theme of our efforts in keeping our youth drug free.

An inmate who walked away from work detail at the Stewart Conservation Camp in Carson City on Tuesday has been arrested after crashing a City water truck that he allegedly stole.

Douglas County Sheriff's Office (DCSO) was contacted on Wednesday, March 29 about the attempted theft of a vehicle in northern Douglas County. The reporting party was working on the roof of the Sprint Store on Hwy 395 when he saw the attempt. The suspect was chased away by witnesses, running north towards Fuji Park in Carson City.

El Dorado County Supervisor Sue Novasel is inviting all county residents to join in the continuing discussion about traffic congestion in Meyers at the next Traffic Congestion update meeting in Meyers on April 6 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. She will be leading the discussion that was started at the first meeting on February 13 when about 100 people attended.

Water conservation efforts in California have saved 2.51 million acre-feet of water since June of 2105. This is enough water to provide 6.24 million homes with water for a year, or almost one-third of the state's population.

Since state-mandated water restrictions have been in place, the cumulative statewide savings has been 22.5 percent, when compared with the previous 18-month period.

Since June 2015, the 817.9 billion gallons saved is enough water to supply more than 12.5 million people with water for a year has been saved at the state level.

It's another snowy weekend, and another weekend of drivers trying to head home over Echo Summit via Lake Tahoe Blvd and North Upper Truckee Road. With a backup at the chain control stop in Meyers, many are trying to circumvent not only the traffic, but the controls and causing issues on snow covered side roads.

Measurements of the Sierra snowpack by both California and Nevada water officials have good, but not surprising news: There is well above average amounts of snow and snow water content in the Sierra Nevada, and Lake Tahoe and Truckee basins.

During his monthly trek into the snow at Phillips Station, 15 miles southwest of Lake Tahoe, Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program found 22.1 more inches of water in the snow than what he found January 3.

Tons of new snow has fallen in the Lake Tahoe Basin over the past week, just in time to Ski with a Ranger. The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit invites the public to participate in the free program while skiing and boarding at Heavenly Mountain Resort beginning Friday, January 20, 2017. Tours begin at the top of the gondola every Monday and Friday at 1:00 p.m. The tours last approximately one hour and continue through April 7, 2017, weather permitting.

Fifth-grade teachers may reserve a spot for the 2017 Winter Trek Conservation Education program starting Monday, December 12. This program, offered by the U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, is led by USFS rangers and community volunteers and gives students an outdoor winter ecology learning experience that takes place on snowshoes.

The Tahoe Resource Conservation District's Landscape Conservation Program is seeking input from past participants of the program in order to continue to serve the community with high quality services into the future.

If you have received services through the the Landscape Conservation Program in the past, we please ask that you take 5 minutes of your time to fill out the online survey at the link below.

https://www.esurveycreator.com/s/6609af1

Fire investigators say the Oct. 14 Little Valley Fire, which destroyed 23 homes, 17 outbuildings and chewed more than 2,200 acres was caused by a prescribed fire conducted earlier in the month by the Nevada Division of Forestry.

The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources made the report available shortly before 5 p.m. Wednesday, and was unavailable for comment.

8:00AM update 10/15: Highway 89 remains closed in both directions from Fallen Leaf Lake Road to Emerald Bay due to the Emerald Fire which remains 80 percent contained this morning. Acreage burned is 210 acres.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

There are 3 engines and 12 firefighters still on the scene.

Opening time for Hwy 89 is still unclear. CHP estimates Saturday afternoon and Caltrans estimates the road will be closed until Monday. This is to allow crews to clean up the fallen trees and other debris on, and near, the roadway.

California Speaker of the Assembly Anthony Rendon has appointed Belinda Valles Faustinos to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) Governing Board. Her appointment follows the recent resignation of Governing Board member Elizabeth Carmel, a fine art landscape photographer who represented the Speaker’s office on the board for the last three and a half years.

Homeowners in the Lake Valley Fire Protection District (LVFPD) area are encouraged to take advantage of their free curbside chipping service through the month of October.

The chipping crew is still actively responding to requests and will be available through the month as long as conditions permit.

2016 is the 26th year that the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency has handed out its "Best in the Basin" award for projects in the Lake Tahoe basin that demonstrate exceptional planning and implementation and compatibility with Lake Tahoe’s environment and communities.

During Wednesday's TRPA board meeting in Kings Beach, the nine winners for the year were honored.

The City of South Lake Tahoe was one of those recipients for the Bijou Bike Park project, a collaborative effort between the City and Tahoe Area Mountain Biking Association.

At the Lake Tahoe Summit last month, we saw the power of what we can accomplish when we work together. Progress over the last two decades was showcased when President Obama made his first-ever visit to Tahoe and said conservation and restoration efforts like ours are more important than ever as the nation works to adapt to a changing climate and create a more resilient environment.

More money is headed to preserve and restore Lake Tahoe. In Washington Wednesday the U.S. Senate passed its $415 million version of 2015's Lake Tahoe Restoration Act by a vote of 95-3.

The money for Lake Tahoe is part of the $10 billion Water Resources Development Act of 2016.

This is the first time the funding legislation to reauthorize the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act has cleared the full Senate even though its has succeeded at the committee level several times.

Protecting Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada is the job of many stakeholders. Its not just a local job, not just a California job, not just a Nevada job, not just a national job, and as witnessed through President Obama's visit to the Lake Tahoe Summit Wednesday, it can only be successful through partnerships of all of those entities along with agencies, local and private investment.

On Tuesday, August 29, the day before the Summit, California Senator Diane Feinstein hosted a lunch for local officials, agencies and federal counterparts, described as the "Lake Tahoe Stakeholders Luncheon".