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LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. - The new Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit Deputy Forest Supervisor Danelle D. Harrison is our guest columnist and looks back, and ahead, to the health of Lake Tahoe

Looking Back

December is a special time of year when our thoughts turn to family and friends, and communities come together to celebrate the season. It also marks the end of the year. And what a year it was. Together, we experienced unprecedented events including a record-breaking wildland fire year in the Pacific Southwest Region.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - City Clerk Susan Blankenship has earned the designation of Certified Municipal Clerk (CMC), which was awarded by the International Institute of Municipal Clerks (IIMC), Inc.

IIMC grants the CMC designation only to those municipal clerks who complete demanding education requirements, and who have a record of significant contributions to their local government, their community and state.

As daylight saving time comes to an end on Sunday, November 1, any will notice the time change disrupting sleep patterns and affecting the ability to concentrate and safely operate a motor vehicle. To highlight the life-threatening dangers of fatigued driving, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) joins the Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), and the National Sleep Foundation in recognizing Drowsy Driving Prevention Week, November 1-8, 2020, and encouraging Californians to stay alert and stay alive.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - When Sandra Santane set out to build a "feel good" place where family moments could be created as well as a place where time could be spent for "me time," Cuppa Tahoe evolved.

"I wanted to create magic and had this idea for a long time," explained Sandra. She grew up in Holland where there were places where people would meet, talk and enjoy, and wanted that in South Lake Tahoe. She also grew up with a love of books that has stayed with her as she lived in Tunisia and now the United States. Books were both her inspiration and her escape.

The nosebleeds usually refer to the worst seats in the house; they’re the highest up, and furthest away from the action. At any venue, the nosebleeds are also always the cheapest. The adage ‘you get what you pay for’ defines them perfectly. The Venue may be priced like the nosebleeds, but with the fun and style of the much more expensive floor seats.

The U.S. Federal Reserve has limited the distribution of coin currency due to the Covid-19 Virus.

"Business and bank closures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have significantly disrupted the supply chain and normal circulation patterns for U.S. coins. While there is an adequate overall amount of coins in the economy, the slowed pace of circulation has reduced available inventories in some areas of the country," says the Federal Reserve (read more here).

On June 10 the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center released findings from its annual Lake Tahoe Clarity Report, which showed average Lake clarity for 2019 was 62.7 feet, the second-smallest annual average depth recorded since systematic annual measurements began in 1968.

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - California Governor Gavin Newsom has given El Dorado County the go-ahead to move fully into Stage 2 of the reopening phases. They joined Butte County to became the first two counties in the state to be allowed to move forward.

While businesses can start to reopen, there is still a statewide ban on nonessential travel. Second-home owners are still asked to respect that order and come to South Lake Tahoe to check their homes, or quarantine upon arrival. Vacation rentals are still not allowed in this stage.

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - El Dorado County Public Health Officer Dr. Nancy Williams today issued a directive extending the amount of time County residents are to remain at home except to engage in “essential activities.” The extension now goes to Thursday, April 30, 2020.

Residents are asked to stay in their homes as much as possible to prevent further spread of the coronavirus. Only essential business and essential travel is permissible by the order.

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - Hotels, motels, vacation rentals, and campgrounds are to be used only to house homeless, COVID-19 emergency workers or continue to house residents according to an El Dorado County directive issued on Tuesday. Staying in one of these types of temporary housing is not considered "essential" by Governor Newsom's March 18th "Stay at Home" order.

As the Fire Chief serving the north and west shores of Lake Tahoe, I am acutely aware and concerned about the potential for catastrophic wildfire here.

Over 3,000 bicycle enthusiasts will be riding the 72 miles around Lake Tahoe on Sunday, June 2 as they participate in the 28th annual America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride.

The Amgen Tour of California Stage 4 presented by Lexus ended with the expected sprinter shootout – UAE Emirates’ Jasper Philipsen (BEL) launched the final attack to the finish line, trailed by BORA-hansgrohe’s three-time World Champion Peter Sagan (SVK). With just meters to go, Deceuninck – Quick-Step’s Fabio Jakobsen (NED) rocketed past both to claim the team’s third stage in three days. Cofidis, Solutions Credits Nacer Bouhanni (FRA) followed the trio across the line in fourth place.

While the rate at which trees died in California has slowed, an additional 18 million trees (mostly conifers) have died in the state, bringing a commitment from both the USDA Forest Service and CALFIRE to make forest health their top priority.

The USDA Forest Service announced today over 147 million trees have died across 9.7 million acres of federal, state, local and private lands in California since the drought began in 2010. Since 2016, federal, state, and local partners have felled 1.5 million dead trees, primarily those posing the highest hazards to life and property.

The Tahoe Adventure Film Festival (TAFF) is like no other film festival in the world and the public is invited to find out all about it when they celebrate their annual event on December 8, 2018 at MontBleu Resort, where it all began 16 years ago.

This is not your typical stuffy film festival. This fun high-energy evening will fuel your passion for action and ignite your senses for adventure. It highlights the best adventure sports films of the year and showcases the action sports world's best talent.

On April 18, 2017 the South Lake Tahoe City Council unanimously passed a resolution to do two things: Power the South Lake Tahoe community with electricity provided from 100 percent renewable sources by 2032; and reduce community carbon emissions from baseline by at least 80 percent by 2040. The 100% Renewable Committee was formed to help the City accomplish these tasks.

First and foremost, my thoughts and prayers are with the communities and forests affected by the destructive and tragic wildfires across California, Nevada, and the West. Our Lake Tahoe Basin firefighters are responding to both local and national wildfires and providing assistance to those in need. I am very proud of each one and know their families go through added stress during their absence.

This time of year, wildfire suppression can overtake our thoughts and activities, however, a great amount of work is occurring around the Lake Tahoe Basin to create more resilient forests.

With just over 2k left to ride to the summit of Gibraltar Road, Team Sky’s 21-year-old Egan Bernal (COL) attacked and swiftly climbed away to a solo victory to close out Stage 2 of the 2018 Amgen Tour of California. Tao Geoghegan Hart and his Team Sky teammates set an unyielding pace all the way up the steep grade in support of lead rider Bernal to help launch him to his fourth victory of the 2018 season, shoring up the race lead as well as nearly all of the classification wins with today’s epic climb and overall performance.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Fuels on 3,737 acres of South Lake Tahoe area National Forest lands will be reduced by thinning forest stands and removing forest biomass vegetation, prescribed burning, and reforestation.

The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) announced the the final decision on the project last week. This project helps decrease the risk of wildland fires and complements defensible space treatments implemented by local municipal fire districts on adjacent non-federal lands.

The Tahoe Chamber’s Leadership Lake Tahoe Class of 2018 invites the Tahoe community to join them for their event "Putting the Lens on STEAM Learning" to raise much needed funds to elevate STEAM Learning in Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD) elementary schools.

Like many communities across the country, the Tahoe Basin is facing an affordable housing crisis. The high cost to buy or rent a home is simply unaffordable for most Tahoe residents. It’s a problem for people of many economic backgrounds, including middle-income teachers, nurses, police, and firefighters.

Nearly 200 conservation professionals from around the country gathered back east this November to have a strategic dialogue about the state of landscape-scale conservation. Lake Tahoe was featured at the forum for the region’s cooperative restoration initiatives, and it was an honor to share the stage with such high-caliber conservation thought leaders.

The national forum showcased how people of all backgrounds are collaborating and working to conserve some of America’s most iconic natural areas.

There are now an estimated 102 million dead trees in California, creating unhealthy forests that are prone to major and catastrophic wildfires. Even though funds are being allocated to remove many of them, where will that timber go?
For now, there aren’t many options because of what has transpired from the government since 1968.

In that year the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior issued orders restricting the volume of timber that could be harvested from Federal lands in the West. It was updated in 1969 to limit the total harvested to 350-million-board-feet.

The winner of Stage 2 of the 2017 Amgen Breakaway From Heart Disesase Women's Race Empowered with SRAM race in South Lake Tahoe was decided on the last uphill climb of the day on Ski Run Blvd, the last kilometer of a long and hilly, 67.1 mile long race.

Katie Hall of the United States crossed the finish line first, edging Dutch cyclist Anna van der Breggen by 21 seconds.