Agencies seek public input on 59,000 acre Lake Tahoe West Restoration Project

LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The proposed Lake Tahoe West Restoration Project is in the final planning stages and the three agencies involved, USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, California Tahoe Conservancy, and Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, are inviting the public to provide their input. The project is a big one, covering 59,000 acres, and will provide a science-based, all-lands approach to guide restoration approaches on the West Shore over the next two decades to increase the resilience of ecosystems and human communities.

The planned project covers federal, state, local and private lands with a long-range goal of restoring forests, meadows, streams, and wildlife habitats.

The West Shore landscape is vulnerable to high-severity wildfire, drought, climate change, and forest insect and disease outbreaks. The project will use forest thinning, prescribed burning, reforestation, and habitat restoration in streams, meadows, lakes, and forests to improve the landscape’s resilience to future disturbances.

Planned actions will reduce wildfire risks to communities, improve forest health, protect and enhance habitat for native plants and animals, and protect lake clarity while helping to restore the resilience of West Shore forests, watersheds, and communities in the face of climate change.

This project will more than double the amount of forest restoration conducted each year on the West Shore. There is a project website dedicated to the process, foreseen outcomes, events and details. It can be seen here -https://www.nationalforests.org/who-we-are/regional-offices/california-program/laketahoewest.

The three agencies have developed a Scoping Notice/Notice of Preparation to provide information to the public about the proposed project and the environmental effects that they will analyze. The project is on the LTBMU’s Projects webpage at https://go.usa.gov/xmgxT. Scroll down to “Developing Proposal” and select the “Lake Tahoe West” link. To review the Scoping Notice / Notice of Preparation on the “Lake Tahoe West” project webpage under Project Documents, select the “Scoping” tab.

To Comment: On the “Lake Tahoe West” project webpage and under the right-hand column heading “Get Connected,” select the “Comment/ Object on Project” link. Comments must be submitted or posted by 11:59 p.m. (Pacific Daylight Time) on May 11, 2020.

The agencies will also host two public meetings to share information about the project. The meetings will provide members of the public an opportunity to learn more about the proposed action and about the content of the environmental analysis document. The agencies are concerned for the health and safety of community members and staff and will ensure that scoping meetings are conducted on a virtual platform on the following dates and times:

Tahoe Regional Planning Agency
Governing Board Meeting
April 22, 2020
Check https://www.trpa.org/ on April 15, 2020, for the link to a virtual meeting.

USDA Forest Service
Lake Tahoe West Public Meeting
April 28, 2020 at 4:30 p.m.
Check https://go.usa.gov/xmgxT on April 15, 2020 for the link to a virtual meeting.