Conservancy and USFS working on 'good neighbor' agreement for urban lots

A Good Neighbor Authority (GNA) agreement between the California Tahoe Conservancy and U.S. Forest Service is in the works that would allow the Conservancy to begin maintaining and restoring USFS urban lots in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

There are less than 2,200 urban lots that can fall into this agreement, most of which are less than one-acre and located near lots the Conservancy already owns and maintains.

“This is just good government,” stated Jeff Marsolais, Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit Forest Supervisor. “This is us working on projects collectively and choosing to be efficient in how we do so.”

"The agreement is a first step toward the Conservancy’s efforts to incorporate the USFS urban lots into its own program of managing nearly 4,700 lots on the California side of the Basin," said Kevin Prior of the California Tahoe Conservancy.

When either agency is in a neighborhood taking care of what is needed regarding resource management, it is more efficient for crews to work on other urban parcels within that same neighborhood, regardless of who manages them between the two agencies.

The specifics on what resources and activities are still being worked out and plans are to have an agreement in place this fall. The Conservancy board last week authorized staff to enter into the agreement.

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