Column: Team Tahoe Accelerates Forest Health

Tahoe forests are currently glowing with vibrant fall colors even as smoke lingers above the lake from prescribed fire operations. The traits of a healthy forest are integral to the way we experience this incredible place. They are also fundamental to the overall health of the watershed, the safety of our communities, and our region’s resilience to climate change.

Last week I had the honor of joining several members of Team Tahoe to speak at the California Wildfire and Resilience Task Force conference on Tahoe’s South Shore. More than 500 fire and resource managers met here to discuss the latest science and strategies to reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfires.

Restoring forest health is a major priority for the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) and our partners on the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team. Following the Angora Fire in 2007, TRPA helped bring fire and forest management agencies together to increase the pace of forest fuel reduction projects, streamline permit processes, and prioritize new funding sources. The Angora Fire was a wake-up call for the Tahoe Basin. Although it was relatively small by today’s standards, the 3,100-acre fire destroyed more than 250 homes along Angora Ridge on the South Shore.

Since then, Team Tahoe has made progress. The 21-member Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team has treated more than 72,000 acres for fuel reduction, which includes pile-burning on nearly 31,000 acres to remove dead and downed material collected by hand crews. Our homes and neighborhoods are just as important. Fire professionals have conducted more than 70,000 defensible space inspections on private properties and more than 75 neighborhoods have joined the Tahoe Network of Fire Adapted Communities.

As promising as this is, we recognize that the far-reaching impacts of climate change will continue to test our combined strength. Despite recent winters, our region is in a historic mega drought. Many of Tahoe’s mountainsides bear the signs, not only from wildfire scars but also from trees turned brown by bark beetle infestations that healthy trees can normally withstand.

The 2021 Caldor Fire was proof that we are in the age of mega-fires. The Caldor burned more than 221,000 acres and stunned us all when it crossed over the granite crest of the Sierra Nevada and entered the south end of the Tahoe Basin. The night the fire descended into Christmas Valley, firefighters were aided by a change in the weather, defensible space around homes, and fuel reduction projects that had been completed in the area since the Angora fire. Ultimately, the combined efforts of many helped save Lake Tahoe and not a single home in the basin was lost.

My home in Christmas Valley was among the thousands spared that night. It put the work we are doing into a new light for me. I am not only proud of our partnerships, I am also deeply committed to helping expand the invaluable work of the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team to protect the lake and safeguard our communities.

In support of this continued progress, Lake Tahoe received excellent news earlier this month. Congress has reauthorized the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act, which extends existing funding authorizations from the 2016 law for another 10 years. The approval opens up approximately $300 million in federal investment for forest fuel reduction work, upgrades to water supply systems for fire suppression, wetland restoration, and aquatic invasive species prevention and control projects.

TRPA is also helping fire and emergency management agencies coordinate on emergency evacuation planning. The Tahoe Basin was awarded a $1.7 million federal PROTECT grant for regional evacuation planning and to address wildfire and extreme weather vulnerabilities in our transportation and communication infrastructure.

In the heart of autumn, crews are still at work reducing forest fuels, creating clearance in power line corridors, and reintroducing prescribed fire to the landscape much like the native Washoe did for centuries. As the nation observed Indigenous People’s Day earlier this week, the light layer of smoke from a prescribed fire on West Shore seemed fitting.

The Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California hosted its first intentional fire training at Lake Tahoe earlier this month with forest managers and non-profits. The training was part of a broader interagency initiative to blend Indigenous knowledge with modern techniques to reintroduce cultural burning practices on Washoe lands.

Whether you are a resident, Tribal member, neighborhood leader, or visitor, you can help restore the forest and keep communities safe. Visit tahoelivingwithfire.com to learn more.

--Julie Regan is Executive Director of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.