endangered species

Celebrations have taken on many new forms since the start of social distancing. Birthday parties have become processions of cars parading past a celebrant’s home—people honking and waving, tossing candy and small gifts (for later disinfecting, then enjoying). And huge international celebrations like the 50th anniversary of Earth Day this week have moved online, giving room for individuals to celebrate and explore the conservation movement in new ways.

The following is the second in a series of stories on being a community that is prepared for wildfire.
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Vegetation fires are natural and were normal before policies were created to suppress them for fear of uncontrollable and destructive wildfires as seen in the late 1800s. When some of the first residents arrived in Lake Tahoe between the Gold Rush and Silver Strike, it was common to see just six-seven Jeffrey Pines per acre. Trees in the Tahoe Basin were clear cut to provide the lumber for building mines under Virginia City.

More than a billion people in nearly 200 countries will come together to celebrate and support environmental protection during Earth Day events this April.

This year’s international Earth Day celebration begins the countdown to Earth Day 2020, the 50th anniversary of the event that helped launch the environmental movement and opened the doors to critical U.S. environmental laws like the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act.

On Saturday, June 23, 2018, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., the Sugar Pine Foundation will co-host a Tahoe yellow cress (TYC) planting with the Tahoe yellow cress Adaptive Management Working Group at Baldwin Beach, which is National Forest System land managed by the USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU). In addition, the LTBMU will host a TYC information booth at the Native Species Festival on June 23, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Taylor Creek Visitor Center.

Dogs are currently banned from the Upper Truckee Marsh area due to protection of a critical breeding habitat for special, threatened and endangered species such as the Willow Flycatcher and Yellow Warbler.

The California Tahoe Conservancy announced today its annual seasonal dog closure which will be in place July 31.

Beginning August 1, dogs will again be permitted access to the Upper Truckee Marsh, if they are on leash. The Conservancy-owned Cove East property, west of the river, remains open for year-round, leashed dog access.

It's time again for the Upper Truckee Marsh to be closed to dogs in order to protect the critical breeding habitat for special, threatened and endangered species such as the Willow Flycatcher.

The marsh area will be closed through July 31, 2016. Leashed dogs may once again travel through the the Upper Truckee Marsh starting August 1.

The California Tahoe Conservancy-owned Cove East property, west of the river and marsh, remains open for year-round, leashed dog access.

The El Dorado County Sheriff enforces county and city ordinances and Conservancy staff monitors for compliance.

Successful conservation actions from a collaborative Lake Tahoe partnership spanning the past 15 years have helped the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decide today that Tahoe yellow cress (Rorippa subumbellata), a flowering perennial plant in the mustard family found only along the lake’s sandy shoreline, does not warrant federal protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Upper Truckee Marsh will be closed to dogs from May 1 through July 31 because it is a critical breeding habitat for special, threatened and endangered species such as Yellow Headed Blackbirds.

The Tahoe Conservancy announced the annual seasonal closure today but wanted to remind dog owners that their Cove East property just west of the river remains open for year-round, leashed dog access.

For the first time since World War I was ongoing, a rare Sierra Nevada red fox was spotted in Yosemite National Park. The video above shows the fox making tracks through the snow-covered mountains early this past December.

The National Park Service said in a press release that two documented sightings have occurred in park since early December, one on Dec. 13, and another on Jan 4. These marks the first confirmed sightings of the rare fox in the park in nearly 100 years.

The Camp Richardson Corral operates under a U.S. Forest Service Special Use Permit that is up for renewal. As part of the process, the USFS has opened a month long period for comments from the public.

They are asking for input on a proposal to reissue the corral a 20 year special use permit for the operation and maintenance of the corral and outfitting and guiding services.

Rat poison used on illegal marijuana grows is killing fishers in the southern Sierra Nevada, according to a recent study conducted by a team of scientists from the University of California, Davis, the U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Research Station, UC Berkeley, and the Integral Ecology Research Center in Humboldt County, Calif.

Some seven years, countless meetings and 2,500 pages later, the TRPA draft regional plan and supporting documents are finally ready for your reading enjoyment. While not the action-packed read of a Harry Potter or dark pleasure of "Fifty Shades of Grey," the four tomes of the TRPA holds some unexpected plot twists.

Key among those surprises is the Threshold Evaluation Study, a report I consider the prelude to the Regional Plan because understanding what worked well environmentally after the 1987 Regional Plan helps inform us what needs attention in the new plan.