forest service

North Lake Tahoe and Tahoe Douglas fire protection districts, California State Parks and the U.S. Forest Service will conduct prescribed fire operations next week in multiple locations around the Lake Tahoe Basin. Operations are planned near Incline Village, Tahoe City, Meyers, Stateline and Zephyr Cove. Operations may continue over the next several weeks as conditions allow.

Current Projects:
Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District - 8 acres near Warrior Way
Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District - 25 acres near Hwy 50/Kingsbury Grade

With more than 4,000 acres of land in the Lake Tahoe basin being burned by the U.S. Forest Service annually, prescribed burns have become an important part of keeping forests healthy.

On Thursday, I followed the Tallac Hotshots as well as Engines 41 and 42 from the U.S. Forest Service as they burned an eight acre parcel off Grass Lake Road in Christmas Valley.

There will soon be a new Fanny Bridge in Tahoe City now that the Tahoe Transportation District has secured all of the $33 million needed to complete the State Route 89/Fanny Bridge Community Revitalization Project and Meeks Bay Trail Project.

Expect to see smoke in the Christmas Valley and Meyers areas of the South Shore as the U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit begins prescribed fire operations on Saturday, October 17. They plan to start the season by burning 122 acres of hand piles near Grass Lake Road off southbound Highway 89. They will continue on the project over the next several weeks as conditions allow.

Expect to see smoke travel in a north/northeast direction.

8:00 a.m. update 10/12/15: Authorities spent Sunday removing parts of the plane that remained in trees surrounding the crash site that claimed the lives of two people in South Lake Tahoe.

Investigators say the plane hit trees before crashing behind a home on Tionontati Street just before 5:36 p.m. Saturday, October 10. A fire started which scorched the home.

The force of the crash broke a large tree just feet away from the house.

Part of the Pope-Baldwin Bike Path will be rerouted near Camp Richardson to give riders a better, safer experience.

In order to implement this change, the U.S Forest Service will have to close portions of the trail over the next few weeks. They do not expect the closures to last more than half of a day, and alternate routes will be offered when possible.

This path links the U.S. Forest Service recreation facilities from Pope Beach to Baldwin Beach along Highway 89.

There will be a golf tournament at the Tahoe Paradise Golf Course on Saturday, October 3 to benefit the family of fallen firefighter, Mikey Hallenbeck.

Hallenbeck, 21, died this summer after a tree fell on him while fighting his first fire as a member of the U.S.F.S. fire crew. He grew up in Shingle Springs, Calif., was living in Meyers at the time of his death and worked at Sierra-at-Tahoe during the winter.

The Wildland Firefighter Foundation will host the tournament, called "Barefoot for Birdies," with all funds raised going to the family as well as the foundation.

You'll soon be seeing red if all goes as planned.

The annual trek of the Kokanee salmon into Taylor Creek from Lake Tahoe should begin in the next week or so, but with the drought and a very active beaver population, the Forest Service had to step in and help.

"We didn't have a lot of fish last year," said Lindsay Gusses, the Taylor Creek Site Supervisor. "We are updating our strategies to have fish here during the festival."

Early in 2015, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), as well as our partners at the National Weather Service, predicted 2015 to be a significant year for wildland fires throughout the Western States. A combination of a sustained period of drought, coupled with weather that is conducive to nearly perfect burning conditions, have challenged local firefighting resources. Those predictions have rang very true as we continue to hear about new fires occurring almost daily all over the Western States. This year will go down as one of the most hazardous years for wildland fire.

Due to unprecendented dry conditions, visitors on the Rubicon Trail are urged to be especially careful with campfires. Outside of hosted campgrounds, you must have a California Campfire Permit to have a campfire, charcoal barbeque, use a gas stove or gas lantern.

Remember that regulations governing campfires can change with weather conditions so always check with the U.S. Forest Service for current campfire restrictions.

Thinning of trees for fuels reduction and forest health is underway on approximately 50 acres of National Forest System lands adjacent to Gardner Street near Panther and Tata lanes in South Lake Tahoe, and on approximately 30 acres on the southwest end of the Spring Creek Tract off Highway 89.

A multi-sport expedition that took participants from mountain top to mountain top, up rocks and into the lake and along rivers has wrapped up in South Lake Tahoe. Eleven teams with four members each spent the past several days running, biking, orienteering, mountain climbing, kayaking over 520 miles of some of the world's most beautiful terrain.

Lawmakers from Nevada and California met Monday on the shores of Lake Tahoe to discuss how to protect a national treasure as it faces continued threats to water clarity, invasive species, wildfire and drought.

Ever since President Bill Clinton held the first meeting in South Lake Tahoe in 1997, the annual focus of the Lake Tahoe Summit is to protect what Mark Twain called "the fairest picture the whole world affords."

A garter snake skimmed the surface of what little water remained in Seneca Pond. Birds were flying about as the trees were falling down, and grasses and plants were being pulled out and stored.

This was the scene of the U.S. Forest Service's project to return Seneca Pond to a wetland.

More than 10,000 acres of scenic meadows, forests and trout streams in the Sierra Nevada 10 miles west of Lake Tahoe have been preserved in a deal in which environmentalists hope to prove that thinning out overgrown forests can increase California's water supply.

The Northern Sierra Partnership, an environmental group based in Palo Alto and founded by longtime Silicon Valley leaders Jim and Becky Morgan, joined with the Nature Conservancy and the American River Conservancy to buy the land for $10.1 million from Simorg West Forests, a timber company based in Atlanta.

It was an emotional scene on Thursday morning in South Lake Tahoe as the local community came together with members of multiple fire agencies, the Forest Service and law enforcement to say goodbye to Michael "Mikey" Hallenbeck, the firefighter who lost his life on August 8 while fighting his first fire.

The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors’ thoughts and prayers are with the Hallenbeck family for the loss of their son and brother, U.S. Forest Service Firefighter Michael “Mikey” Hallenbeck.

“Our hearts are saddened by the loss of Michael," said The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors. "We are indebted to Michael for his service in keeping the citizens of El Dorado County safe. Thank you for your dedication to our community.”

Sierra-at-Tahoe will hold a candlelight vigil for Michael Hallenbeck on Wednesday, August 12 at 7 p.m. The 21-year old U.S. Forest Service firefighter lost his life on Saturday while fighting a lighting-caused fire south of Echo Summit.

Hallenbeck, known by friends and family as Mikey, was a Sierra-at-Tahoe employee for the past two seasons and a local firefighter for the U.S Forest Service.

“His flame burned bright,” friends speak of Hallenbeck. “Thank you for your
brave, courageous soul.” Hallenbeck is considered a local hero who could “make

8:00 p.m. update 8/9/15

The 21 year-old firefighter who died in Saturday evening as he was working on the Sierra Fire has been identified as Michael Hallenbeck of Shingle Springs, CA.

Hallenbeck was a member of Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) Organized Crew 36.

Step back in time with a living celebration of the Roaring 20s at the Great Gatsby Festival at the Tallac Historic Site on August 8 and 9, 2015. The Tahoe Heritage Foundation and U.S. Forest Service is hosting this wonderful event from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., both days, free admission for all ages.

Smokey Bear visited the new Forest Service firefighting aircraft "Super Scooper" at the Lake Tahoe Airport.

During the Kyburz Fire last week, the new addition to the Forest Service was able to drop 36,000 gallons of water at the front line of the fire, helping to keep it under 75 acres.

Each drop of the plane puts 1,600 gallons of water on the fire. The first load for the Kyburz Fire came out of Lake Tahoe, and the rest were from Union Valley Reservoir which was closest to the fire.

Kyburz Fire 667 personnel. Lowell Fire 771 personnel. Washington Fire 1,113 personnel.

These recent fires in the forests near Lake Tahoe have had hundreds of fire fighters on the ground, digging fire lines, cutting down trees and putting out fires. It's not an easy job, the hours are sometimes endless or never enough. But those that do it, love it.

The U.S. Forest Service has been training the next front line of defense against forest fires.

Two fires, starting within minutes of each other on Saturday, are currently burning out of control in the Sierra Nevada.

9:30 p.m. update 7/26/15:

The Lowell Fire burning near the town of Alta off of I-80 in the Sierras has burned 1,500 acres and is now 15% contained.

Early this evening, two CAL FIRE and two U.S. Forest Service firefighters suffered burn injuries while battling the Lowell Fire in Nevada County. The firefighters were airlifted from the fire and transported to UC Davis Burn Center in Sacramento.

The final celebrity jets were taking off from South Lake Tahoe Tuesday, just as the U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) welcomed in a Bombardier CL415 firefighting aircraft.

Nicknamed "Super Scooper" because it can scoop up 1,600 gallons of water from a lake and drop it on the front lines of a fire.