land

U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit Supervisor Nancy Gibson has signed a Decision Notice/Finding of No Significant Impact authorizing restoration activities on National Forest System lands associated with the Upper Truckee River Sunset Stables Reach.

A 16-acre parcel near where Highways 89 and 50 meet is being scoped as a possible and permanent relocation site for Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care.
The property, known as Echo Creek Ranch, sits in an estate and trust by the late Alex Graf and once had a value of about $7 million during the height of the real estate boom. 

Here is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada, Northern California, the Sierra and portions of Southern Oregon.

For the second straight year the Tahoe Conservancy will enforce a seasonal dog prohibition at the Upper Truckee Marsh at south shore Lake Tahoe. The dog ban is meant to protect sensitive wildlife areas, including threatened and endangered species, during breeding season. The Upper Truckee Marsh provides critical breeding habitat. The dog ban begins May 1.

On Feb. 29 the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) acted illegally in not analyzing the boat pollution impacts for over one thousand illegal boat mooring buoys in the lake and that it must do so before it can approve other lake development.

The appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that found proposed amendments to the shoreline development plan were invalid. Under the new ruling, TRPA will retain discretion in how it will conduct a new study of the impacts of legalizing these buoys.

The trio of Colorado players investing in Lake Tahoe covers the spectrum of resort development and management.
East West Partners is a land developer. Vail Resorts is largely a lodger and resort operator. KSL Capital Partners is working in both operations and real estate.
Go here for the Denver Post story: Lake Tahoe's trio of Colorado investors covers all the bases.

The March 11, 2011 Tohoku earthquake is a grim reminder of the potential for another strong-motion mega-earthquake along the Pacific Northwest coast, geophysicist John Anderson of the University of Nevada, Reno told members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in a lecture at their annual conference in Vancouver, B.C. Sunday.

Date & Time: Wednesday, March 28, 2012
7 p.m.

Location: Duke Theater
Lake Tahoe Community College
One College Drive, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150

Details: FREE Admission!
Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Followed by Q&A session

Contact Info: Lisa Herron, U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, (530) 543-2815, laherron@fs.fed.us, http://www.fs.usda.gov/ltbmu

Location

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Every great tourist destination has a great brand, a great slogan or a great logo. There's "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas," the "I (heart) NYC" stickers or Mex...

With hundreds of weekend skiers on the slopes, a glider crash landed on a ski run at Heavenly Mountain Resort in South Lake Tahoe on Sunday, with the pilot and passenger having walked away unhurt. No one else was injured.
El Dorado County authorities report the incident happened at 1:26 p.m. near the front of the First Run area of the California Lodge of the Lake Tahoe resort, which straddles the California and Nevada border.
A spokesman for Minden-Tahoe Airport based Soaring NV, said the pilot was flying a Duo Discus aircraft and lost altitude and was forced to land. The pilot is experienced and was doing a flight review, the spokesman said. The pilot and passenger were unhurt, he said.
Heavenly Mountain Resort spokesman Russ Pecoraro called the incident "irresponsible."
"We're outraged that something like this could happen. We're glad that everyone came out of this okay, but there's no excuse for this kind of irresponsible behavior," Pecoraro said in an email. "We'll do everything in our power to make sure this doesn't happen again. We're extremely lucky no one was hurt today."

This week, the Squaw Valley Institute in cooperation with Truckee Donner Land Trust and the Resort at Squaw Creek is hosting legendary alpinist Conrad Anker and award winning author and artist Jenn...

Could the Winter X Games be moving to a Lake Tahoe ski resort? This year’s Winter X Games concluded Sunday, and also concluding was a contract that the X Games had with Aspen’s Buttermilk Mountain. The contract expired and ESPN, which is the event owner, could be looking for another venue.

The sci-fi-horror film "Underworld Awakening 3D" playing at the Horizon Stadium Cinemas in Stateline is the fourth iteration of the series, in this case starring Kate Beckinsale as Selene for the third time.
Selene has been in suspended animation in a freezer for 12 years bust breaks out to find that humankind is at war with the vampires in the population a well as the werewolves.

Canadian freeskier Sarah Burke died Thursday in a Salt Lake City hospital, nine days after crashing at the bottom of the superpipe during a training run in Utah. Burke, who lived near Whistler in British Columbia, was 29. She was injured Jan. 10 while training at a personal sponsor event at the Park City Mountain resort.
Tests revealed Burke suffered "irreversible damage to her brain due to lack of oxygen and blood after cardiac arrest," according to a statement released by Burke's publicist, Nicole Wool.

View Washoe Drive Fire (1/19/2012) in a larger map

UPDATE 10PM: Reno Fire Chief Michael Hernandez said tonight the Washoe Drive Fire has consumed and estimated 3,700 acres, burned at least 20 structures and has resulted in one fatality.
Hernandez would not go into details of how the person died. He said the 250+ firefighters on the scene have stopped the forward progress of the fire. He said the fire started in the East Lake area, and then followed the Highway 395 corridor north, where it was stopped just south of Galena High School.
Highway 395 will be closed until further notice due to damage to debris and damage to guard rails, power poles and other item near the roadway. Gov. Brian Sandoval told state workers who commute by this route to stay home Friday. Evacuations have been lifted for the Galena area. About 2,000 people are still unable to go back to their homes tonight.
Hernandez said firefighters saved more than 800 homes that were in the path of this destructive fire.
The cause of the blaze is still under investigation.
****
UPDATE 9PM: Reno Fire officials report forward progress on Washoe Drive fire has stopped. Fire behavior is moderating due to diminishing winds, lowering termperatures and increasing humidity/moisture moving over the Sierra Nevada/Carson Range. Fire burns more than 3,000 acres with zero containment; 10,000 evacuated; no count on home and structure losses.

U.S. Highway-395 remains closed between 1.8 miles north of Carson City to the Junction of SR 341/431 (Mt. Rose Junction) in south Reno. U.S. Highway 395 could remained closed on Friday (1/20) through the morning commute - make alternate plans.
***

At 4:40 pm Thursday, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, under his constitutional and statutory authority, made a state declaration of emergency which qualifies local governments for federal assistance associated with this event. The National Guard is on standby at the request of Sandoval and Washoe County. California has also provided fire assistance as part of a Governor to Governor agreement with Jerry Brown.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have been and are being affected by this fire,” Sandoval said. “Declaring a state of emergency ensures that every resource from the local, state and federal level is available to assist. The Nevada Division of Forestry and the Department of Public Safety have also engaged with local responders.”
Additionally, Nevada has been approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for a Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG). As a result, Nevada is eligible for up to 75 percent funding assistance for eligible costs. The request was made by the Nevada Division of Forestry on behalf of Washoe County at the onset of the fire.

More below the fold.

An inflatable airbag demonstration at Kirkwood Mountain Resort last month will give way to a new feature at the resort beginning in February, officials announced. The Steezbag 50 was on public display at the resort from Dec. 17 to Jan. 1. An announcement was made via press release from Kirkwood. Here's the announcement:

The year of 2011 was anything but quiet for the California Department of Fish and Game.
Pesky bears, a roaming gray wolf, significant poaching arrests, tsunami relief work and dramatic wildlife rescues were among the stories that captured the public’s attention.
DFG also welcomed new Director Charlton H. Bonham, who was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown in August.

Here is the fishing report for the week of Jan. 4-11. The report covers rivers, streams and lakes in Nevada, Northern California and Southern Oregon.

By Peter Fimrite, San Francisco Chronicle. Tough economic times have been a bonanza for land trusts and nonprofit conservation groups, which have recently ...www.laketahoenews.net/.../land-conservatio...

Acquiring an easement from the California Tahoe Conservancy is allowing Placer County to accept a $1 million grant from the state Natural Resources Agency ...www.laketahoenews.net/.../tahoe-vista-land...

At the urging of the U.S. Forest Service, visitors to the Lake Tahoe Basin should leave their fireworks at home over the New Year's holiday.
“The use of all fireworks is prohibited on all national forests and national grasslands. Regulations are enforced, and violation is punishable as a misdemeanor by a fine of not more than $5,000, or imprisonment of not more than six months, or both,” said Forest Supervisor Nancy Gibson.

By John Heil
The U.S. Forest Service and organizers of January's Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month are working together to promote and recognize the event at Lake Tahoe and elsewhere, highlighting the health benefits of winter outdoor activity.

By Sam Bauman
Northstar California did up things well Tuesday (name change, used to be "at-Tahoe") by officially opening its new multimillion dollar Zephyr lodge at the top of Zephyr lift and a new chairlift, the Promised Land Express. The new quad chair services two new trails. This completes a spending program of $30 million on upgrades, trails and support activities at the Lake Tahoe resort.