public lands

Yosemite National Park is celebrating the gift of 400-acre Ackerson Meadow, the largest expansion of the park's boundaries since 1949. The meadow, a critical wetlands and meadow habitat on the park's western boundary, was purchased by the Trust for Public Land for $2.3 million and then donated to the park.

Four separate fires are burning north of Reno, sending smoke throughout Northern Nevada and the Lake Tahoe basin.

The Virginia Mountains Complex is made up currently of four separate wildland fires, including the Anderson (5626 acres), Sage (4239 acres), Seven Lakes (3063 acres) and Tule (7267 acres) Fires. All of these lightning-caused fires are burning within about 20-miles of each other in an arc about 35-miles north of Reno.

The vast majority of the public lands burning are administered by the Bureau of Land Management-Carson City District.

A single-vehicle crash has claimed the lives of two Bureau of Land Management (BLM) firefighters, one who is from Zephyr Cove. One other BLM firefighter was injured.

On Sunday evening, the firefighters were returning to Winnemucca after looking for lightning-sparked wildfires in Northern Nevada. NHP said tire failure may have caused the crash near the junction of State Highway 140 and U.S. 95 at about 5:00 p.m.

The number of dead trees in the Sierra Nevada are now at historic levels and have fueled the risk of catastrohpic wildfires according to the U.S. Forest Service.

They announced Wednesday that they have identified an additional 26 million dead trees in California since October 2015, bringing the total to at least 66 million dead trees in the state. The most recent additions are located in six counties across 760,000 acres in the Southern Nevada region.

El Dorado County Sheriff's Office responds to calls throughout the county.

The following are calls that only pertain to the South Shore. There may be some missing calls due to sheriff's logs not being completed at press time and the story will be updated when provided.

6/4

6:31 a.m. - Arrest for stored property on Montreal Rd - A 59-YEAR-OLD MAN WAS ARRESTED.

3:46 p.m. - Vague Threats - Al Tahoe Blvd - A 33-YEAR-OLD MALE INMATE ACCUSED ANOTHER INMATE, AGE 18, OF MAKING THREATS.

Restoring and conserving our environment at Lake Tahoe means setting our aspirations at the right scale. That’s what TRPA and many partners are working to do through strategic initiatives to ensure the health of our basin’s forests, streams, and lake, and to improve our communities and transportation infrastructure.

The Lake Tahoe Restoration Act of 2015, a bipartisan bill sponsored by Nevada Sen. Dean Heller, passed the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on Wednesday.

The legislation, created alongside senators Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Harry Reid, D-Nevada and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., provides federal, state, and local partners important tools to reduce wildfire threats, improve water clarity, jumpstart innovative infrastructure projects, and combat invasive species.

People at Lake Tahoe are working together like never before to restore our environment, revitalize our economy, and improve our communities. We saw significant progress all around the lake this year. And our progress is sustainable with continued partnership and collaboration, so critical to tackle the many challenges and important decisions on our horizon.

"Every Kid in a Park" is a program offered by the U.S. Forest Service to all fourth grade students in the country.

It is very easy to be part of the free program. First step is to log onto www.everykidinapark.gov and get a free pass.

President Barack Obama created Every Kid in a Park so fourth graders and their families could discover our wildlife, resources, and history for free!

All participants are also eligible to cut down a free Christmas Tree in Lake Tahoe.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, El Dorado County, and members of Tahoe Backcountry Alliance announced today they are partnering to create a coalition of stakeholders to maintain and enhance public access for winter backcountry skiing and snowboarding.

“We’re optimistic about this opportunity to work together to get back some of the access that we have lost in the past, and work to enhance access in the future. Let’s together reclaim and preserve backcountry access in the Tahoe Basin,” said Mike Schwartz and Todd Offenbacher, of Tahoe Backcountry Alliance.

A federal grand jury returned a five-count indictment Thursday against Jesus Gonzalez-Alvizo, 25, and Reimundo Arriaga-Arriaga, 37, residents of Mexico, charging them with conspiracy to manufacture marijuana, manufacture of marijuana, possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and depredation of public lands and resources.

Chautauqua performer Steve Hale will present “George Whittell, Jr." who lived off the interest generated by the millions he inherited from his parents. His enormous assets allowed him to purchase the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe where he built the Thunderbird Lodge in the 1930s. The house was designed by prominent Reno architect Frederick DeLongchamps. This included a six-hundred-foot tunnel connected to a boat house to berth the “Thunderbird”, his fifty-five-foot mahogany yacht.

Location

The following is an opinion article from the Reno Gazette Journal and reprinted here:

It doesn't matter if you love or hate Democratic Sen. Harry Reid to agree that the announcement of his retirement just dramatically reduced our state's political power in Washington D.C.

Nevada will go from a state whose issues were often at the center of debate because of Reid's position as minority leader to a state without a congressional power player in either party.

As we enter a New Year, it’s time for artists to share their thanks in celebrating one of Northern Nevada's icons by applying for spring residencies at the Black Rock Desert High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area. Applications will be accepted until March 31.

The League to Save Lake Tahoe invites volunteers to come stabilize stream banks, pull invasive plants and restore trails for the 17th annual Tahoe Forest Stewardship Day on September 27 at Tahoe Paradise Park in Meyers.

The park lies along the Upper Truckee River, Lake Tahoe’s largest tributary. Volunteer efforts will have a tangible effect on reducing sediment flow into the river, and help Keep Tahoe Blue. This is the League’s third year hosting the event at this location.

Today Kristen Spees announced the details of her congressional campaign’s Off-Road Ride Across Nevada.

Spees' ride is entirely off-road to promote public access to BLM land. The ride starting September 5th will navigate across Northern Nevada beginning in Dayton, to Sand Mountain, Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park and up to Austin, Nevada. Riders on Off-Highway Vehicles are expected to cover more than 350 miles over 3 days to promote public access to BLM land throughout Nevada.

To promote access and raise awareness on this issue Kristen stated:

The recent standoff at the last remaining ranch in Clark County, NV has been widely attributed to environmental protection around the endangered desert tortoise; with the right wing trying to pin the blame on Nevada Senator Harry Reid for his support of the recent Ivanpah solar plant which, generates 392 MW which powers Google servers (See Dana Loesch Radio for an example of the kind of coverage it gets http://danaloeschradio.com/the-real-story-of-the-bundy-ranch/ and http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/04/11/the-nevada-tortoise-war-is-a-right-wing-false-f/198860 for a Media Matters article deb

A compromise agreement reached by conservation groups, off-roaders and three rural counties settles litigation going back to the 1990’s by resolving the status of contentious trails in Northern California’s Eldorado National Forest, according to documents posted today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Under the agreement, some trails and dirt roads would reopen, others would remain closed and still others would begin restoration of past damage.

Investigators from the U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement & Investigations and Tuolumne County District Attorney's Office have determined the Rim Fire began when a hunter allowed an illegal fire to escape. There is no indication the hunter was involved with illegal marijuana cultivation on public lands and no marijuana cultivation sites were located near the origin of the fire. No arrests have been made at this time and the hunter's name is being withheld pending further investigation.

With tinder-dry conditions after one of the driest winters on record, California fire officials will suspend burning permits along the West Slope and Eldorado National Forest beginning June 17. Fire restrictions in the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit will begin July 1.

CAL FIRE’s Amador-El Dorado- Sacramento Unit will suspend door-yard burning permits and the Forest Service will begin fire restrictions in portions of Eldorado National Forest.

Nevada son and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid addressed a joint session of the Nevada State Legislature today in Carson City. Here is the text of his speech:

For the first time since 1987, Lake Tahoe has a new regional plan for development and land use.
Twelve of the 14 voting members of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency's governing board voted in favor of the new plan, with one member voting against it and another abstaining, according to TRPA spokesman Jeff Cowan.

Business interests say the plan is an overdue overhaul of regulations that will jump-start Tahoe's tourism economy while also protecting its environment.

Join hundreds of Lake Tahoe Basin community members as we help improve forest health at the League to Save Lake Tahoe's 15th annual Tahoe Forest Stewardship Day on Saturday, Sept. 29 at Tahoe Paradise Park in Meyers. The League welcomes volunteers of all ages and abilities.

The Forest Service fire chief for the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit is suspending residential burning, also known as "dooryard" burning, effective today, Wednesday, July 18, 2012, through the remainder of fire season.
The ban applies to debris burning on private, state and federal lands of El Dorado and Placer counties in the Lake Tahoe Basin, according to a news release.
Residential debris burning is already banned within the South Lake Tahoe city limits, and in both the Tahoe Douglas and North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection districts.