truckee river

A prescribed fire by the Lake Valley Fire Department in the trees and brush surrounding the Upper Truckee River caused some concern by area residents on Thursday afternoon.

Large plumes of smoke could be seen from miles away, and with the burn not on the normal U.S. Forest Service weekly list of prescribed burning, many calls were made from concerned citizens. According to the USFS office in South Lake Tahoe, they alone had dozens of phone calls.

Over one hundred community members will gather on May 14 as the League to Save Lake Tahoe organizes the year’s largest single-day, hands-on citizens science effort to capture a snapshot of the water quality health of South Shore streams feeding into Lake Tahoe.

“By participating in the 16th annual Snapshot Day, volunteers are building on years of data gathered in these streams to provide valuable data information we can use to help protect Lake Tahoe,” said Jesse Patterson, deputy director for the League to Save Lake Tahoe.

The U.S. Forest Service and California Tahoe Conservancy will be finishing their fourth and final year of creating a new channel for the Upper Truckee River near the South Lake Tahoe airport. To accomplish their final tasks, the meadow and river will be closed to the public for much of the summer in order to divert the water into the new channel, relocate fish and mussels, and finish up vegetation projects.

It was down to the 11th hour, Chris Brackett had to be out of his South Tahoe Stand Up Paddle location and had no place to go with all of his boards. He was in the same situation as Rude Brothers, the bagel and coffee shop that shared the same location. With the building sold and all tenants given notice to move, both businesses needed to relocate.

On Thursday, the California Tahoe Conservancy Board awarded more than $7 million for seven watershed restoration and forest health projects around the lake. Thirteen different applicants submitted 32 grant requests totaling $30 million, but with just $13,950,000 to give out, it was a very competitive process.

The money comes from Proposition 1, the $7.545 billion water bond approved overwhelmingly by California voters in November 2014. It was divided around the state to agencies like the Conservancy for water supply infrastructure projects.

State Route 49 (El Dorado County) from the Coloma School House to Mt. Murphy Road: Motorists can expect one-way traffic from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday for utility work.

U.S. Highway 50 (El Dorado County) from Upper Truckee Road to Transit Way in South Lake Tahoe: Eastbound and westbound motorists can expect alternating lane closures from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday for survey work.

The most recent storm to hit the Lake Tahoe basin brought with it more rain than snow, but it allowed the lake to rise .20 feet which equals 7.89 billion gallons of water.

The Truckee River in Reno rose 3.71 feet and Donner Lake added 1.72 feet, or 385 million gallons of water.

Ski areas in the basin all got a boost in snow with Mt. Rose seeing the most at 16 inches. Heavenly added 4" and both Sierra-at-Tahoe and Kirkwood saw 10" added to their base.

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.

LONG-TERM PROJECTS

State Route 89 (Placer County): Work continues on a $70.1 million project from Tahoma to the "Y" junction with State Route 28 in Tahoe City on Lake Tahoe’s West Shore that will upgrade storm water drainage and treatment systems, add curb and gutter, resurface and realign the road, add new left-turn pockets and widen shoulders on a 9-mile stretch of the highway. Completion is expected in fall 2016.

LONG-TERM PROJECTS

State Route 89 (Placer County): Work continues on a $70.1 million project from Tahoma to the "Y" junction with State Route 28 in Tahoe City on Lake Tahoe’s West Shore that will upgrade storm water drainage and treatment systems, add curb and gutter, resurface and realign the road, add new left-turn pockets and widen shoulders on a 9-mile stretch of the highway. Completion is expected in fall 2016.

LONG-TERM PROJECTS

State Route 89 (Placer County): Work continues on a $70.1 million project from Tahoma to the "Y" junction with State Route 28 in Tahoe City on Lake Tahoe’s West Shore that will upgrade storm water drainage and treatment systems, add curb and gutter, resurface and realign the road, add new left-turn pockets and widen shoulders on a 9-mile stretch of the highway. Completion is expected in fall 2016.

Chip. Putt. Eat. That is the them for one of this year's Sample the Sierra Pop-Up Dinners. Chefs Whitney & Josh Deri of Blend Catering will be preparing dinner on the 10th tee along the Truckee River at Lake Tahoe Golf Course on Friday, September 4 at 6 p.m.

Enjoy four courses consisting of Nevada-grown ingredients perfectly paired with delicious local wines.

FIRST COURSE
Heirloom tomato, whipped burrata, peach, cucumber, tomato water, sumac

SECOND COURSE
King salmon, yellow coconut curry, slow cooked carrot, eggplant, malted barley, kefir lime, crispy shallot

THIRD COURSE

LONG-TERM PROJECTS

State Route 89 (Placer County): Work continues on a $70.1 million project from Tahoma to the "Y" junction with State Route 28 in Tahoe City on Lake Tahoe’s West Shore that will upgrade storm water drainage and treatment systems, add curb and gutter, resurface and realign the road, add new left-turn pockets and widen shoulders on a 9-mile stretch of the highway. Completion is expected in fall 2016.

LONG-TERM PROJECTS

State Route 89 (Placer County): Work continues on a $70.1 million project from Tahoma to the "Y" junction with State Route 28 in Tahoe City on Lake Tahoe’s West Shore that will upgrade storm water drainage and treatment systems, add curb and gutter, resurface and realign the road, add new left-turn pockets and widen shoulders on a 9-mile stretch of the highway. Completion is expected in fall 2016.

Scientists have determined that Lake Tahoe’s iconic blueness is most strongly related to algae, not clarity. In a report released today from the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center, researchers found the lower the algal concentration, the bluer the lake.

In the “Tahoe: State of the Lake Report 2015” report, research shows clarity is controlled by sediment. Blueness is controlled by algal concentration, which in turn is driven by the level of nutrients available to the algae.

The City of South Lake Tahoe is holding a "Kick-off Meeting" for the Sierra Tract Erosion Control Project, Phase 3 and 4, on June 30, 2015, at 6:00 p.m. at the South Lake Tahoe Recreation Center gym located at 1180 Rufus Allen Blvd.

Construction of the project is scheduled to commence in early July, 2015 and continue throughout the 2015 and 2016 summer construction seasons. The construction contractor for the project will be available to answer questions regarding construction activities and schedule.

As the City of South Lake Tahoe celebrates the 50th anniversary of its incorporation, there is a long forgotten town that was once along the shores of Lake Tahoe.

Travelers came west in droves in 1849 after the discovery of gold near Placerville. Many used the Tahoe Wagon Road which is known as Pioneer Trail today. When the first major silver deposit in the United States was discovered in Virginia City in 1859, many of those same gold hunters traveled over that same road into Nevada.

Recent rains have Lake Tahoe lapping at its natural rim and while it may stay there for a time, the lake should soon start dropping again during this year of drought.

Thursday, the lake level was officially measured at just a few hundredths of an inch before its rim but a trickle of water flowed from the lake and toward the Truckee River. Similar conditions have existed since Monday, the first time the lake was so high since dropping below the rim last October.

“It’s basically at the rim,” said Federal Water Master Chad Blanchard. “Right now it’s at its peak that we’ve seen.”

What are homeowners in the Tahoe Keys doing to fight aquatic invasive species (AIS)? How successful was the pilot research project to reduce the Asian clam population in Emerald Bay, and what does it mean for future control projects? What does the latest research say about whether quagga mussels could survive in Lake Tahoe?

A project to remove invasive plants from the Lake Tahoe Basin will continue this summer. The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) will eradicate, control, and contain these plants using chemical treatment. Work will occur at approximately 70 infestation sites beginning May 15 and continuing through September, 2015.

At least 30 fish have been removed from in the area of Lake Tahoe beneath Fanny Bridge as the California Department of Fish and Wildlife combats low oxygen levels caused by the drought.

Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Kirsten Macintyre tells the Truckee Sierra Sun that 26 brown trout and four rainbow trout were caught below the bridge and relocated to a marina about six miles south. Recent readings showed low dissolved oxygen levels in the stagnant water below the bridge, so while there are fish remaining, the lower population should help.

The University of California, Davis and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency recently released their yearly water clarity readings for Lake Tahoe. The good news: Mid-lake water clarity improved significantly in 2014, with an average reading of 77.8 feet. That’s 7.5 feet greater than the average reading for 2013, and almost 14 feet greater than the 64.1 feet measured in 1997, Lake Tahoe’s lowest recorded clarity.

Wind gusts that reached up to 150 mph last weekend knocked over power poles and toppled trees onto live electrical wires throught the Liberty Energy territory in Northern California.

“Basically, crews have been working non-stop since the first storm arrived on Friday,” according to Mike Smart, Liberty Utilities-CA President. “For the past four days, we’ve reset poles, restrung wire and even made repairs to another utility’s infrastructure because it affected our ability to serve our customers.”

The New Year brings big changes both for me personally and for the Forest Service in Lake Tahoe. After 37 years with the agency, I’m looking forward to retirement and handing over the reins at the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit to a new Forest Supervisor.

I’m grateful for steady Basin leadership that has enhanced relationships making them stronger. Days of past tensions between conflicting interests have passed. Today, local agencies work closely together on solutions that protect our communities and our environment.