visitor

The Sixth Annual Native Species Festival will be held at the Taylor Creek visitor Center in South Lake Tahoe on Saturday, May 30 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

This free family event is hosted by the U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit and is a great way to spend the day outdoors and learn about the native species of the Lake Tahoe Basin.

The Visitor's Center is located three miles north of South Lake Tahoe on Highway 89.

Now that weather is favorable for roadwork, Caltrans and NDot have begun their projects around Lake Tahoe and the surrounding areas.

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.

South Lake Tahoe resident Lisa Maloff presented a $10 million check to the Barton Foundation on Wednesday night for the building of the Robert Maloff Center of Excellence. The donation was made in memory of her husband Robert, who co-owned and operated the Lake Tahoe Inn and Timber Cove Lodge.

The Tahoe Chamber has hired Justin Sinner as the new Membership Services Director.

Sinner has been a frequent visitor to the Lake Tahoe area since a child, enjoying golfing, fishing and hiking. The avid snow skier put that love of Tahoe into a job last season as a part time ski instructor at Heavenly Ski Resort.

He graduated from college in 2005 with a degree in communications, which led him on a diverse career path which has included sales, marketing, public relations and digital media.

The Forest Service needs to fill many temporary and seasonal positions are available in several areas including fire, fisheries, wildlife, botany, visitor services, roads and trails, recreation and wilderness, and vegetation and timber management as well as the Pathways summer internship.

There will be a job fair to help fill those jobs on January 27, 2015, from 4 to 6 p.m., at the Forest Supervisor’s Office at 35 College Drive, South Lake Tahoe, Calif. 96150.

For the past year, Terri Arnold of South Lake Tahoe has been creating promotional videos for the Carson Valley Story Teller series. Each of the nine completed videos (three are still in post production), show Arnold as she shows viewers all they can do in the area. She doesn't show you in the normal way either, everything is done while on a horse named Meha. They can all be seen on the Carson Valley Visitor Authority's You Tube page.

Many of us have driven on Highway 395 between South Lake Tahoe and Southern California. I’ve done that route many times myself on the way to and from San Diego and Disneyland. As heading South, the Owens Valley opens up after leaving the town of Bishop, just over 200 miles from Tahoe. You’ll pass through the town of Independence, and six miles later you’ll find yourself at the Manzanar National Historic Site (the town has an ironic name as you’re about to find out).

State Route 28 on the East Shore of Lake Tahoe from Incline Village to the intersection with Highway 50 is set to receive $12.5 million in improvements.

The Washoe County Commissioners approved a Federal Lands Access Program Memorandum of Agreement for federal funding for the design and construction of the improvements.

Known as the "Loop Road," the U.S. 50/South Shore Community Revitalization Project is about two months away from having its environmental analysis completed. Expecting that completion in January, 2015, the Tahoe Transportation District (TTD) is holding a community meeting will update people on the plan to realign traffic through the casino corridor.

Planners are working on a concept with a more walkable, bikeable and transit friendly "main street" from Pioneer Trail's intersection with Highway 50 in South Lake Tahoe to the loop road to the east side of MontBleu.

It's that time of year when recreation areas start to closed down for the season.

Nevada Beach, Fallen Leaf, Bayview, Meeks Bay, and Kaspian campgrounds, and Nevada, Pope, Baldwin, Meeks Bay, William Kent, and Kaspian beaches all closed for the season on Monday, October 13. The Tallac Historic Site closed at the end of September.

Camp Richardson and Zephyr Cove resorts remain open year-round.

The Taylor Creek Visitor Center will remain open on weekends through the end of October.

The Board of Trustees, students, faculty and staff of Lake Tahoe Community College recognize the serious health problems associated with smoking tobacco and other non-tobacco products and the use of smokeless tobacco. The college also recognizes that tobacco smoke poses a health risk to non-smokers. In order to protect students and staff who choose not to smoke from an unhealthy environment, the LTCC Board of Trustees approved a new policy that prohibits smoking within buildings or facilities owned or leased by the District, and designates marked outside areas on campus for smoking.

The seven candidates for South Lake Tahoe City Council were at Wednesday nights Candidate Forum at Lake Tahoe Golf Course. The Tahoe Chamber and Tahoe Daily Tribune hosted the evening which had Rabbi Evon Yakar moderating the questions and answers.

About 100 people showed up to listen to panel who were given questions prepared by the chamber's new political committee as well as those asked by the audience. The questions were asked of different candidates so not everyone was asked the same one.

7/29/14 11:30 p.m. update: The El Portal Fire burning near Yosemite is now 34% contained. Firefighters gained good ground on all sides of the fire except for the northern portion which has caused concern for fire officials. Steep, rugged terrain continues to challenge the efforts of firefighters but progress is being made. The weather forecast calls for continued high temperatures reaching as high as 100 degrees near El Portal.

At this point in time 3,545 acres have burned. The cause of the fire is unknown at this time.

The Lake of the Sky Amphitheater evening programs at the Taylor Creek Visitor Center begin July 11, 2014, and continue every Friday evening through August.

The series kicks off Friday, July 11, with "An Evening with Mark Twain" featuring McAvoy Layne performing as Mark Twain live on stage at 7 p.m.

The Lake Tahoe Visitor's Authority has passed on the proverbial fireworks torch to the Tahoe Douglas Visitor's Authority.

In a move created by last year's fireworks lawsuit, the LTVA board was advised by legal counsel to seek an alternative sponsor and acted on that advice according to LTVA Executive Director Carol Chaplin.

The TDVA begins sponsorship this year.

The Fifth Annual Lake Tahoe Birding Festival at Taylor Creek Visitor Center kicked of the U.S. Forest Service's Wild Tahoe Weekend on Saturday. The activities included information booths and hourly guided bird walks along the nature trail through the wetland; Master Falconer, Marie Gaspari Crawford, brought two falcons and a Red tailed hawk to the event. During her two presentations, Crawford spoke about birds of prey and gave some interesting insight to caring for and living with them. She also answered questions and had the birds pose for pictures.

The U.S. Forest Service has released details of the final BMP project for the Tallac Historic Site. The project will reconfigure the three entrances to the site in order to reduce confusion of travelers and create a more efficient use of paved surfaces. There will also be an internal road created to serve as a connector between Tallac, Kiva and the Visitor Center so vehicles will not have to exit to Hwy 89 to move about.

This project was first proposed in January of 2011. Work may begin in Spring of 2015 and is expected to take 10 years to complete.

You hear about wild weekends in Lake Tahoe, most of them based at a nightclub of the casinos. Here is your opportunity for a truly wild time when the Lake Tahoe Bird and Native Species festivals are held at the Taylor Creek Visitor Center.

On Saturday, June 7, the Bird Festival will include bird walks, a falconer with live birds of prey, an art contest display, migratory bird info as well as food, crafts and games. Something for all ages! it will be held at the Visitor Center from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

They’ve been called unpleasant names that can’t be printed. They’ve received death threats. For a few days one may even assume they were hated. That was then.

They’re being called courageous. They’re being called heroes. They’re being thanked for caring about our environment and bringing the effect of fireworks in the lake to the forefront. That is now.

Several South Lake Tahoe residents showed up at the presentation of the Tahoe Area Plan at the airport on Thursday. Most agreed that the area known as the "Y" needs to be changed with an area plan, but which direction to a take to a final plan is where people differ.

The evening consisted of a presentation by John Hitchcock, who is on loan to the city from the TRPA for this project as Planning Project Manager. After he spoke the group broke out into three breakout sessions, each focuses on one of three choices presented as the future concept for "Y" area.

During the winter of 1960, athletes from around the world came to Lake Tahoe to participate in the Winter Olympic Games. The biathlon and cross country events were held in what is now Sugar Pine Point State Park. A celebration of the area's snow heritage begins Saturday with a series of events to showcase makes the region so special.

Bob and Tammy Hassett, current operators of Camp Richardson and Meeks Bay Resort have been selected to run the concession at Round Hill Pines Resort according to Cheva Heck of the U.S. Forest Service. The current lease is held by the Forvilly family and is set to expire on December 31, 2013. Frank Forvilly has operated Round Hill Pines since 1971 and just found out yesterday that they weren't awarded the new contract.

The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) is working to open many Forest Service-operated facilities and restore public services that had been suspended during the government shutdown, which ended October 17, 2013. “Realizing we’re near the end of our normal operating season in Lake Tahoe, we’re focusing our efforts on those sites that typically remain open for a few more weeks and are extremely popular with locals and visitors alike,” said Forest Supervisor Nancy Gibson. “We look forward to opening these and serving our local community once again.”

"Look at Lake Tahoe as the picture and Highway 50 as the frame" were the words of South Lake Tahoe Mayor Tom Davis as he spoke at the Trout Creek Bridge to Ski Run Boulevard Project Ribbon Cutting ceremony on Friday.