wood

The company that has built the BMX tracks for three Olympics, 40 World Cups and 10 World Championships is in South Lake Tahoe to build the Bijou Bike Park. Alex Fowler of Elite Trax, Inc has been in Rio de Janeiro building the track for the 2016 Summer Olympics, but he is much happier being in South Lake Tahoe creating what bicycle enthusiasts have been envisioning for year.

Design Workshop, the company behind several recent South Lake Tahoe projects, won two awards from the Washoe County Open Space and Regional Park Commission.

The company, who has an office on the South Shore, has completed projects in 30 countries over the last 45 years. They received the Elmer H. Anderson Parks Excellence Award for the work they have done to make the Ballardini Ranch Trailhead project a success. The project team also included Wood Rodgers, Spanish Springs Construction and Angie Persigehl.

As the drought begins to impact wildlife, there is concern that California black bears are breaking into Tahoe homes because the lack of rain is contributing to a lack of food.

Now some wildlife activists want to lure those bears away from neighborhoods by feeding them where they live -- in the woods -- even though that practice is illegal.

The activists argue that the drastic action will help the bears survive.

The fourth annual Lake Tahoe Home and Garden Show will be held on Friday, April 24th, and Saturday, April 25th, at the South Lake Tahoe Recreation Complex at 1080 Rufus Allen Blvd. The show will be open to the public on Friday from 4:00 pm to 7:30 pm, and Saturday, from 10:00 am to 4:30 pm.

The scene: The 1950s were a huge decade of change for South Lake Tahoe, with the proliferation of casinos on the Nevada side and the creation of the one-chair Heavenly ski resort on the California side. But the main attraction, then as now, was the lake itself, its shore dotted with mom-and-pop motels, vacation cottages and souvenir shops. When the original Red Hut opened here in 1959, South Lake Tahoe was becoming popular but the tourism infrastructure was nascent.

Long awaited BevMo! opened with much fanfare Friday morning to a large crowd in South Lake Tahoe. A line of an estimated 225 people formed in front of the store prior to the 9 a.m. ribbon cutting and grand opening ceremony.

First in line was local resident Dayton Hirsch. "I didn't think I'd be first when I got here at 7:15 a.m.," Hirsch said. As he walked in the door he, and the next 499 people, all received a mini-soft sided cooler complete with a martini shaker, drink recipe book, cup and assorted BevMo! and vendor gifts.

Over 1,500 people attended the Tahoe Chamber's annual Business Expo at Harrah's Tahoe on Friday. Hundreds of businesses and dozens of volunteers created an evening that won't soon be forgotten.

In a scene from 1992’s “The Bodyguard,” Kevin Costner‘s character, hired to protect the music star played by Whitney Houston, runs down a snowy wooden pier and dives into the water to rescue a boy from a boat just before it explodes. (Cue a Houston ballad.)

Off the silver screen, that same 76-foot-long pier and the property attached to it are known in real life as Tallac House, which just listed for $7,995,000 in South Lake Tahoe, CA.

The insanely ornate, all-wood, 3,000-square-foot house has had its Hollywood close-up. Twice. More on that in a moment.

Animal Ark wildlife experts continue to probe the death of a wolf and tiger after receiving toxicology results, which showed traces of two drugs used to euthanize animals and control seizures, on Wednesday morning.

Officials received lab results from the California Animal Health & Food Safety Laboratory System, which came back positive for pentobarbital and phenytoin.

Both are considered barbiturates, a type of depressant drug that causes relaxation and sleepiness, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

1/26/15 8 p.m. update:

Douglas Country Sheriff's Deputies (DCSO) and officers from the South Lake Tahoe and Roseville Police Departments contacted several Stateline, NV residents as part of a follow up investigation after a robbery in Roseville on Saturday.

Employees from the El Dorado County Probation Department were recently honored for the public safety services they provide to the community.

The award categories and recipients were as follows:

Bob Bensen Memorial Award for Deputy Probation Officer of the Year: Deputy Probation Officer II Brian Dolcini (Shingle Springs Field Office)
Employee of the Year: Administrative Technician Jackie Walker (Shingle Springs Field Office)
Special Award Presentation: Deputy Probation Officer - Institutions: Matt Flager (Posthumously)

There was no "open" sign in front nor was there any announcement that Wednesday would be the opening day for the new McP's Taphouse in the Stateline area of South Lake Tahoe. Yet, the bar was packed and the outside seating was starting to fill up by late afternoon.

Pete Joseph and business partner, former Navy Seal Greg McPartlin, put a lot of work into the 6,000 square foot found building at the end of the new Chateau and across the street from Harveys.

Sallie from the South Lake Tahoe Fire Department has these tips to make your Christmas fire safe:

Select a fresh tree with good color and firm, flexible needles that do not easily pull from the branches.

Place the tree in plain water immediately after re-cutting the trunk at least ½” above the old cut. The container you use for your tree should hold 2 to 4 quarts of water. The longer you wait to place your tree in water, the greater the chances are that it will lose the required moisture content to keep it fresh through the holiday season. NEVER place your tree on a wooden stand.

With the onset of cooler temperatures, Lake Tahoe homeowners are encouraged to take advantage of rebates the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and partner jurisdictions are offering to help people replace older, heavily polluting wood burning stoves and fireplaces.

Free public fire wood gathering will again be available at the Wrights Lake Recreation Area on the Eldorado National Forest to this weekend, November 8-9. “This weekend’s weather forecast is favorable,” stated Richard Thornburgh, Pacific District Ranger. “We feel this is a perfect opportunity to continue cleaning up the area by allowing people to take home free firewood.” The Recreation Area was hit by a severe wind storm almost a year ago, causing more than 200 trees to fall.

Smoke will be visible from various locations around the lake due to prescribed burns of underbrush and wood piles starting Sunday.

The North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District, the Nevada Division of Forestry and the U.S. Forest Service will conduct prescribed fire operations in the Incline Village, Ponderosa Ranch, Tunnel Creek trailhead areas and on scattered urban lots around the Lake Tahoe Basin beginning, Sunday, November 2, 2014, and continuing as conditions allow.

The public can get free firewood at the Wrights Lake Recreation Area on October 25-26 and November 1-2 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Portions of the area inside the El Dorado National Forest will be open to the public for woodcutting on both weekends. Woodcutters will be issued a free permit on site.

“The Forest Service is looking forward to a safe and successful wood cutting event. Please help us clean up this popular recreation area,” stated Richard Thornburgh, Pacific Ranger District Ranger.

The nomination period for the 2014 Blue Ribbon Awards ended on Friday, October 10 at noon. TahoeChamber’s prestigious awards program that recognizes exceptional South Shore businesses received over 175 nominations for eight separate award categories. The finalists and winners will be announced at the 7th Annual Blue Ribbon Awards dinner and ceremony on November 13 at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe. Tickets for the awards ceremony are now available for purchase at www.tahoechamber.org.

The Nominees:

There are an estimated 500 unpermitted, illegal marijuana grow houses on the South Shore according to local law enforcement. In the city limits, South Lake Tahoe Police Chief Brian Uhler estimates there are 300 houses where marijuana is growing illegally with another 200 in the El Dorado County portion of the South Shore according to SLEDNET’s Matt Underhill. (SLEDNET stands for South Lake El Dorado Narcotics Enforcement Team, a joint drug enforcement task force)

Award winning performers from San Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, Reno and Tahoe will grace the stage for Trails and Vistas World Concert at Sand Harbor State Park at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 6. The World Concert, an original blend of diverse musicians, aerialists and dancers, is produced by Trails and Vistas, a Truckee, CA-based nonprofit organization dedicated to producing inspiring art events in nature, in collaboration with the Truckee Tahoe Peace Project.

Once a year, local artists open their studios for the Tahoe Art League Studio Tour. This free event gives the public the opportunity to view and purchase art as well as visits with the talented participants.

For two weekends the tour is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

Here is an easy to use map or they can be picked up at the Art League's gallery located at 3062 Lake Tahoe Blvd adjacent to the Lake Tahoe Historical Museum, Senior Center and Visitor's Center.

Thanks to Tahoe Maritime Museum and a generous grant from the Lana Vento Charitable Trust, there is an exciting opportunity at the Boys and Girls Club of Lake Tahoe this summer. During the first weeks of summer a selected group of teen members will work together with Tahoe Maritime Museum volunteers to build Kaholo Stand Up Paddleboards from Chesapeake Light Craft.

Lake Vista Apartments is a 4.6 acre, 64-unit deed restricted affordable housing project on lower Kingsbury Grade in Stateline, Nevada. It was built in 2000 under a special agreement with the TRPA to replenish the Nevada side's affordable housing stock after the number of units at the complex on Kahle Drive was dramatically reduced in order to restore the meadow. The complex was built on a USDA affordable housing tax credit program which specified a minimum of 15 years of affordable housing use.

With record drought conditions in the West, preparing your home for
wildfire is more important than ever. May has been designated “Wildfire Awareness Month” in the Lake Tahoe Basin. This year’s theme is “Prepare Your Home For Wildfire” with a focus on creating and sustaining Fire Adapted Communities.

A Fire Adapted Community (FAC) is a community located in a fire-prone area that requires little assistance from firefighters during a wildfire. Residents of these communities accept responsibility for living in a high fire-hazard area. They possess the knowledge and skills to: