Swainson’s thrush: Why a once abundant bird is now hard to find, page 25. SPECIAL EDITION: The Legacy of the Angora Fire

Summer 2017 n Issue #11

REMEMBERING ANGORA

In the 10 years since Tahoe’s worst wildfire, a community continues to rebuild and the lessons we learned continue to resonate Photo: Tahoe Daily Tribune Photo: Tahoe

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: n FIRE RESEARCH: The Angora Fire had a bright side; scientists learned a lot...... 5

n FIXING THE FOREST: Land managers are taking a new approach...... 6 n EYE IN THE SKY: Remote mountaintop cameras scan the horizon for fire...... 10

PERMIT #765 PERMIT n RENO, NV RENO, NEW TRAILS: Professionals and volunteers are building new single tracks...... 11

PAID n REBUILDING: How one family was burned out but then rebuilt...... 13

U.S. POSTAGE U.S.

Stateline, NV 89449 NV Stateline, n WHERE’S THE BEACH? The lake is swallowing the shoreline...... 17

PO Box 5310 Box PO PRSRT STD PRSRT n TAHOE CITY CHANGES: A new ice rink, hotel, and road project bring change...... 20

Tahoe In Depth In Tahoe n WATER TRAIL: New signs will help paddlers navigate the route...... 21 PAGE 2 n TAHOE IN DEPTH tahoeindepth.org tahoeindepth.org TAHOE IN DEPTH n PAGE 3

CONTENTS

Forest health continues to be a top priority Restoration Thank you for continuing to support Tahoe In Depth. We’ve dedicated this issue 7 to the 10-year anniversary of the Angora Fire and we hope you find our coverage Land managers, scientists, and volunteers in compelling of this historic moment for Lake Tahoe. Much has been accomplished the Tahoe Basin began working immediately after the Angora Fire to remove hazardous in terms of forest health over the last decade. Tahoe Basin agencies came together trees, replant new ones, protect fragile areas, in an unprecedented way and the results speak for themselves. A 10-year forest

Photo: U.S. Forest Service and set up monitoring stations. fuels reduction strategy is guiding the work of nearly 20 agencies in the Tahoe Basin, resulting in more than 46,000 acres treated for forest ecosystem health since Angora. Property owners around the Tahoe Basin are building Taking steps to what are known as fire-adapted communities — preparing for protect your property the next wildfire to ensure it’s not catastrophic. And, TRPA and 8 other environmental agencies have streamlined permitting to Lake Tahoe residents can take important steps to prepare support defensible space and forest health projects. their homes for wildfire, such as Forest health continues to be a key area in the Lake Tahoe joining the Tahoe Network of Fire Environmental Improvement Program and more investment Adapted Communities program is needed. I’m happy to report since our last issue of Tahoe led by the Tahoe Resource In Depth, Congress reauthorized the Lake Tahoe Restoration Conservation District and Tahoe

Act. Passage of the Act commits the federal government to the Environmental Fire and Fuels Team. Daily Tribune Photo: Tahoe Improvement Program over the next seven years and forest health is the top funding priority. We’re working with our congressional delegation to continue critical federal support for restoration projects that protect our forests, restore lake Be a good steward clarity, fight invasive species, and preserve Lake Tahoe for future generations. The work to rehabilitate the areas Please send us your feedback on Tahoe In Depth at [email protected] and share 9 burned by the Angora Fire continues any personal stories about your experiences at the lake you’d like to share with our readers. today; volunteers can help out Enjoy the fabulous Tahoe summer. at the 20th annual Tahoe Forest Stewardship Day on Sept. 23.

Tahoe In Depth Tahoe Photo: League to Save Lake Publisher and contributors: The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency publishes Tahoe In Depth in partnership with various state and federal agencies. Contributors Community garden include the California Tahoe Conservancy, U.S. EPA, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 13 Owen Evans spent decades U.S. Forest Service, Incline Village General Improvement District, Lahontan Regional photographing wildflowers. When Water Quality Control Board, League to Save Lake Tahoe, Nevada Department of the fire destroyed his life’s work, he Wildlife, Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, Nevada Division of State responded by starting a community Lands, Nevada Division of State Parks,Tahoe City Public Utility District, South Tahoe garden on the lot where his home once Refuse, Tahoe Fund, Tahoe Resource Conservation District, Tahoe Transportation stood. District, Tahoe Water Suppliers Association, University of California, Davis, University of Nevada, Reno, Desert Research Institute, and the Washoe Tribe. Photo: Leona Allen Executive Editor: Julie Regan Managing Editor: Sarah Underhill Design/Copy Editor: Jim Sloan The drought ... has subsided Contributors: Kurt Althof, Becky Bell, Jeff DeLong, Helen Fillmore, Adam Jensen, Damon Knight, Tom Lotshaw, Jeanne McNamara, Jesse Patterson, Jacob Quinn, 17 At the end of March, when the Sierra snowpack is typically deepest, California Hugh Safford, Ed Smith. Department of Water Resources staff found the equivalent of 45.8 inches of water, Copyright 2017 © – All rights reserved. 164 percent of the historical average.

Major funding provided by: The elusive thrush 25 Swainson’s thrush had all but disappeared from Tahoe when Will Richardson heard its distinctive call one day in Ward Canyon. Now the scientist is using both high tech and low tech to find out where the bird is going. Photo: Will Richardson tahoeindepth.org TAHOE IN DEPTH n PAGE 3

REMEMBERING ANGORA On June 24, 2007, an illegal campfire spread into the parched forest just outside South Lake Tahoe. The fire exploded, changing the landscape forever.

By Jeff DeLong Tahoe In Depth it Bailey was decidedly nervous. Lake Tahoe’s fire management officer for the U.S. Forest Service knew things were lining up in a worrying way Kthat weekend in late June of 2007. Lake Tahoe’s forest was parched and in record dryness for that time of year after a dismal winter for snowfall. Winds were blowing steadily at 20 to 30 mph, gusting up to 50 mph or more. It was a recipe for real trouble. “I was checking my watch hourly to say we’ve made it without an ignition,” Bailey recalls. That luck would only last so long. The calls started rolling in shortly after 2 p.m. There were reports of smoke in the North Upper Truckee area just outside the town limits of South Lake Tahoe. “I got the call and I remember seeing just a small wisp of smoke,” Bailey said. He quickly contacted Forest Service dispatchers. “I told them we need to anticipate a very large fire,” Bailey said. “There wasn’t any guesswork. It was clear we were in for a major event.” And a major event it would be. A decade after Lake Tahoe’s largest wildfire erupted on June 24, 2007 — sparked by an abandoned and illegal campfire — the impacts of the Angora Fire continue to resonate. Entire neighborhoods were decimated by wind-driven flames, with 254 homes and structures destroyed in a matter of hours. Lives were changed. A forested landscape was altered for decades, with some 3,100 acres burned. “It was extreme fire behavior right from the outset,” Bailey said. “It was, to use a cliché, the perfect storm.” ‘A hell of a day’ Joe McAvoy and Mike Mosca, a battalion chief and captain with the Lake Valley Fire Protection District, were mountain biking in the hills near Scotts Lake that windy Sunday when they came upon a frightening scene in the valley below.

“We saw a huge plume and there were dark (smoke) trailers coming up with it,” Daily Tribune Photo: Tahoe McAvoy said. “We knew those were structures. We knew we had a lot of structures The Angora Fire tore through tinder dry forests, frequently moving through tree tops, making it burning.” impossible to control. Only in areas of the forest that had been thinned did the fire burn low enough Before long, one of those burning homes would be McAvoy’s, reduced to what he to the ground for firefighters to battle it effectively. described as “nothing but a big pile of rubble.” The two buddies raced down the bike trail to the fire area. They suited up in fire As one of the first firefighters on the scene, Lake Valley Battalion Chief Andy Kaufer gear, climbed into fire vehicles, and joined a desperate battle. made the call for evacuations. “I had never seen fire behavior as erratic and intense as The sky turned orange as flames raced through kiln-dry timber, jumping from this,” Kaufer said. “I knew we had to move people out and fast or many of our friends treetop to treetop and from house to house. and neighbors could die.” “Our district was burning and I had to do something,” McAvoy said. “It was a Air tankers and helicopters swooped over the fire but were largely thwarted by high rough day — just to be the lifeguard at the pool when things went bad. winds and dangerous turbulence, said the Forest Service’s Bailey. The decision was “We couldn’t save those homes and that still bothers me,” McAvoy said. “But we quickly made to ground air tankers before a desperate situation became tragic. did the best we could.” “I actually heard an air tanker pilot say ‘I need to get out of here before my wings get “There was no stopping that fire,” Mosca said. “That was a hell of a day.” ripped off,’ ” Bailey said. “The risk versus gain was a big concern.” Mosca said it is particularly surprising no one died during the Angora Fire, a Lake Valley and Forest Service firefighters were quickly joined by fire crews from the fact he and others credited to quick and courageous action by fire first responders City of South Lake Tahoe, Tahoe-Douglas Fire Protection District, Cal Fire, and other and law enforcement officials who evacuated threatened neighborhoods and got residents to safety as the fire quickly spread. Continued on page 4 PAGE 4 n TAHOE IN DEPTH tahoeindepth.org tahoeindepth.org TAHOE IN DEPTH n PAGE 5 2007 blaze illustrated how forests needed thinning Lessons learned from Angora Fire accelerated work to better manage land in the basin

Continued from page 3 was improved coordination between California’s Lahontan Water Quality agencies from across the Region. Control Board, the Tahoe Regional In the coming days, as the Angora Fire Planning Agency, and the Tahoe Basin’s was declared the nation’s No. 1 firefighting fire districts. Another key result was priority, more than 2,100 personnel collaboration which resulted in long- would be assigned to the fire. The cost of term funding for forest fuels treatment. containing the blaze would swell to about Areas where she sees the need for $13 million. Property damage estimates top more long-term improvement include $140 million. homeowners replacing wood shake Fire in our ‘back yard’ roofs and enhancing defensible space measures. Also battling the fast-moving blaze was Chris Anthony, now a Cal Fire division A streamlined process chief based in South Tahoe. That first day Of 45 action items specific to TRPA, 41 of the fire, Anthony’s priority focused on have been fully implemented, and three preventing the fire’s spread to a threatened partially so. One was deemed infeasible. South Tahoe High School. The school was Funding is the limiting factor for the saved, largely by starting another fire to

Photo: Tahoe Daily Tribune Photo: Tahoe remaining three. create a buffer between it and the main front One key recommendation was of the fire. Two men survey the damage a few days after the Angora Fire. streamlining the permit process to “I remember a real sense of relief,” Years after the fire, officials with the El the fire changed from a “crown fire” remove trees deemed hazardous for Anthony said of the school’s survival. “That Dorado County District Attorney’s Office jumping from treetop to treetop to a fire. TRPA’s Governing Board approved was huge.” said they were looking closely at an surface fire, dropping to the ground a memorandum of understanding Anthony describes the Angora Fire as individual they believed to be linked to where flames could be successfully with Lake Tahoe’s seven fire districts, unique not only for extreme fire behavior the fire, but no arrest in the case has ever battled by firefighters. allowing those districts to issue permits but because of where it burned. He and been made. Despite the government’s general to remove trees for defensible space. others at the scene had long experience conclusion that the Angora Fire was And at the request of Tahoe’s fire battling intense wildfires – but not ones Lessons learned largely unstoppable, some critics lashed chiefs, TRPA altered regulations to burning in their hometown. In a report released in August 2007 by out at a regulatory environment they said allow homeowners to remove small “We were fighting a major wildland the Forest Service, experts came to several stood in the way of important steps to trees – those 14 inches in diameter or less fire in our back yard,” Anthony said. “The important conclusions regarding the reduce fire danger around Lake Tahoe. – without any permit being necessary. homes that were burning down were those nature of the fire and its spread. Among In response to the fire, California Under previous regulations, a permit of our friends and our families. key findings was that dead and dying Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and was required to cut any tree larger than 6 “I knew that this area was going to be trees in the Angora Creek watershed, an Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons established inches in diameter. changed for the rest of my lifetime.” environmentally sensitive area where the California-Nevada Tahoe Basin Fire “People could then do 98 percent of While most of the burned area went forest thinning was not allowed, likely Commission to study Tahoe’s regulatory what they needed to do without even up that first day, the Angora Fire proved contributed to the fire’s rapid spread. environment and how it influenced picking up a phone,” said Mike Vollmer, stubborn even as resources poured into But in neighborhoods where many successful fuel reduction and fire environmental improvement program the area. It blew up again on its third day, homes were lost, the report found, flames protection. manager for TRPA. rocketing toward the Camp Richardson area spread not from burning trees to homes “There was an incredible amount of TRPA also amended regulations to as water-dumping helicopters struggled to but from home to home, often as embers public concern,” recalls Kate Dargan, ensure measures to improve erosion halt its advance. from one burning structure landed on the former California state fire marshal control don’t conflict with improvements The Angora Fire was declared contained or near another, setting it ablaze. Lack who co-chaired the fire commission. to reduce fire danger. on July 2 but even as an army of firefighters of adequate defensible space, stacks of “Everyone had different views on what Rules put in place 25 years before the dispersed from Lake Tahoe, widespread firewood piled near homes, dry decks, could have been done to lessen the fire to control logging in the Tahoe Basin post-fire actions were gearing up. and fire-vulnerable construction material impact of that fire.” needed to be changed, a step made clear Experts with the Forest Service and other such as shake roofs were cited as key Some 19 public hearings were by the Angora Fire and by the work of agencies commenced immediate measures factors. conducted over the course of a year, the fire commission, Vollmer said. to treat a charred landscape and prevent Those homes with adequate defensible with the panel issuing dozens of And change occurred. erosion problems that could imperil the space were far more likely to be spared, different recommendations to provide “The Lahontan Water Board and famously clear waters of a precious Lake the report found. a “documented path forward,” Dargan TRPA streamlined permitting without Tahoe. Experts also concluded that at some said. Many recommendations have been sacrificing environmental safeguards,” Investigators probed the cause of the fire, 400 acres of forest in the burn area that put in place over the last decade. said Patty Kouyoumdjian, Lahontan’s which was determined to originate at the had previously been thinned by the Among the commission’s key executive officer. site of an illegal campfire near Seneca Pond. Forest Service, the work paid off. There, accomplishments, in Dargan’s view, Continued on page 5 tahoeindepth.org TAHOE IN DEPTH n PAGE 5 How tragedy was a watershed moment for research Blaze allowed scientists to prove several theories and improve our understanding of fire

By Hugh Safford balance of treatments can be positive U.S. Forest Service compared to untreated forest, especially For its size, the Angora Fire was one in those areas of high tree mortality that of the most destructive forest fires in dominated the Angora Fire and other U.S. history. In a few days, it burned recent wildfires. hundreds of homes and caused more Researchers were also able to test their than $140 million in losses. The ecological theories on the effects of embers, or “fire impact was also extreme, with over half brands,” which caused some homes to of the burn area experiencing complete or catch fire even though they were outside nearly complete forest mortality. the main path of the Angora Fire. Although it was seen as a disaster Laboratory simulations and empirical in the short-term, the Angora Fire was evidence had demonstrated that fire a wake-up call to homeowners, city brands could travel distances of many planners, forest managers, firefighters, miles, but the distribution of fire brand and politicians that the threat of extreme sizes and the mechanisms of home wildfire is real, and people can no longer ignition were poorly understood. ignore the responsibilities of living in a Researchers theorized that very small fire-prone forest. fire brands could penetrate spaces in

The Angora Fire was also a boon for Fire Protection District Photo: Lake Valley otherwise flame-proof materials and fire science and research. It had a wide Studies conducted on the Angora burn area demonstrated the value of forest thinning and ignite flammable surfaces below. range of effects on forest and stream other practices that could save lives, homes, and the environment in the future. Research after the Angora Fire showed ecosystems; the fire area was small and that over 85 percent of fire brands were accessible, located near Forest Service Researchers found that although many Angora Fire footprint led to concerns less than a tenth of an inch in diameter, and university research institutions; and homes burned, treated areas burned about carbon loss, and once again the fire validating earlier lab results and spurring it was one of the first in the U.S. to burn less severely than untreated areas. A proved an excellent natural laboratory. progress in fire-spread modeling and into a network of pre-fire fuel treatments series of studies by the Forest Service Since forest thinning and fuel the development of fire-safe building that were intended to reduce fire severity and university collaborators between treatments remove carbon from the materials and standards. and protect homes. This resulted in 2008 and 2010 showed strong statistical forest, it was unclear if and under A team from U.C. Davis assessed how scientists testing theories in a real-world correlations between forest tree survival, what circumstances the payoff in the fire affected stream hydrology and setting. measurements of fire severity, and pre- reduced carbon loss to fire in thinned physical environment, water chemistry, For example, fire modeling and simple fire fuel treatments. An internal Forest forests would balance the amount lost and the composition of aquatic insects, physics suggest that removing surface Service review showed many more to thinning. This question is still not a commonly-used indicator of stream fuels and smaller trees from forest stands homes would have been lost had the fuel completely resolved, but studies carried health. Streams rose due to the reduction should reduce fire intensity and the loss break network not existed. These seminal out in the Angora Fire (alone and in of water use by trees, and post-fire of adjacent homes. But as of 2007 there works have been cited in hundreds combination with other fires) showed stream hydrology reflected earlier and had been precious little opportunity of scientific studies since, and are that treated areas lost much less carbon faster melting of snow due to the lack to test those theories in the field. The foundations of the science that supports than untreated areas, and they recovered of a forest canopy. Stream chemistry Angora Fire provided a perfect test case, forest management in the wildland carbon much more quickly than was greatly altered by the large inputs as an extensive series of shaded fuel urban interface where the forest meets untreated areas after fire. of sediment and minerals like nitrogen breaks had been created by the Forest neighborhoods. Modeling of future vegetation growth Service over the previous 10 years. The death of so many trees in the also demonstrated that the overall carbon Continued on page 24

Angora Fire illustrated the need for enhanced defensible space, better construction materials

Continued from page 4 construction practices, including halting danger and forest health were being slow,” Vollmer said. “Angora massively the use of shake roofs, to make homes pursued prior to the Angora Fire but the accelerated everything that had to be done. ‘We needed to ... clean it up’ less susceptible to wildfire. The need to disastrous blaze underlined the need to pick It provided the platform for change. “What did we learn? The forest needed improve and enhance defensible space up the pace, said TRPA’s Vollmer. “I think of everything in terms of before work. We needed to get in there and clean practices was another clear message “One example of work that preceded and after Angora,” Vollmer said. “And it up,” said Tim Alameda, the current chief coming from the fire, the chief said. the Angora Wildfire was a rule change I’m proud of how we’ve pulled together of the Lake Valley Fire Protection District. Changes stemming from the Angora allowing forest thinning in sensitive stream as a community and become a model of Alameda was a battalion chief with the Fire extended far beyond the Tahoe Basin, environmental zones,” Vollmer said. “Both cooperation between fire agencies and Reno Fire Department at the time of the Alameda said. TRPA and the Lahontan Water Board took natural resources organizations.” “It taught the whole country a lot of actions in 2004 to support forest thinning in Angora Fire. Jeff DeLong is a Lake Tahoe resident and freelance Another major lesson from the fire, lessons,” Alameda said. wetlands.” writer specializing in environmental and natural Alameda said, was the need to alter Many improvements regarding fire “We were moving forward but it was resource issues. PAGE 6 n TAHOE IN DEPTH tahoeindepth.org tahoeindepth.org TAHOE IN DEPTH n PAGE 7 New large-scale approach to forest health 60,000 acres in Tahoe Basin included in forest restoration project

By Jeff DeLong Tahoe In Depth A rugged swath of forested terrain on Lake Tahoe’s West Shore is targeted for an ambitious restoration initiative that could

Photo: Lake Valley Fire Protection District Photo: Lake Valley point the way of the future. Firefighters respond to Emerald Fire in 2016. In the decade since the Angora Fire rocketed through woods and Fuel reduction project helped neighborhoods outside South Lake Tahoe, firefighters quell Emerald Fire the bulk of forest restoration work has focused near the wildland-urban interface, The benefit of fuel reduction projects in Lake the area where the forest abuts residential Tahoe’s forests also became clear during the areas, posing a wildfire threat. Emerald Fire in October 2016. Now, attention is being directed toward Strong winds snapped a healthy tree, knocking more remote areas of Tahoe’s forest down power lines that started the fire on private west of the shoreline with an eye toward property near Emerald Bay. The fire quickly restoring the forest on a much broader spread to 50 acres because of strong winds. scale than has been attempted in the past. State Route 89 was closed as the first It’s called the Lake Tahoe West firefighting units arrived on the scene and set up Restoration Partnership and its goal is an incident command post at Baldwin Beach. to ensure the health and resiliency of The fire ultimately burned 176 acres. the West Shore’s forests under the threat A fuels-reduction project on National Forest of persistent drought, climate change, land adjacent to state Route 89 dramatically overstocked stands of timber, wildfire, and reduced the intensity and spread of the fire, a bark beetle epidemic. allowing firefighters to safely engage the south “The overall goal of this project end of the fire adjacent to the Spring Creek Tract focuses on resilience – the capacity of and Cascade Properties. the (forest) system to withstand and recover,” said Dorian Fougeres, California Sierra in ‘fire deficit’ program manager for the National Forest Sue Britting, executive director of Sierra Forest Foundation. Legacy, an environmental group established in The nonprofit foundation, established 1996 with the goal of protecting and restoring the by Congress in 1993 with the goal of Sierra’s forests, said past logging put some of restoring and enhancing the nation’s 193 million acres of forests and grasslands, is But experts are also taking a close folks are recognizing this is the wave of the forest’s important natural resources at risk. look at points farther west – portions of the future.” She’s hopeful the Lake Tahoe West Restoration taking a leading role in the process. Local lead agencies are the U.S. Forest Service, Eldorado and Tahoe national forests and In fact, it is. According to the Lincoln Partnership plans restoration that protects all Granite Chief Wilderness, forested terrain Institute of Land Policy, more than 200 forest resources. California Tahoe Conservancy, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, California with direct connections to affected parts of examples of large landscape conservation One goal, Britting said, is bringing natural fire the Tahoe Basin. In all, some 153,249 acres initiatives were documented in a 2010 back. Fire has been excluded for more than State Parks, Tahoe Fuels and Fire Team, and private property owners, including of forest is being examined through the policy paper. Collaboration across a century at great cost to forest health, and Lake Tahoe West Restoration Partnership. multiple jurisdictions is pervasive much of the existing forest is overstocked and Homewood Mountain Ski Resort. The goal, Fougeres said, is to tackle “The big distinction from past throughout North America. susceptible to large and explosive wildfires. endeavors is that it’s restoring the entire Lake Tahoe West participants are “Fire was something that really was beneficial forest restoration from a 30,000-foot view, carefully considering interlinking issues landscape in one piece rather than in now in the process of agreeing on what for the landscape,” Britting said. “It’s true many pieces,” said Joanne Marchetta, resilient forests and watersheds should throughout the Sierra Nevada. We’ve had a fire affecting the area’s forests and watersheds, including air and water quality, wildlife, executive director of TRPA and a member look like up to 100 years in the future and deficit really since the early 1900s.” of the executive committee for Lake Tahoe which areas are now most “out of whack” Turning that tide could be challenging but is recreation, and utilization of biomass materials, among others. West. “You never get to that scale if you from desired resilient conditions. decidedly important, Britting said. do it in 1,000 or 2,000 acres at a time. We Next, experts will seek to determine “How do we manage fire so we can use it for The area being analyzed for future restoration projects, including forest are recognizing the benefits of a larger which areas would yield the most benefits the benefit of the forest and do it in a way that’s scale rather than by just going piece by from restoration, as well as where the safe and controlled?” she asks. thinning and reintroduction of fire with prescribed burning, includes about 60,000 piece.” greatest barriers to desired conditions She sees promise in the partnership. “It’s trying to look at the landscape in a exist. The goal is to have the program “We’re always looking for new tools, new ways acres in the Tahoe Basin stretching from the shoreline to about 4.5 miles inland, and holistic fashion,” agreed Randy Striplin, approved by the federal government by to help us deal with tricky resource problems,” fire ecologist for the Forest Service’s Lake early 2020, with project implementation Britting said. from Emerald Bay north to Dollar Point near Tahoe City. Tahoe Basin Management Unit. “I think commencing a few years after. tahoeindepth.org TAHOE IN DEPTH n PAGE 7 New large-scale approach to forest health Restoration work involved erosion control, tree planting After dangerous trees were removed, work focused on rehabilitating damaged meadows and streams

By Jeff DeLong the burn area during the summer of 2007. Tahoe In Depth While monitoring did indicate a slight Before the smoke of the Angora Fire impact over several years after the fire, had cleared, forest experts were gearing Lake Tahoe escaped any major ones, up to restore a charred landscape Heyvaert said. and protect a sensitive Lake Tahoe “That turned out to be really fortunate environment. for Lake Tahoe,” he said. Officials from around the country Long-term measures to improve converged to determine the most hydrology in the burn area included immediate steps necessary to prevent the restoration of a 1,200-foot stretch damaging erosion and protect the public of the Angora Creek floodplain as well from inherent hazards present in the burn as the restoration of Gardner Meadow area. Later, long-term plans would be near Camp Richardson. At Seneca Pond, laid to treat damaged terrain and put it a party spot where an illegal campfire on a path to long-term recovery. started the Angora Fire, the Forest Service It’s a goal pursued at the site of removed the pond’s dam and restored most any wildfire but one that was the area to a natural wetland, with work significantly complicated by the special there completed in 2015. conditions present at Lake Tahoe. “I feel good about the work we “It was basically starting over,” Rita completed,” Heller said. “We’ve restored Mustatia, forest silviculturist for the the streams and set them on a trajectory U.S. Forest Service’s Lake Tahoe Basin to long-term recovery.” In the forest, initial work concentrated

Management Unit, said of restoring a fire- Photos: U.S. Forest Service blasted forest. on removing burned trees that posed a “Having a future healthy forest was the Immediately after the Angora Fire, hazard to the public, particularly near primary goal,” Mustatia said. the U.S. Forest Service’s Burned Area roads and trails. Teams completed initial Emergency Response Team began Burning some 3,100 acres, the Angora removal in that area in October 2007, planning how to control erosion. The with hazard trees removed from another Fire was the largest fire to hit the Lake restoration work involved removing 256 acres by 2010. Tahoe Basin in modern history. The fire dangerous trees (left) and working with Thinning occurred within nearly 1,200 blasted through the sensitive watershed the public on replanting the burned of Angora Creek. It raced up the steep area (above). Erosion was held back, acres of forest to improve forest health slopes of Angora Ridge. In places, the creeks and meadows were treated and and reduce future fire danger. fire burned with high intensity and every restored, and a variety of trees were Teams planted new trees with the idea tree was killed. In others — particularly planted to replace the ones that burned of restoring a diverse forest. Before the where the forest had previously been down. fire, the forest was a tinderbox largely thinned by the Forest Service — many composed of white fir and Jeffrey survived. pine. New trees planted through the The affected landscape offered a straw wattles. Soil in the burn area was were scientists from Reno’s Desert restoration project included a broader checkerboard of issues and challenges. covered in mulch, some of it sprayed by Research Institute (DRI) and U.C. Davis. mix, including aspen, red fir, sugar pine, One key concern was that summer a squadron of swooping airplanes. They were concerned about a potential and incense cedar. More than 500 acres storms could flush ash and sediment “There was a lot of interest in how the repeat of the 2002 Gondola Fire, when was reforested, as were 220 acres of from burned slopes into Angora Creek, fire was going to impact not only the post-fire storms washed a substantial urban lots. the Upper Truckee River and ultimately, streams that ran through the fire area but amount of pollutants into Lake Tahoe. “We planted a variety of trees focusing Lake Tahoe. Such material would be rich the lake itself,” said Stephanie Heller, Monitoring stations were quickly on what we thought was appropriate for in nutrients fueling algae growth in the a Forest Service hydrologist and BAER installed in Angora Creek and other the area,” Mustatia said. “We’ve got quite lake, helping to rob its famed clarity. Team coordinator. “Erosion is always a locations, said Alan Heyvaert, director the mosaic out there. It’s really what we “Water quality was a huge concern,” concern and a fire increases the potential of the Center for Watersheds and wanted.” Mustatia said. for erosion.” Environmental Sustainability at DRI. Returning the forest in the Angora Even as the fire was contained in early During those early days after the “There was high potential some Fire area will take years, indeed decades, July, the Forest Service’s Burned Area fire, Heller recalls challenges posed by thunderstorms would come shortly after but improvements made since the blaze Emergency Response (BAER) Team Tahoe’s unique regulatory environment, the fire and that could cause a lot of started that process, Mustatia said. gathered to begin planning initial steps with multiple agencies and jurisdictions erosion,” Heyvaert said. “It was very successful,” Mustatia said. needed in the burn area, many of them involved, each with their own That erosion didn’t occur, a fact “Going out and looking over the area designed to prevent erosion and damage responsibilities. Heyvaert attributes to quickly installed now, the vegetation is growing back, the to water quality. In the weeks and months “One of our biggest challenges was the erosion-control measures and the seedlings are doing well. after the fire, teams installed erosion- political landscape,” Heller said. fortunate coincidence that no major “It’s really coming back very nicely.” control measures such as water bars and Paying close attention to the situation thunderstorms occurred directly over PAGE 8 n TAHOE IN DEPTH tahoeindepth.org tahoeindepth.org TAHOE IN DEPTH n PAGE 9 What is a fire adapted community? Network helps neighborhoods prepare It is a community in a fire-prone area that requires little assistance from firefighters during a Fire adapted communities know how to protect homes, survive wildfires wildfire. Residents accept responsibility for living in a high-fire-hazard area and work together By Tom Lotshaw as a neighborhood to reduce their wildfire risk. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency They take actions to prepare themselves, their The time to prevent and prepare for properties, and their environment for wildfire, and Lake Tahoe’s next wildfire is now, before have the knowledge and skills to evacuate early, it’s burning. safely, and effectively. Nearly 90 percent of wildfires Wildfires play an important role in the forests reported each year at Lake Tahoe are of the Sierra Nevada. By taking steps to create human caused and preventable with fire-adapted communities, fires can fulfill their some precautions. important role in the forest without having Firefighters quickly put out most of disastrous effects for communities. the fires. But as the Angora Fire in 2007 and the Gondola Fire in 2002 showed, Steps to take today campfires or even carelessly tossed cigarettes can cause fires that quickly Make an evacuation plan: Know how to burn out of control with the right communicate with friends and family if there is no conditions. cell phone service. Know who is in charge of pet People recreating at Lake Tahoe need safety and have a safe location to meet. Know the to be especially careful not to start best routes out of your home and community. wildfires. Daily Tribune Photo: Tahoe Have a toolkit: Have evacuation items ready. The Tahoe Network of Fire Adapted Communities connects homeowners and helps them That means not smoking in areas Include valuable personal heirlooms, important prepare for wildfire by creating defensible space on a neighborhood level. with dry vegetation, not using fireworks documents, food, water, and extra clothing. (which are largely illegal at Lake Tahoe), connect neighbors and fire protection Know your risk: Get a defensible space and trim lower branches for defensible and not using portable charcoal grills inspection from your fire protection district to learn districts so everyone can work together space. because of the risk hot ashes pose. how to protect your home and firefighters. to create fire-adapted communities that People working on a home renovation It also means having campfires only are as prepared as possible for the next Get defensive: Create defensible space within or a new home project should where and when they are allowed. If you 100 feet of your home or to your property line. wildfire. incorporate fire-resistant building have a campfire, keep a bucket of water Homeowners should rake up pine Choose the right landscaping: Use native or materials as much as possible. nearby, keep an eye on the fire, and low-flammability plant species and keep them well needles each spring, store flammable Communities must also be ready thoroughly extinguish the fire before irrigated and properly spaced. materials like firewood away from to evacuate. Sign up for emergency going to sleep or on a hike. their home, and trim low-hanging tree Communicate: Talk to neighbors and learn who notifications from your city or county. Lake Tahoe residents can take needs help with defensible space or evacuation. branches so fires have a harder time Know where to go for reliable, accurate important steps to prepare their homes spreading from the ground to the tree Stay informed: Know local fire restrictions and information during an emergency. Have for wildfire, such as join the Tahoe stay up to date on local wildfire information. tops. a plan to evacuate with needed items as Network of Fire Adapted Communities Property owners can also contact their Be a leader: Volunteer as a Tahoe Network quickly as possible. program led by the Tahoe Resource of Fire Adapted Communities liaison for your local fire district to schedule a defensible The time to prepare is now, before Conservation District and Tahoe Fire neighborhood and help your neighbors stay up to space inspection. Proper management of the next wildfire is burning. It’s not and Fuels Team. Interested residents date on wildfire issues. vegetation around a home significantly a question of if Lake Tahoe will have can learn more at tahoercd.org/ reduces the wildfire threat. TRPA rules Think First to Keep Tahoe Fire Safe: Learn another wildfire, but when. fireadaptedcommunities. more about wildfire prevention and preparedness allow property owners to remove a The new program is working to Tom Lotshaw is the public information officer for and sign the pledge at www.ThinkFirstTahoe. tree up to 14 inches without a permit the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. org to help keep Lake Tahoe and its communities safe. More tips at www.Tahoe.LivingWithFire.info Major recent human-caused fires in the Tahoe area

Washoe Fire: January 2012 over by the fire. Two people, a firefighter damaged and no people were injured. Burn ‘Ready for Wildfire’ app Careless disposal of hot fireplace ashes and a news reporter, needed first aid for scars from the fire remain highly visible on CAL FIRE’s new Ready for Wildfire app puts sparked the Washoe Drive Fire south of second degree burns. The fire damaged or the mountains overlooking the casinos in step-by-step checklists for wildfire preparedness Reno. Fanned by gale force winds, the fire destroyed 31 homes and three businesses. Stateline. in the hands of users, allowing homeowners destroyed 29 homes, forced nearly 10,000 Gondola Fire: July 2002 Martis Fire: June 2001 to track their progress creating defensible people to evacuate, and burned 3,200 A cigarette tossed from a Heavenly A campfire at a campsite east of Truckee space, fortifying their homes with fire-resistant acres. Gondola window sparked the Gondola Fire jumped its fire stone ring. The resulting construction, assembling an emergency supply Waterfall Fire: July 2004 in California just two days before the July 4 fire burned more than 14,000 acres in the kit, or creating a family communication and An abandoned campfire in Kings Canyon holiday. Fire trucks, air tankers, helicopters, Truckee River Canyon. More than 3,000 evacuation plan. The app also allows users to started the Waterfall Fire in hills west of and more than a thousand firefighters firefighters responded to the fire, which took receive critical wildfire alerts. To download the Carson City. From July 14 to July 20, the deployed to fight the wildfire and protect a week-and-a-half to suppress. It destroyed app, visit the App store or Google Play Store, fire burned 8,700 acres. Nearly two dozen homes and businesses. The fire burned a mobile home, a cabin, and three vehicles, search for CAL FIRE, and install. personnel were entrapped and burned more than 600 acres. No structures were and shut down Interstate 80 and a rail line. tahoeindepth.org TAHOE IN DEPTH n PAGE 9 Tahoe Forest Stewardship Day set for burn area Sept. 23 event to focus on the work needed to restore scarred landscape

Jesse Patterson League to Save Lake Tahoe While the community came together to support neighbors who lost homes in the Angora Fire, it also rallied to help restore the forest habitat that was lost. In September 2007, just months after firefighters brought the Angora Fire to an end, hundreds of community members gathered at the site of the burn for the already-established annual Tahoe Forest Stewardship Day. Holding the annual restoration event at the Angora burn area provided an opportunity not just for critically needed environmental restoration but for community restoration as well. The League to Save Lake Tahoe, the U.S. Forest Service, the California Tahoe Conservancy, TRPA, and many other partners brought the restoration event back to the Angora burn area in 2008. At both years’ events, volunteers planted young trees and spread seeds of native plants. Successful environmental restoration Photo: Peter Spain requires repeat visits to damaged areas After the fire, hundreds of volunteers turned out to help restore the Angora burn area (top photo). Volunteers returned nine years later (below) to the and years of dedicated hard work. In same area to thin brush and restore trails to the burned area. Work will continue this September with Tahoe Forest Stewardship Day. partnership with the Forest Service, the League hosted Tahoe Forest Stewardship Day back at the Angora burn area in 2016 to make sure restoration was effective. Community members gathered once again, thinning brush to provide sunlight to young trees planted during the first few years after the burn and restoring trails to allow residents and visitors to better access and enjoy the area. “Angora was a fire that affected the entire community,” said Paul Guarnaccia, a forester with the U.S. Forest Service’s Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit.

“The burn scar is something people see Tahoe Bottom photos: League to Save Lake every day. It’s still important to have the All ages can participate in these Forests, meadows, and wetlands act as The 20th annual Tahoe Forest community that was affected by the fire restoration events, and no prior natural pollution filters and capture fine Stewardship Day in September will have a role in the process of restoring the experience is needed. sediment that can degrade Lake Tahoe’s be a celebration of community and area.” “Everyone is welcome to participate,” legendary clarity. Decades of unchecked restoration, showing that with good In 2017, the League and the Forest said Marilee Movius, the League’s development was built over much of friends and partners, the Tahoe Service will return to the Angora burn community engagement manager. “This the sensitive lands in Tahoe, making community comes together to care for area to coordinate additional volunteer is a great opportunity to get involved it all the more important to hasten the our environment and our neighbors. To restoration. The Sept. 23 event will be the and not only make a valuable difference healing process for the thousands of acres learn more about these restoration events 20th annual Tahoe Forest Stewardship in restoring the sensitive burn area, but damaged in 2007. and how you can get involved, visit Day. Financial support is provided by also to learn about the value of forest “Not only are we looking to restore keeptahoeblue.org. a grant from the U.S. Forest Service, health.” the natural area but also to restore the Jesse Patterson is the deputy director of the League El Dorado County Resource Advisory Healthy forests are essential for the community that was affected,” said to Save Lake Tahoe. Committee. ecological well-being of Lake Tahoe. Guarnaccia. PAGE 10 n TAHOE IN DEPTH tahoeindepth.org tahoeindepth.org TAHOE IN DEPTH n PAGE 11

Elwood Miller to retire from work with fire issues Remote cameras help limit wildfires By Ed Smith After a lengthy career of addressing Nevada and Lake Tahoe Basin forestry and fire issues, Elwood Miller announced his retirement as coordinator of the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension’s Nevada Network of Fire Adapted Communities. Miller This will be his third attempt at retirement. Miller has been a professional forester for over 40 years. His career spans timber management and fire suppression positions with the U.S. Forest Service and 30 years as a professor of forestry and administrator with the University of Nevada, Reno. He retired from the university Photo: Mike Vollmer, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Regional Planning Tahoe Photo: Mike Vollmer, in 2001 as dean of the College of Human In the last half of 2016, 28 fires were spotted and monitored through the AlertTahoe system. Resources and Family Sciences. In January 2002, he became the founding Group raising money to expand AlertTahoe fire-spotting service executive director of the Nevada Fire Safe Council, a position he held until March 2005. He By Jim Sloan the help of the Tahoe Prosperity Center seeding the forest with wireless, Internet- helped wildland urban interface communities Tahoe In Depth (TPC), is hoping to add seven more connected cameras. In 2009, the students increase their survivability to wildfire. He also Last October, a fire broke out in the cameras in the Tahoe Basin. Five have won the Innovate Award at the Children’s served as Extension’s coordinator of the Nevada middle of the night on the tinder-dry ridge been successfully funded and will be Climate Action in Copenhagen, and Network of Fire Adapted Communities and was above Emerald Bay, quickly spreading to installed this spring. The goal of the TPC worked with the seismology lab and Sony the first operations manager for the Tahoe Fire nearly 200 acres and threatening homes in is to raise $250,000 for two more cameras Europe on a prototype system. and Fuels Team. He also supported the Tahoe Spring Creek and nearby Cascade Lake. and yearly network maintenance to The students envisioned an online Resource Conservation District’s Tahoe Network Luckily, the blaze was spotted by ensure the 12 cameras in the Tahoe Basin system in which citizens could check of Fire Adapted Communities. remote cameras that are part of the keep our communities protected. the cameras or make the image feed Mike Vollmer, TRPA’s environmental AlertTahoe system. Firefighters were able “The camera system can mitigate many the screensavers on their computers improvement manager, said the Tahoe Basin to locate the fire and get it surrounded of the catastrophic fires by enabling a — creating a network of fire watchers owes Miller a great debt for his contributions. before it could do the same kind of more rapid response by firefighters,” looking for pillars of smoke. The public “The Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team concept was damage caused by the Angora Fire. said Dr. Graham Kent, director of the today has access to the streaming camera his,” Vollmer said. “If ever there was a need for a The fact that the Emerald Fire was the seismological lab in the university’s images, which can be panned and tilted voice of reason … Elwood was the go-to guy.” only blaze in the Tahoe Basin that grew College of Science. by government and firefighting officials. Forest Schafer, chairman of the Tahoe Fire and larger than 3 acres last year is testament “We have already seen the benefit According to the seismology lab, the Fuels Team, called Miller a “visionary.” to the growing effectiveness of the of early intelligence to enable a faster AlertTahoe system is made possible by “He’s a mentor and leader ... but his intensity AlertTahoe system. The system has 30 turnaround on evacuations, resource using high-bandwidth microwave links to and wisdom is tempered by calm humility.” cameras — including five in the basin — management, and fire-suppression transmit high-definition images and near “He is passionate and genuinely concerned on mountaintops throughout the Region. response. The system can also help real-time seismic data. Data arrive within about the safety and well-being of Lake Tahoe From July to December 2016, 28 fires manage prescribed burns.” seconds to one of its data centers and is communities,” added Mary Beth Donahoe, Fire were spotted through the AlertTahoe TPC took on fundraising as a way to available for processing and distribution Adapted Communities program coordinator with system, giving firefighters a jump on the protect the region’s environmental and to the public. The lab’s plan for the Tahoe- the Tahoe Resource Conservation District. “His blazes before they could spread. Most of economic qualities. The TPC works to Truckee corridor, Sierra west slope, and experience, intellect, dedication, and openness those blazes were suppressed before they ensure a sustainable and healthy Tahoe Reno-Carson corridor includes about are admired. It will be sad to see him retire, exceeded 1 to 2 acres. Basin, and CEO Heidi Hill Drum said the 30 fire cameras, new and upgraded however, I am grateful I have had an opportunity The year before, the system, deployed system can help prevent another Angora seismic stations, and new radio access to learn from and work with him so closely over by the University of Nevada Seismological Fire. points to transmit data to its UNR-hosted the past two years.” Laboratory, also proved invaluable when “The Tahoe Prosperity Center supports headquarters. Vollmer summarized Miller’s influence, “If the a dry lightning storm swept over the this program because it makes sense. It To find out more and see these team members were the Jedi Knights from Star basin, sparking several fires. The cameras protects our environment, our economy, cameras in action, go to tahoeprosperity. Wars, Elwood would be Yoda.” allowed firefighting monitors to spot and our community by preventing major org/alerttahoe. The TPC also works on Ed Smith is a natural resource specialist with the and precisely locate the lightning strikes, wildfires in the Tahoe Basin,” Drum said. expanding high-speed Internet and University of Nevada Cooperative Extension and co- giving firefighting crews a chance to douse The AlertTahoe project was initially the cell coverage, revitalizing Tahoe Basin manager of the Living With Fire Program. any blazes before they got out of hand. brainchild of a group of students from towns, improving job opportunities, and Now the seismological laboratory, with Meadow Vista, California, who proposed diversifying the area’s economy. tahoeindepth.org TAHOE IN DEPTH n PAGE 11 Work begins on trails at Fallen Leaf, Angora Ridge 6-mile path will create a route along Angora Ridge and North Upper Truckee area By Jacob Quinn U.S. Forest Service Spring arrives in the Tahoe Basin with a buzz of anticipation, energy, and activity. This spring, the buzz may be a slightly softer, low hum of activity as our incredible snowpack slowly melts and makes its way to our steadily rising lake. Make no mistake, though, that buzz of activity is coming in the form of a project to build and reconstruct trails. A key project, which will create new trail connections from our communities and neighborhoods to the Fallen Leaf Lake and Angora Ridge areas, began this spring. New trail loops being developed will allow trail users to experience incredible vistas from Angora Ridge. Trails that were lost in the devastating Angora Fire 10 years ago will be rebuilt. The project is a collaboration between the U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Photo: Jacob Quinn, U.S. Forest Service Management Unit (LTBMU), American A crew member works on a new trail near the Angora Fire burn area. Conservation Experience (ACE), and Tahoe Area Mountain Biking Association construction and provide a rough looking at how they connect to important (TAMBA). The work will help solidify the product that will need to be shaped and landscape features, to other trails, and Tahoe Basin’s reputation as a world-class finished by community volunteers. to the community,” Gabor said. “This single-track destination. “Besides providing more amazing approach results in a host of approved, “This project is part of larger initiatives trails in Tahoe and connecting these shovel-ready projects that we can then by the Forest Service to implement trail networks, I think the continued engage our partners on and develop There is opportunity landscape-scale recreation and forest- partnership between the Forest creative ways to implement.” “ health improvements,” said Jeff Service and TAMBA is something to As with past projects, TAMBA heard to be involved in every Marsolais, LTBMU forest supervisor. “It be celebrated and shared as a model the call and began fundraising in also provides key trail connections in the for others working to get projects spring of 2016, hosting several parties, way. And these projects area and physically ties together a multi- accomplished,” TAMBA president speaker events, and concerts. The results year effort of trail planning, construction, Ben Fish said. “This approach creates exceeded their fundraising goals. only get better and better and reconstruction.” stewardship and investment in the trail “We’ve been so impressed by the Work planned for 2017 includes system for the community, which leads to support for this project from the as more community approximately 6 miles of trail long-term success for the project.” community,” Fish said. “The funds raised construction, which will create a path Patrick Parsel, national trails so far will ensure this project’s success members know about along Angora Ridge with connections to coordinator and trainer for ACE, said and will likely even get us ahead of North Upper Truckee neighborhoods and the work helps shape his crew members’ schedule for construction.” them and participate to Fallen Leaf Campground. understanding of conservation and This spring and summer, the hum “Currently, there is no way to access community service. of activity will transform into a buzz however they can. these areas that doesn’t involve driving “It’s a powerful experience for our that will involve the entire community. a vehicle or walking or biking on corps members to work on a project like Whether signing up as a volunteer, narrow, paved roads with very limited this,” he said. supporting TAMBA, or simply offering shoulders,” said Mike Gabor, engineer Many former corps members have a smile and a wave to the hard-working with the LTBMU. “The new trails will gone on to work for the Forest Service crews building trails when out exploring create a different experience for people at Tahoe and a number of other agencies the area this season, all are welcome and Ben Fish and conservation organizations across the encouraged to participate. ” by allowing them to step away from their TAMBA President vehicles, move off the pavement, and nation. Many cite their experience with For more information about the project, spend time in undeveloped places.” ACE as a key factor in choosing their visit www.tamba.org or www.fs.usda. Building on the successes of past careers in resource management and gov/goto/ltbmu/FallenLeafLakeATM. conservation, Parsel said. projects, such as the Kingsbury Stinger Jacob Quinn is the trails engineer for the U.S. and Corral trails, this project will utilize “Our intent is to consider trail Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit. professional crews for the initial trail networks as a whole in our planning, PAGE 12 n TAHOE IN DEPTH tahoeindepth.org tahoeindepth.org TAHOE IN DEPTH n PAGE 13 Fire ‘really woke people up’ to forest conditions Tree thinning had already started, but work accelerated after Angora exposed danger By Jeff DeLong Tahoe In Depth In many ways, the Angora Fire was a long time coming. For more than a century, Lake Tahoe’s To some“ degree, forests had been ailing and ready to burn due to human-induced changes. the public perception They had been clear cut by pioneering loggers, with the forests that returned was that (a major fire) lacking natural diversity and susceptible to drought and assault from insects. couldn’t happen here. Fire, which plays a vital role in a natural forest ecosystem, was excluded We’ve seen now it can for decades. Any fires that did start were quickly extinguished, leading to ever- happen. I think Angora thickening, and increasingly unhealthy, forest conditions. really woke people up to It all added up to a situation ripe for the type of blaze that blasted through the the large risk we have at drainage of Angora Creek and spread to vulnerable neighborhoods that windy Lake Tahoe. afternoon of June 24, 2007. Steps were already underway to address unhealthy forest conditions when the Angora Fire started – many of them encouraged and funded in the wake of the Lake Tahoe presidential summit ” Brian Garrett convened by then-President Bill Clinton a Urban Forest Program Manager decade before. U.S. Forest Service But the Angora Fire, beyond a doubt, served as a vital catalyst to ramp up forest health initiatives and reduce the Daily Tribune Photo: Tahoe threat of wildfire in the Tahoe Basin. Efforts to drop water and fire retardant were often stymied by dangerously high winds. “To some degree, the public perception was that (a major fire) couldn’t happen here,” said Brian Garrett, urban forest infestation killed one out of three trees That fire also clearly demonstrated difference for sure and we’ve seen it over program manager with the U.S. Forest in places, with some pockets of forest the value of effective forest treatment. In and over during the last 10 years.” Service’s Lake Tahoe Basin Management experiencing a mortality rate of up to 80 parts of the burn area previously treated The danger is only increasing as Unit. “We’ve seen now it can happen. or 90 percent. by the Forest Service, fire behavior the climate warms, making forests “I think Angora really woke people up “The Lake Tahoe Basin was in pretty changed dramatically, with flames at Tahoe and throughout the Sierra to the large risk we have at Lake Tahoe,” bad shape,” Garrett said. “There was dropping from the treetops to the ground more susceptible to large, explosive Garrett said. widespread tree mortality all over where firefighters could effectively battle wildfires. The massive Rim Fire, a so- The origin of that risk dates to the the Tahoe Basin and there was really the blaze. called megafire that burned more than Comstock era of the late 1800s when no funding to address the situation “To this day you can almost draw a 400 square miles in and near Yosemite Tahoe’s forests – previously composed of appropriately.” line and look at the treated and untreated National Park in 2013, and the King Fire, a rich variety of conifer trees of varying Following the 1997 presidential areas there,” said Kit Bailey, the Forest which burned another 151 square miles age – was clear cut to provide wood to summit and the funding that came from Service’s fire management officer for west of Lake Tahoe in 2014, point to the shore up busy gold and silver mines in it, momentum built steadily when it came Lake Tahoe. “If those hadn’t been in place growing risk. Virginia City. The forest did grow back, to the task of improving forest health and we would have had a much larger area to “It’s staring us in the face,” said Chris but it was largely composed of even-aged reducing the associated fire danger. deal with in terms of structure loss.” Anthony, a Lake Tahoe-based division white fir trees. More than 69,500 acres has been The tragedy that was the Angora Fire chief for Cal Fire. “We’re seeing these Firs are particularly vulnerable to thinned or otherwise treated over the did lead to positive changes, including massive fires occurring. The factors drought and bark beetle attacks, and last 20 years at a cost of over $66.5 stepped-up initiatives to improve forest that play into it are drought, declining that’s exactly what happened on the million. The bulk of that work, on more health and resilience, Bailey said. snowpack, and increasing temperatures. heels of a lengthy drought that withered than 48,000 acres, occurred since 2007 – “If you can take a negative and make All those factors play into a changing Tahoe’s forests in the late 1980s and testament to the influence of the Angora it a positive, this is an example of that,” environment and we have to react and early 1990s. A widespread bark beetle Fire. Bailey said. “We’re making a significant adapt.” tahoeindepth.org TAHOE IN DEPTH n PAGE 13 A garden grows at the site of photographer’s lost home Man who lost his vast collection of wildflower images started a garden rather than rebuild house By Tom Lotshaw asked him what their value was. It was the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency It was the first and only time I saw him cry after the fire. ... first and only time I saw him cry after the Nearly everyone who rebuilt their home (The slides) were his life’s work and enjoyment. It all went fire. He was a stoic person, but he lost it. after the Angora Fire has a story about That was painful,” Allen said. “It was his what they found in the ashes. One family up in the fire. ­— Leona Allen life of work and enjoyment.” didn’t find what it was looking for in the “ ” Evans, 90 at the time, never rebuilt. ashes, but in what grew out of them. He moved in with Allen, whose house Owen Evans spent decades was also destroyed by the fire. Instead of photographing wildflowers. The photos rebuilding, Evans said he wanted to “grow were stored on thousands of glass slides in a garden and make it really pretty for his home on Mount Olympia Circle. “That everybody in the neighborhood.” was his passion,” said Leona Allen, his Allen worked to turn the property into a daughter. “He had all those glass slides, native plant garden, a community garden, so other people would call him and get his and an educational resource for people to slides for presentations and books. He had learn about gardening, water conservation, photos of wildflowers from the majority of and how to create defensible space to the Western states. I’m pretty sure he had protect homes from forest fires. “He just every flower in the Sierra Nevada. There wanted us to stick to native species and were thousands of slides.” make it so the rest of the neighborhood When the Angora Fire started burning, wants to go there to see the plants, collect Evans went outside to wet down his house seeds, and plant their own gardens,” Allen and yard with the hose. But soon his house said. was surrounded by trees and other homes Evans did not live to see the garden take on fire. He was evacuated by Leona Allen’s shape. But the garden continues to grow husband, a police officer, with nothing but and bloom each year on Mount Olympia the clothes on his back and his wallet. Photos: Leona Allen Circle. The fire destroyed his house and Members of the California Conservation Corps helped Thousands have visited the garden, everything inside, including the glass slides. build the Evans Family Garden on Owen Evans’ property planted and harvested their own plants in at 1383 Mount Olympia Circle. The garden is a cooperative No trace of the slides was ever found. the community plots, gathered seeds, and project between the Tahoe Resource Conservation District, learned more about native plants and their “When the insurance company came, the Nevada Fire Safe Council, South Tahoe Public Utility habitats. “It’s going like crazy,” Allen said. lady spent three days going through the District, Lake Valley Fire Protection District, the Evans/Allen “Dad’s love of wildflowers and native contents of his house. He was talking about families, and local businesses. Learn more about the Evans this and that. When he got to the slides, she Family Garden at www.evansfamilygarden.org. plants is living on.” Surviving the Angora Fire gave growing family confidence they could withstand any hardship

By Jeff DeLong backpacking stuff. It was like a metaphor,” They live there today with an Tahoe In Depth Erkkila said. expanded family — Jonah, 6, and eturning from a backpacking The next day, the Erkkilas went to Hazel, 4. trip into Desolation Wilderness, the recreation center, where authorities They’re a happy family, a busy family. the Erkkilas saw the smoke ranked addresses according to damage Sure, memories of the fire and the R level. recovery process surface from time to from afar. That’s probably our neighborhood, they said with a laugh. “They told us it was the worst. Then we time a decade later, but it’s not something As they got closer, they realized it knew the house was totally gone,” Erkkila to dwell upon. really was. said. “I remember just being in shock. I “It took time but we moved forward. By the time the couple, celebrating wasn’t crying. I mostly felt surprised. It We totally did,” said Erkkila, 37. their first marriage anniversary, reached Emily Erkkila was like, what do we do now?” Erkkila sees the Angora Fire as a their home on Eagle Lane, the Angora What they did, like others, is move on. milestone in life. Fire was raging full force. They fled. Sadly, unbeknownst to Their insurance company, Erkkila said, “It was a pivotal moment,” Erkkila “It was jumping from tree to tree,” them, behind a closed door was their “went above and beyond” in covering said. “It was like you know what, we Emily Erkkila recalls. “None of the roommate’s dog. Trapped, it would their losses. She knows some others were made it through this. houses there were on fire yet but the trees perish as the home burned to the ground. not so lucky. “It gave me the confidence to know we were burning.” “That’s the worst part,” Erkkila said. They moved out of state for a time but could get through almost anything that Emily quickly packed a box of “We lost Rocky.” kept their lot. They returned to South came our way.” important documents. Her husband Kyle They went to a friend’s house and Lake Tahoe in 2011 and two years later, hosed down the front of the house. waited for news. “All I had left was my started to rebuild their home. ‘Angora Protocols’ UP FROM THE ASHES helped many rebuild quickly in Meyers

By Tom Lotshaw Tahoe Regional Planning Agency eyers and the South Shore of Lake Tahoe saw a peaceful Sunday turn into calamity when the Angora Fire started burning June 24, 2007. Sparked Mby an illegal campfire at Seneca Pond, the wind-whipped blaze roared through woods and into neighborhoods. Smoke billowed into a huge plume and ash blanketed the ground. Embers rained down from the sky. The fire burned 3,100 acres and 254 homes and structures. No human lives were lost. But hundreds of people had to evacuate, some with nothing but the clothes on their back. Many returned to find their homes and their belongings destroyed, their futures uncertain. If the fire and the aftermath show anything, they show the resilience of the Meyers community, said Norma Santiago, former El Dorado County supervisor. “That’s the best way to put it.” Photo: U.S. Forest Service Ten years later, tears still well up in Santiago’s eyes when she thinks about her School children help replant trees while workers rebuild a home burned down in the Angora Fire. first visit to the burn area and the devastation she saw. Allen agrees that resilience best The worst areas looked like the surface of the moon: Craters and thick white ash describes the Meyers community. “If where the homes of displaced friends and constituents once stood. Vehicles melted there’s one word that defines us, it’s into streets and driveways. A charred landscape. that,” she said. Other homes in the burn area were undamaged or only lightly damaged in places By September 2007, El Dorado County where the fire’s intensity was much less severe. Damage was less severe in areas had issued about 10 permits for people that had defensible space or fire-resistant building materials, or where nearby forest to rebuild homes. By the end of October, fuel reduction projects had been done. that total was 25 permits. The county With so many homes lost and so many people displaced, the Meyers community and TRPA waived permitting costs and faced a massive undertaking to regroup and rebuild after the devastating fire. other fees to help people rebuild. “In that moment, trying to grab onto what these people who had lost their homes “My goal was to have the majority of would be facing, I made a commitment to do everything I could to help them people who lost their homes moved back rebuild and recover,” Santiago said. Photo: Tom Lotshaw Photo: Tom by the end of 2008, and we had about 75 El Dorado County and other government agencies mobilized to get the burned percent by the end of the year,” Santiago Residents who lost homes in area cleaned up as soon as possible. The “Angora Protocols” that emerged focused said. the Angora Fire (immediate on a rapid cleanup done at no charge for the affected homeowners, so roads and Paula Lambdin and her husband right photo) began cleaning up properties and hazardous trees could be cleared and people could start rebuilding. were among the first to move back to and rebuilding as soon as they All affected homeowners participated. could. They got a helping hand Mount Olympia Circle in July 2008. That “Cleanup crews went in and started in mid-July and they were done before the Daily Tribune Photo: Tahoe from volunteers and school summer was full of construction. “It was end of August. That is something that is unprecedented in the State of California,” children who came out to burn like a child’s construction fantasy, trucks of every size and shape, front-end Immediately after the fire, there Santiago said. areas (right) to help plant trees. loaders, cranes,” she said. were many grim reminders of Meanwhile, the county, nonprofit groups, businesses, residents, and chambers of Ten years later, the forests are But not everyone rebuilt. Some people’s homes were underinsured, everything residents had lost, recovering (above) although the commerce all mobilized to help victims of the fire. Regular meetings erew held to uninsured, or between insurers when the fire broke out. The collapse of the including the pet grave above. By burn damage remains a clear share information and resources. A recovery center coordinated aid and connected economy and the housing market in 2008 didn’t help. Some people are still the end of 2008, about 75 percent reminder of how devastating a people with social services, help finding shelter, and donations of food, clothing, of those who lost homes were fighting with insurance companies. wildfire can be. and other assistance. “People wanted to come together and help their neighbors,” rebuilding or had moved back. “Not everybody is back here today,” Lambdin said. “Some people Santiago said. couldn’t stay for financial reasons. Other people couldn’t stay for emotional Less than a week after the Angora Fire, residents of Mount Olympia Circle reasons, because it was just too hard to look at that ridge and see all that organized a July 4 parade. The fire destroyed nearly all the street’s homes. The devastation.” parade had been a past tradition, but stopped happening at some point as children The burned-out ridge overlooking Meyers with hundreds of standing but grew up and families moved. dead trees haunts Santiago, too. It is a reminder of the fire, the panic and “We took the parade back that year and people came from all over to watch. We fear, the hardships, and the long road to recovery for the community and decorated the whole neighborhood and had a huge picnic on the only green lawn

Photo: Tahoe Daily Tribune Photo: Tahoe the forest. left out there. It was the first day of our healing,” said Leona Allen, who worked “I see a lot of beautiful houses out there. Neighborhoods thriving, people for Lake Valley Fire Protection District at the time and now serves on its Board of Photo: U.S. Forest Service working in their yards. It’s great there are places where the aspen groves Directors. Allen also lost her home in the fire. have come back, to see the creeks the way they are,” Santiago said. “But “Today we still do that. People come from all over to join us. Now there are seeing those remaining sticks on the ridge gives it that still-kind-of-dead homes. The only thing still weird to me is to look up and see that burned ridge and feeling. That’s a constant reminder of the fire.” think of the way it was with all those green trees.” PAGE 16 n TAHOE IN DEPTH tahoeindepth.org Fire agencies working together to reduce fire danger Blaze fostered uniform strategies for fire safety and forest health on both private and public land By Jeff DeLong the same thing. It has created a single, Tahoe In Depth consistent message and that’s really It was a disaster that brought folks valuable.” together. Team collaboration has increased fire Just as South Lake Tahoe’s community safety across the Tahoe Basin, said Forest rallied to support victims of the Angora Schafer, forester for the North Lake Tahoe Fire 10 years ago, the blaze energized Fire Protection District and incident activities among the Tahoe Basin’s seven commander of the Tahoe Fire and Fuels fire districts and other public agencies to Team. Among the improvements are the collaborate on the best ways to prevent a establishment of uniform codes relating repeat of the disaster in the years ahead. to both vegetation management and “The Angora Fire was huge. It not only construction, Schafer said. changed the physical landscape, it also Uniform strategies for fire safety and changed the political landscape in the forest health are necessary on both public Tahoe Basin,” said Chris Anthony, South and private land and in every jurisdiction, Tahoe’s division chief for Cal Fire. Schafer said. Perhaps nowhere is that change “It’s like a stool that will tip over if you more clearly demonstrated than in the don’t have all the legs in place,” Schafer case of the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team, said. “My job is to take these concepts established in 2008 and charged with the and carry them forward so fire-adapted task of agreeing on policies and steps Fire Protection District Photo: Lake Valley communities and landscapes can truly be necessary to reduce fire danger in Tahoe’s A firefighter maneuvers his truck while fighting the Angora Fire in 2007. achieved.” residential areas and to pursue forest So how far has Lake Tahoe progressed treatment strategies. Regional Water Quality Control Board, said Mike Vollmer, environmental when it comes to being truly fire adapted? Team members include the South Lake Nevada Division of Forestry, Nevada improvement program manager for “We’re on our way and moving down Tahoe Fire Department, Lake Valley Fire Division of State Lands, Tahoe Regional TRPA. The team’s work also helped the road,” Schafer said. “Throughout the Protection District, the Fallen Leaf Fire Planning Agency, Tahoe Resource streamline the permit process for basin we’re on that path. Department, Meeks Bay Fire Protection Conservation District, U.S. Forest Service, residents to remove trees and create “The vision I have is that some day if a District, North Tahoe Fire Protection and the cooperative extensions from the defensible space. wildfire is burning, our communities will District, North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection University of California and University of “I would say it’s hard to imagine life be adapted to the point it’s no longer a District, and the Tahoe Douglas Fire Nevada, Reno. without it,” Vollmer said of the team, disaster, it’s an occurrence that’s part of Protection District. While work was already underway which meets roughly on a monthly basis. our ecosystem. We’re not truly adapted Others include Cal Fire, California on such issues as the need for increased “Frankly, people had been working until wildfire is not catastrophic and is just Department of Parks and Recreation, defensible space prior to the Angora in a vacuum before,” Vollmer said. like another big snowstorm in the Sierra.” California Tahoe Conservancy, Lahontan Fire, the blaze galvanized those efforts, “Everybody is now on board and doing Family that lost home — but not their cat — learned how generous their community could be

By Jeff DeLong Yingling said. “It was apparently run off in all the confusion. Yingling said. “The main thing that came Tahoe In Depth a silver lining in all the They stayed at a motel that first night, out of it for me was how generous and Kittycat held on and so did the Yinglings. bad.” anxiously awaiting news of their home caring the community could be. I don’t When Steve Yingling, his wife Jean, Yingling, then off Boulder Mountain Road. The next day know how we could have started over and their two teenage sons, Jordan and sports editor for the they would learn it was gone, along with without it.” Connor, were finally able to return to their Tahoe Daily Tribune, everything in it. It was a story repeated, in And start over they did. In 2008, the home a few days after the Angora Fire was driving to work varying ways, more than 250 times. Yinglings bought a home off Pioneer Trail blasted through their neighborhood, there that windy Sunday The Yinglings stayed at rental properties where they still live today. They still own Yingling was nothing left standing but a scorched afternoon when he for months after the fire, paying cut-rate the lot where their previous home burned chimney. spied some smoke rising rent offered by caring owners. That was to the ground. He thinks one of his sons The family approached and heard from the woods to the south. Something’s just one gesture by a community Yingling may build there some day. a scratching sound. They opened the burning, he thought. But the fire said was striking in its kindness to his Ten years later, the fire can still bring damper to the chimney and there was the department will put it out, just like always. family and other fire victims. There were back painful memories. But to Yingling, the family cat, Kittycat, “holed up,” alive and He never made it back. Before long, fundraisers. Businesses donated clothes most important thing is that his family — unharmed but for some burned paws. sheriff’s deputies would arrive and tell Jean and food. People went out of their way to like all other victims of the Angora Fire — “It was pretty amazing she survived and the boys to get out and get out fast. help. survived to carry on. considering how hot it must have been.” They grabbed the family dog and did just “It was a beautiful thing to see. It kind “Life is most important,” he said. that. They couldn’t find the cat, which had of took away some of the awfulness,” Kittycat lived until age 20. tahoeindepth.org TAHOE IN DEPTH n PAGE 17 May or early June, but peak flows may come later this year. Temperatures and additional precipitation help determine Fat snowpack means skinny beaches the runoff peak, and heat waves and rains could increase the risk of flooding as the Abundant winter precipitation fills lake, shrinks shoreline, eases drought snow melts. By Adam Jensen “Rivers and streams will be running Tahoe Regional Planning Agency cold, fast, and high this year,” Herron said. Winter may be over, but the heavy “Avoid areas that are already flooded, snowpack will mean narrower beaches, especially if the water is flowing fast, and delayed access to high-elevation hiking and don’t try to cross swift-moving rivers and biking trails, and potential flooding. streams.” At the end of March, California Backcountry users should be prepared Department of Water Resources staff found for snow well into the summer. The Forest the equivalent of 45.8 inches of water, 164 Service encourages people to stay on percent of the historical average, in the designated roads and trails and avoid wet statewide snowpack. roads and trails to minimize damage. “We still have a very substantial Will Tahoe remain full for several years snowpack, particularly in the higher or is this year’s high level temporary? elevations in the central and southern “We’ll just have to wait and see,” Sierra,” said Frank Gehrke, chief of the Blanchard said. California Cooperative Snow Surveys The large snow year eased drought Program. restrictions in California, but conservation Some areas around Lake Tahoe broke all- remains important. California Gov. time snow-depth records, with Heavenly Photo: Drone Promotions Jerry Brown lifted the state’s drought Mountain Resort reporting 659 inches of The bike path outside Tahoe City sits beneath the Truckee River this spring. Officials warn visitors restrictions in most counties in April while snow. A Natural Resources Conservation that their favorite beaches may be inaccessible this summer due to the higher water levels. continuing water reporting requirements Service SNOTEL site at Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe and prohibitions on wasteful practices like in Nevada recorded 194 inches of snow swollen to at or above their banks. Piers The area between the natural rim of Lake watering during or right after rainfall. containing the equivalent of 83.7 inches of and boat ramps were inundated again. Tahoe, at 6,223 feet above sea level, and Officials are urging continued water in early April. Water content in the Areas with a rocky shoreline may be the maximum legal limit of 6,229.1 feet of conservation because weather conditions snow was 227 percent of the median, an inaccessible, the U.S. Forest Service said. elevation acts as a reservoir, with outflows in the West are highly variable and more all-time April 1 record. “In marshes and wetlands, higher water at the Tahoe City Dam controlled by the precipitation is expected to fall as rain “In the Lake Tahoe, Truckee, Carson and is pushing the waterfowl nesting habitat U.S. District Court Water Master in Reno. moving forward as climate change drives Walker basins, the 2017 snowpack ranks toward the edges, and therefore in closer The office began spilling water from the up temperatures. among the top handful of years, especially, contact with recreationists,” said Forest dam in February. In April 2016, the lake “This drought emergency is over, but the at sites above 8,000 feet elevation,” the Service Public Affairs Specialist Lisa level hovered around the natural rim. April next drought could be around the corner,” report said. Herron. “Please avoid these areas and do 2017 saw the biggest rise in water levels Brown said. “Conservation must remain a Changes to Lake Tahoe are apparent. not allow dogs to enter the marshes or in 118 years of record keeping, said Water way of life.” wetlands. This will allow waterfowl to nest Master Chad Blanchard. Stretches of beach widened by five years of Adam Jensen is the environmental education drought were narrowed, and streams were without disruption.” Sierra snowmelt usually peaks in late specialist at TRPA.

Summer clarity declines while winter shows big improvement ANNUAL AVERAGE SECCHI DEPTH Lake Tahoe clarity levels in 2016 increased in winter The highest value recorded in 2016 was an astounding and decreased in summer, according to annual readings 95.1 feet on Jan. 25, and the lowest was 44.3 feet on taken by the University of California, Davis Tahoe June 7. Environmental Research Center (TERC). Despite 2016’s summer decline, the data record Readings for summer are attributed to the continuing indicates that Lake Tahoe’s long-term trend of clarity effects of climate change, researchers at U.C. Davis decline ended about 15 years ago. Since then, clarity has said. The summer declines were so large that they hovered around a value of 71 feet but with sizable inter- outweighed the substantially improved winter clarity, annual and seasonal variability. 1965 1975 1985 1995 2005 2015 which was the best since 2012. In addition, Lake Tahoe met its first five-year target YEAR TERC and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency for clarity restoration. released the clarity measurement for Lake Tahoe for In 2011, the Regional Environmental Protection 73 feet in 2016, a 5-foot improvement since 2011 and 2016 in May. Agency administrator and the governors of California 2 feet better than the target established by the two The data show the average annual clarity level for and Nevada signed a commitment to restore the historic states for 2016. Hitting this first milestone is an historic 2016 at 69.2 feet, which is a 3.9-foot decrease from the clarity of Lake Tahoe over the next 65 years. They also accomplishment. previous year but still more than 5 feet greater than the established interim targets to assess our progress toward For more information, visit http://tahoe.ucdavis.edu lowest recorded average of 64.1 feet in 1997. the goal, 71 feet of clarity by 2016 and 78 feet of clarity and look for a more detailed recap of the annual State of The 2016 clarity level is the average of 30 individual by 2026. the Lake report in the next issue of Tahoe In Depth. readings taken from January through December 2016. The five-year annual average clarity increased to PAGE 18 n TAHOE IN DEPTH tahoeindepth.org tahoeindepth.org TAHOE IN DEPTH n PAGE 19

At-a-glance REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION PLAN TRPA unveils transportation plan Planners encourage biking, walking, and transit through new projects and programs TRANSIT ■■ Increase frequency on all main bus routes By Jim Sloan from every 60 minutes to every 30 minutes. Tahoe In Depth ■■ Provide free service. ■■ Link North Shore and South Shore transit TRPA has approved a 20-year systems for a round-the-lake network. transportation plan that emphasizes ■■ Improve recreational access by providing bicycling, walking, transit systems, and transit to popular areas, including Zephyr technology to protect the lake’s fragile Cove, Emerald Bay, and Echo Summit. beauty and reduce personal vehicle use ■■ Launch a ferry service linking North and that contributes to greenhouse gases. South Shores. TRPA updates the plan every four years. ■■ Enhance inter-regional transit services from The plan’s goal is to alleviate the Sacramento and Reno to Lake Tahoe. worst roadway congestion during ■■ Extend service to Meyers and expand times of peak visitation. It focuses on services to Truckee. transportation improvements that serve heavily visited recreation sites, because TRAILS recreation travel makes up more than ■■ Add 25 miles of shared-use paths to half of the average daily vehicle trips at existing 127-mile network. Lake Tahoe. Short- and mid-term goals in the plan Photo: Rachid Dahnoun/Novus Select TECHNOLOGY Roads at Lake Tahoe can become congested around popular attractions, like Emerald Bay. ■■ Provide bus-arrival times through personal focus on continued bike and pedestrian mobile devices, like smartphones. improvements and more frequent and and transit, and a network of charging congestion, and unsafe roadways. ■■ Provide real-time parking availability at reliable around-the-lake transit service. stations will make all-electric vehicles The plan forecasts that about $2 high-use recreation sites. Within 20 years, the plan envisions an more appealing for drivers. billion will be available over the next ■■ Improve traffic flow and access for interconnected system of buses, ferries, ■■Agencies around Tahoe will continue 23 years for transportation projects pedestrians and bicyclists on U.S. Highway bike trails, park-and-ride facilities, to retrofit roadways with systems to within the Tahoe Region. More funding 50 with optimized signals and intersection and technology advancements that capture and treat stormwater runoff is needed and Tahoe Basin leaders designs. seamlessly move people into and around that can wash into the lake and are working on short-term priorities. the Region. At times when Lake Tahoe’s reduce its clarity. Implementation of this plan is expected constrained roadways are congested, ■■Rather than expand roadways to to reduce greenhouse gases from 2005 Travel by the visitors and residents will have a handle larger volumes of traffic, the levels by 8.8 percent by 2020 and by 5 variety of non-auto options to get to plan calls for agencies to improve the percent by 2035. The smaller reduction numbers destinations. efficiency of Tahoe’s roads through in latter years reflects increased Here are some highlights: transit, trails, technology, and better visitation as population in areas 10 million ■■A coordinated bus system that roadway management, providing surrounding Tahoe increases. not only encircles the lake but also Number of vehicles non-automotive travel options for Planners hope to see additional traveling to Tahoe each year connects with major airports, rail lines, residents, commuters, and visitors. environmental benefits as these projects and metro areas. Buses would run “The goal is to entice visitors and and programs come to fruition. 15 million frequently and reliably, and, in some residents alike to leave their cars at “Lake clarity is impacted by soil Residents living in the Northern cases, would be free to passengers. home,” said TRPA senior transportation erosion that in part stems from California Megalopolis from San ■■Trails, crosswalks, and bike lanes planner Morgan Beryl. parking along highway shoulders Francisco to Sacramento and Reno will connect community centers, “A transportation system that around the lake. Multi-benefit corridor neighborhoods, schools, commercial promotes walking, biking, public revitalization projects help reduce 55 areas, and popular recreation sites, transit use, and environmental stormwater runoff, optimize traffic Percent of total daily vehicle trips making it easy and safe for visitors innovation technologies such as electric flow, and reduce vehicle dependence by contributed by Tahoe’s 55,000 and residents to get to such attractions vehicles can help preserve a healthy providing safe and convenient ways for residential population as the Tahoe Rim Trail, restaurants, environment by reducing greenhouse people to walk and bike.” and shopping. gas emissions,” Beryl said. While Americans are known for 42 ■■Technology will be used to report In the years since the last regional their deep love for the automobile, Percent contributed by visitors real-time information on travel times, transportation plan in 2012, the agency planners don’t think it will be difficult congestion, and parking availability. has addressed everyday travel needs by to convince Tahoe residents and visitors 3 There will be incentives for walking, boosting the availability and use of trails to leave their cars in the driveway. Percent contributed by commuters biking, or using transit. This will allow and transit in town centers. This new “People visit and live at Lake Tahoe people to use their mobile devices to plan builds on previous initiatives by because they like to get outside and determine the best way to travel. focusing on recreational travel because recreate,” Beryl noted. “Walking and ■■Traffic signals will be optimized to it makes up the majority of the daily biking are healthy ways of enjoying improve traffic flow and allow signal vehicle trips as residents and visitors the outdoors, and enhancing the Tahoe preemption for emergency vehicles flock to popular areas, causing traffic, experience.” PAGE 18 n TAHOE IN DEPTH tahoeindepth.org tahoeindepth.org TAHOE IN DEPTH n PAGE 19

Draft environmental report for Highway 50 Electric highway in the sky revitalization Tahoe Basin leaders have envisioned re-routing Highway 50 in the South Shore’s stateline area for more than 30 years. A project proposal to revitalize the area is now up for public review. The draft environmental report is available online for the Tahoe Transportation District’s proposed U.S. 50/South Shore Community Revitalization Project. The project aims to realign U.S. 50 behind the commercial core at the state line, transforming the existing U.S. 50 thoroughfare for cars into a community gathering place for tourists and residents and a pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly hub. Major goals for the project are new affordable housing; safer bicycle and pedestrian routes; reduced traffic congestion and neighborhood cut-through traffic; improved transit service; economic redevelopment; and improved air quality and streetscaping. Tahoe-Truckee looking to be plug-in electric vehicle destination Released in April for 75 days of By Jim Sloan and warm lake temperatures, impacting This “unplanned deployment” of comment, the draft report examines Tahoe In Depth the health of the region’s environment charging stations has resulted in gaps. five project alternatives, including three and recreation-based economy. With more “The Tahoe-Truckee Region is a popular alternatives to realign U.S. 50, one A new plan sets out to make the Tahoe than 10 million vehicles driving into the destination for visitors and plugging into alternative to build an elevated pedestrian Region a leader in the coming transition Tahoe Basin each year, transportation has the ‘electric highway’ will help us become bridge over U.S. 50, and a no-project away from carbon-based fuels and part become the second largest source of GHG more sustainable,” said TRPA Sustainability alternative. of the “electric highway” with convenient emissions. Program Coordinator Devin Middlebrook. The proposed project, Alternative B, access to charging station infrastructure PEVs could transform the region by The project is the groundwork for TRPA would realign U.S. 50 near Stateline with that supports plug-in electric vehicle reducing GHG emissions and vehicle noise to conduct outreach campaigns, identify four travel lanes along Lake Parkway (PEV) use. The goal is to reduce the and improving air and water quality. When locations for charging stations, and East behind Harrah’s, MontBleu, and the region’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to standard cars, PEVs emit up streamline permitting for new charging Village Shopping Center, converting the by encouraging visitors and residents to to 70 percent less GHG emissions since stations. highway corridor through the commercial travel more miles using electricity and they are powered by electricity, which in Over the next four years, partners hope core into a local “Main Street” with one fewer miles using conventional vehicles. our region is largely renewable. Renewable to increase the use of electric vehicles in travel lane for each direction and center The California Energy Commission is energy supplies are expected to increase to public and private fleets. “We want to make left turn pockets. supporting a partnership between the meet Nevada’s target for utilities to be 25 owning an electric vehicle just as convenient The draft environmental report Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) percent renewable by 2025 and California’s as owning a gas vehicle,” said Steve Poncelet, is available online at www. and Truckee-Donner Public Utility target to be 50 percent renewable by 2030. public information and conservation tahoetransportation.org/us50. Comments District to promote the electrification of Local planners are implementing projects manager at Tahoe Donner Public Utility on the draft report are being accepted transportation. to meet these ambitious goals. Encouraging District. until 5 p.m. July 7, 2017. A cross-regional council with participation from public agencies, utility travel by bus, bike, or foot, and promoting In the process of developing this plan, districts, businesses, and recreation the use of PEVs are all part of this planners heard common misperceptions stakeholders is working on this first transportation vision. about electric vehicles. “Educating people step toward transformative change. The plan shows that the infrastructure to with facts about how owning electric vehicles Progress has been made with the release support PEVs can be improved. According is practical, green, and safe is an important of user-friendly toolkits and an action- to the plan, half of the charging stations goal,” said Jennifer Cannon, PEV project oriented readiness plan to strategically lack public access and few workplaces manager for TRPA. Fact sheets, brochures, deploy PEV infrastructure. This work has provide them. There are just 35 charging and a website are available to better inform expanded, with the commission awarding stations in the region and most require consumers. the partners a second $104,000 grant to several hours to recharge a vehicle. Most Visit www.tahoealternativefuels.com to implement the plan. charging is done at home, but publicly learn more about the Tahoe-Truckee Plugin Climate change from GHG emissions accessible and workplace charging options Electric Vehicle Readiness and find the right threatens to decrease Tahoe’s snowpack are still needed. electric vehicle for you. PAGE 20 n TAHOE IN DEPTH tahoeindepth.org tahoeindepth.org TAHOE IN DEPTH n PAGE 21

New website helps public understand EIP projects The revitalization of Tahoe City By Jeanne McNamara Ice rink, road improvements, new hotel bring big improvements and Damon Knight At one time or another, all of us have By Tom Lotshaw come face-to-face with a neighbor who Tahoe Regional Planning Agency claims to know all that’s going on — that Revitalization is gaining traction in Tahoe person who possesses all the latest news City. Big improvements are on the horizon, and gossip. While most of us can agree from the installation of a new ice skating there is value in being “in-the-know,” rink this winter and the adoption of a new relying on word of mouth typically may not area plan, to approval of the first new hotel provide the best information. project in 50 years and the start of a major When it comes to learning about the road upgrade this summer. environmental improvement projects “There’s a lot happening in Tahoe City,” that are happening throughout the basin, said Cindy Gustafson, general manager of we have a much better source: The EIP the Tahoe City Public Utility District. Project Tracker. The utility district installed a 50-foot-by- Leveraging grant funding from the 80-foot ice skating rink at Tahoe City Golf U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Course/Winter Sports Park this winter with through the Southern Nevada Public Land help from Placer County, the North Lake Management Act, TRPA worked with Sitka Tahoe Resort Association, Truckee Tahoe Technology Group and Environmental Airport District, and local organizations. Incentives to build a website whose No. “Families loved it and we received 1 job is keeping us all up-to-date on the tremendous response,” Gustafson said. multitude of Environmental Improvement With the new Tahoe Basin Area Plan, Program-supported projects underway in other community improvements in Tahoe

our community. City and on the North Shore are expected Photo: Drone Promotions In support of this program, created in to continue this summer and in years to An aerial photo shows the new ice skating rink in Tahoe City. More improvements are expected 1997, over 50 different federal, state, and come. The area plan is the fourth and the in years to come under the new area plan for Placer County portions of the Tahoe Basin. local agencies, private entities, and the largest to be adopted since the update of really highlight all the new redevelopment Washoe Tribe work together on projects to TRPA’s Regional Plan in 2012. Beach improvements, to transit and trails, those dollars are already showing a huge options available through the area plan,” restore, improve, and protect the awe- Developed over five years and now return. The environment and quality of life Tuma said. inspiring natural area we call home. approved by Placer County and the Tahoe here are improving, but also — because Infrastructure improvements are So, the next time you’re curious about Regional Planning Agency, the plan covers our investment has laid the groundwork — part of the overall revitalization. Tahoe the workers, trucks, and staging areas all of Placer County in the Tahoe Basin private investment is showing a renewed Transportation District and Central Federal down the street or across the lake, grab — about 72 square miles — and includes interest in redeveloping some of our older, Lands Highway Division plan to break your laptop, tablet, or smartphone and visit new incentives and programs to spur run-down buildings and bringing jobs and ground this summer on the state Route 89/ eip.laketahoeinfo.org and get the details environmental-restoration and community- new investment into our region.” Fanny Bridge Community Revitalization from a trusted and dependable source. revitalization projects. The approved Tahoe City Lodge Project Project, scheduled for completion by What you can discover at One new program allows property exemplifies that private investment. summer 2018. eip.laketahoeinfo.org: owners to build secondary dwelling units, The 118-unit lodge will redevelop a The project will realign state Route ■■ Details about local environmental or “mother-in-law units,” regardless of blighted building at the Tahoe City Golf 89 and move through-traffic via new improvement projects the lot’s size, to provide greater housing Course into an energy-efficient hotel with roundabouts and a new two-lane bridge ■■ Maps of projects (completed, under options and help address a shortage of a mix of hotel rooms and one- and two- across the Truckee River to reduce traffic construction, and planned) in your affordable housing on the North Shore. The bedroom suites. Plans include a ground- congestion and conflicts among drivers, neighborhood units must be deed-restricted, affordable floor restaurant, rooftop pool and bar, bicyclists, and pedestrians. ■■ Before, during, and after photos of housing and cannot be vacation rentals. conference facilities, and a new clubhouse The new alignment creates an additional projects Another allows limited conversion of for the golf course. The project includes emergency egress and ingress route ■■ Who is constructing and funding the development rights. Existing commercial charging stations for electric vehicles, in Tahoe City. The project will reduce project floor area can be converted into the and will reduce land coverage by 10,080 stormwater pollution, upgrade an aging ■■ What the project is accomplishing for development rights needed for tourist square feet, and restore 1.7 acres of stream sewage export line, and build new bike the environment and restoration of lodging projects. Projects taking advantage environment zone, showcasing how and pedestrian amenities. The 89-year-old Tahoe. of the program must include sidewalks and best management practices to reduce environmental restoration and community Fanny Bridge will be replaced and the old Jeanne McNamara is the principal planning stormwater pollution, and be located in a revitalization can work together. highway alignment will be upgraded for analyst for the Research & Analysis Division Samir Tuma, of Kila Properties, is local traffic, bicyclists, and pedestrians, of TRPA and Damon Knight is the senior town center close to transit services. marketing manager for Sitka Technology “We’ve invested many millions of dollars leading the Tahoe City Lodge project. creating a recreation- and activity-friendly Group. into improvements in North Tahoe,” With all the needed project approvals in river district for residents and visitors. said Jennifer Merchant, deputy county place, he’s working to break ground as The project also includes 2.2 miles of a executive officer for Placer County. “From soon as possible. “It’s a catalyst project, a new shared-use path along the North Shore the Tahoe Basin Area Plan to the Kings gateway project for Tahoe City, and will between Dollar Hill and Tahoe Vista. tahoeindepth.org TAHOE IN DEPTH n PAGE 21 Water Trail signs to help paddlers Educational wayfinding signs posted at 10 trailheads around lake By Becky Bell Sierra Business Council Paddlers on Lake Tahoe will have an easier time safely finding their way on the Lake Tahoe Water Trail this summer. Sierra Business Council, with funding support from Placer County, Nevada Department of Wildlife, and the City of South Lake Tahoe, will oversee the installation of educational wayfinding interpretive signs at 10 trailheads along the 72-mile water trail. In 2015, the U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, Nevada One of the new water trail signs. State Parks, California State Parks, California Tahoe Conservancy, Tahoe Planning a trip City Public Utility District, and the City The new signs along the Lake Tahoe Water Trail of South Lake Tahoe agreed to develop will be installed at: the educational water trailhead system for 20 designated public launch and ■■ William Kent Beach and Campground landing sites with facilities to address ■■ Commons Beach the needs of paddlers. ■■ Lake Forest Boat Ramp and Campground The signs being installed this summer ■■ Carnelian Bay/Watermans Landing are designed to help paddlers have ■■ Tahoe Vista Recreation Area & boat launch a safe and enjoyable experience. The ■■ North Tahoe Beach signs feature vital water safety and ■■ Sand Harbor Nevada State Park weather information, aquatic invasive ■■ Cave Rock Nevada State Park species prevention tips, and a mapped ■■ El Dorado Beach/Lakeview Commons paddle route with GPS coordinates, ■■ Regan Beach campgrounds, and public launch/ Multi-day trips on the water trail demand landing sites. careful planning, and self-rescue and cold water “We are very proud to be part of this survival skills to handle Lake Tahoe’s intense regional collaborative effort for the past conditions. The entire trip is approximately decade, and to see the signage installed 72 miles and no legal overnight camping is this summer,” said Jan Brisco, executive allowed between the Lake Forest Campground director of Tahoe Lakefront Owners’ at Pomin Park on the northwest shore and Association. “We may never know, but Zephyr Cove Resort on the southeast shore – a it will be worth it if we can save even paddle distance of approximately 35 miles. The one life.” Lake Tahoe Water Trail website recommends a circumnavigation beginning and ending at Sand Water trail signage has long been a Photo: Corey Rich/Aurora Photos priority for improved public lake access. Harbor Nevada State Park. Paddling either In 2011, public/private stakeholders west or south from that point requires a 15-plus expanded the signage purpose to A kayaker heads out on the water trail from Sand Harbor for an evening paddle. mile day to the nearest campground. Paddling enhance the user experience by operators at the various launch sites should have their boats inspected free with a stay at a lakeside lodge can reduce this improving water safety, wayfinding, around the lake. The best time to take of charge at one of the four Tahoe boat distance. reducing user conflicts, and encouraging a multi-day trip is in late September inspection stations in Meyers, Alpine No overnight parking is allowed at public resource stewardship and aquatic and October, when the weather is still Meadows, Truckee, and Spooner beaches, public side streets, or highways. invasive species prevention. warm but crowds have thinned out at Summit. Outside of peak visitation periods, many Water trail users can embark on campgrounds and lodges. The easiest way to access the Lake lakeside hotels allow you to leave a car for a day trips or longer overnight trips. Paddlers are asked to be the first line Tahoe Water Trail is at developed public few days at their site if you start your trip with The trail traces the perimeter of the of defense to keep Lake Tahoe’s waters beaches with adequate parking and an overnight stay. Some public campgrounds lake and offers both campgrounds pristine and clear. Arrive at Lake Tahoe restrooms. Water safety tips and maps can accommodate a limited amount of overnight and shoreline lodging along its route. with crafts “clean, drained, and dry” in of public launch and landing sites are parking as well. Always make arrangements in Finding overnight parking at launch order to prevent the spread of aquatic available at laketahoewatertrail.org. advance. Check weather and marine forecasts, sites can be difficult, so paddlers are invasive species. Paddlers who have carry a whistle and flashlight, and always wear encouraged to make arrangements with Becky Bell is the Sierra Business Council’s project your life jacket and SUP leash. previously launched in infested waters manager for the Lake Tahoe Water Trail. PAGE 22 n TAHOE IN DEPTH tahoeindepth.org What readers are Become a Tahoe In Depth saying: subscriber or supporter Thank you for publishing a very Get the big picture We hope you’ve enjoyed this edition informative paper. My brother of Tahoe In Depth. You can help keep and I are older and have been the paper coming! Consider becoming a subscriber to Tahoe In Depth so that you coming to Tahoe since 1950, the and others can continue to receive ideas on paper keeps us current on what’s “Protecting, Enjoying & Exploring the Lake happening in Tahoe. Tahoe Basin” in your mailbox. All subscribers are entered in a drawing - D.M. Roseville, CA to win a $100 gift certificate from a local nursery for a native tree. 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PAGE 24 n TAHOE IN DEPTH tahoeindepth.org tahoeindepth.org TAHOE IN DEPTH n PAGE 25 Angora helped researchers better understand effects of fire Continued from page 5 ‘Flushable’ wipes clog sewer system and phosphorus that followed the fire. Lake Tahoe was largely spared, however, thanks to the lack of heavy rainfall, a nearby wet meadow that filtered runoff, and the forest managers who stabilized burn-area soils. The fire affected stream insects, and these effects extended to areas downstream of the burned area. The fire also prompted a pulse of microscopic black carbon into local streams and ultimately Lake Tahoe, but University of Nevada, Reno researchers showed that black carbon was rapidly and unexpectedly degraded in the lake. The hydrological effects of the fire on Tahoe were less than feared, but the heavy atmospheric inputs of nutrients during the fire changed the balance of nitrogen and phosphorus, which in turn had a major effect on the size of plankton in the lake. An international research group showed that Photos: TCPUD very small plankton dominate the water Most sewage spills are preventable, caused by misuse of the sewage system, including flushing materials like ‘flushable’ wipes that don’t break column under these conditions. down. Wipes and other materials — such as feminine products — collect in sewer system pumps and cause them to malfunction. The Jeffrey pine and mixed conifer forests that historically dominated the Lake Tahoe Sewage backups caused by certain products pose threat to Tahoe Basin were adapted to frequent, low- By Kurt Althof encourages customers to flush any severity fire, characterized by many large, Tahoe City Public Utility District and all wipes. fire-tolerant trees and open stands. But Although makers of these so Comstock-era clearcutting and subsequent Although the sewer systems called “flushable wipes” contend fire suppression left highly dense stands around Lake Tahoe are all carefully their products break down of small to medium-sized, fire-intolerant engineered and designed to export appropriately in the sewer system, species. Consequently, when fires burn, they waste from the Tahoe Basin, the test after test proves this is not the burn hot and they often kill many trees. complex process can be dramatically case. One study found that pre-fire forest affected when certain materials are When you or your neighbors treatments greatly increase forest resilience flushed down the toilet. flush non-flushable items, the to fire. Researchers also found that plant These materials include so-called risk of a sewer backup increases diversity was best promoted by low- and “flushable wipes,” paper towels, significantly, not only in the lateral moderate-severity fires, which are more cotton swabs, feminine hygiene that connects your house to the likely to occur in areas where fuels have been products, condoms, facial tissues main, but in the main system and reduced by land managers. (Kleenex), dental floss, or anything in sewer pumps. Regular routine Another study showed the highest other than toilet paper and human maintenance and inspections seedling densities in areas of moderately waste. of sewer mains are performed severe fires, with hotter fires benefitting In fact, toilet paper is the only throughout the region, but this pines. High-severity burn areas supported “product” that is designed to break cannot catch every problem before fewer seedlings than unburned forests. down quickly and pass harmlessly it causes a backup and damages Another team of researchers found through the sewer system. The homes, businesses, and the that high severity fire was important to sewer system is not designed to be a Most of the time a sewer “spill” is environment. the maintenance of certain birds, and that garbage disposal and the consequences preventable and caused by the misuse of The best approach is to keep it wholesale removal of dead trees after fire of using it that way are sometimes the sewer system. simple: nothing but human waste was detrimental to them. Finally, another harmful, particularly in such an The sewer system’s No. 1 enemy is the and toilet paper should go down the study showed that forest litter clearings, environmentally sensitive area as Lake misnamed “flushable wipe.” Many wipe toilet. Flushing anything else will found around trees that are inhabited and Tahoe. products are marketed as “flushable,” damage your household plumbing, partially maintained by ants, helped to There is nothing pleasant about a and although they do go down the the environment, and the wastewater reduce tree damage by fire in areas of low- sewer backup, but a sewer backup toilet, they cause tens of thousands of system. severity burning. This tended to occur where in your home is not only stomach dollars in damage and numerous sewer Help Keep Tahoe Blue and your home managers had previously thinned the forest churning, it can also be costly and a back-ups each year. To make matters undamaged: Don’t flush the wipes! and carried out prescribed burns. significant health concern. If that sewer worse, the concept of flushable wipes backup makes its way into Lake Tahoe, Kurt Althof is the grants and community Hugh Safford is a regional ecologist for the USDA or any part of the environment, it creates has established a perception that wipes information administrator for the Tahoe City Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region. significant challenges and harm. in general are flushable and subtly Public Utility District. PAGE 24 n TAHOE IN DEPTH tahoeindepth.org tahoeindepth.org TAHOE IN DEPTH n PAGE 25 SWAINSON’S THRUSH

Will Richardson of the Tahoe Institute for Natural Science examines a female Western tanager. Secret to scientific success: Know how to pick a fight

Photos: Will Richardson, Tahoe Institute for Natural Science Tahoe Photos: Will Richardson, To capture Swainson’s thrushes for his study, A rare Swainson’s thrush before being outfitted with a tracking device. Will Richardson of the Tahoe Institute of Once abundant, thrush now has scientists studying its secret travels Natural Science said he “basically picks a By Jim Sloan an estimated global breeding fight with the bird.” Tahoe In Depth population of 100 million birds, He sets up nets In 2009, Will Richardson was the species has lost 38 percent of in a bird’s known doing some summertime bird- its numbers since 1966, according territory and plants monitoring research in aspen to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The bird breeds in the north and decoy thrush in a tree. stands in Ward Canyon near The decoy Richardson Then he sneaks off Lake Tahoe when he heard an migrates in fall to Mexico, Central made to capture live a short distance and unexpected birdsong. America, and northern South thrushes. plays a sound of the It was a high, pleasing, spiraling America. Birds from the majority Swainson’s thrush’s song, like a flute, and he recognized of the United States and Canada spiraling woodwind song. Other thrushes, intent it right away as the song of a winter in South America while the on protecting their territory, swoop in to drive Swainson’s thrush, a bird that had Pacific Coast population migrates off the invaders. Some get caught in the net. all but disappeared from Tahoe and to Mexico and Central America. Richardson removes them, takes measurements, the Sierra south of Yuba Pass. According to researchers at attaches leg bands and the tracking device, and He heard one bird singing and Cornell, Swainson’s thrush is Robin Jones Mygatt holds a thrush during target netting in releases them. The next summer he plays the then he heard others responding. particularly sensitive to such July 2014. same trick and tries to recapture the same birds. To his astonishment, he realized breeding habitat problems as “You basically need to catch the same bird that there was a small colony of the mysteries of Sierra Nevada ornithology.” grazing, development, human twice, and that’s not easy when you consider elusive bird. He decided to investigate. He wanted activity, and nonnative invasive plants. how few birds there are to begin with,” “It floored me,” said Richardson, the to find out if the birds were declining, Migrating Swainson’s thrushes are killed Richardson said. executive director of the Tahoe Institute stabilizing, or rebounding in the Tahoe — in greater numbers than any other bird While he’s not sharing the location of his Ward for Natural Science. “I always expected to Region. species — by collisions with windows, Canyon site, Richardson said birdwatchers see them and always wondered why they He knew that Tahoe had plenty of radio and cellphone towers, and tall can find Swainson’s thrushes along Strawberry were never there. So, it was pretty thrilling habitat to attract the bird, which favors buildings. Creek just below the Lover’s Leap trailhead (off to find a pocket of survivors.” aspen forests and dense, riparian thickets. In 2014 and 2015, with financial U.S. Highway 50 west of Strawberry Lodge), Richardson had studied thrushes in So, to explain its small numbers, he support from the Sierra Foothill and along General Creek at Sugar Pine Point State Vermont and Canada years before and reasoned that he would need to learn if Sacramento Audobon Society chapters, Park, and along the Upper Truckee River near had earned his doctorate in Ecology, the bird’s wintertime habitat had changed TINS and colleagues at the Point Reyes Hawley Grade south of Christmas Valley. Evolution and Conservation Biology in a way that affected its resiliency. Bird Observatory captured more than Swainson’s thrushes are more likely to be from the University of Nevada, Reno, That meant capturing birds twice. First three dozen thrushes from Ward Canyon, heard than seen. Their song has a “ventriloquial by studying bird communities in Sierra he had to catch some and attach a tiny Strawberry Creek, and Plumas County quality” that makes them difficult to track. They aspen habitats. He knew that Swainson’s tracking device. Then, the next year, he locations and equipped them with one of also fly around quickly, and sometimes they use thrushes had been common at Tahoe had to catch the banded birds a second two different tracking devices. a quiet song that sounds like it’s farther away years ago and that their disappearance time to retrieve the data. In subsequent summers, the team than it actually is. from Tahoe and other areas of the Sierra Not a simple proposition. Continued on page 27 was considered “one of the unresolved Although Swainson’s thrush has PAGE 26 n TAHOE IN DEPTH tahoeindepth.org tahoeindepth.org TAHOE IN DEPTH n PAGE 27 Agency honors those helping communities TRPA recognizes four Spirit Award winners for their work on Lake Tahoe environmental issues The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency has honored four parents’ groups Small World to engage busy parents in people for their commitment in protecting Lake Tahoe. creating a more peaceful, sustainable planet for children, The Lake Spirit Award winners have done everything said nominator Rebecca Bryson. from helping protect Lake Tahoe from wildfire and aquatic “As a long-time employee at TRPA, Karen worked invasive species to promoting alternative transportation tirelessly to promote a more sustainable transportation and more sustainable communities. system for a better environment here in Tahoe,” Bryson Awards are given to individuals from both the North and said. “Her warm, collaborative spirit and can-do attitude South Shores of Tahoe. enabled her to work with a wide variety of interest groups This year’s winners: to get things accomplished.” North Shore citizen: Karen Mullen-Ehly North Shore agency representative/environmental scientist: Forest Schafer Mullen-Ehly retired from a career with Washoe County

Parks to bring her “get-it-done” attitude to numerous Schafer has worked for the North Lake Tahoe Fire Agency Regional Planning Tahoe Adam Jensen, Photo: projects at Lake Tahoe, according to Tahoe Fund CEO Amy Protection District since 2003. He is the incident commander TRPA Executive Director Joanne Marchetta, left, and TRPA Berry, who nominated Mullen-Ehly. of the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team, which coordinates fuel Governing Board Chair James Lawrence, far right, presented “In her role as a consultant to the Tahoe Transportation reduction, fire prevention, and community engagement for Lake Spirit Awards to, from left, Forest Shafer, Karen Mullen- Ehly and Karen Fink. Nicole Cartwright was also honored but District, she has been instrumental in moving the Nevada 18 entities in the Lake Tahoe Basin. could not be at the presentation ceremony. Stateline-Stateline bike path forward,” Berry said. “She has “Forest has cultivated relationships and fostered creative, poured her heart and soul into the project. collaborative solutions to issues that affect not only the “She is often pointing out little ways to make a project Tahoe Basin but our regional resources as well when it helped build it from a volunteer program into the “gold exceptional that don’t require significant funding, just comes to fuels management and mitigation,” wrote Tia standard for prevention,” according to TRPA Aquatic significant thought.” Rancourt of the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District. Resources Program Manager Dennis Zabaglo. “Nicole also oversees projects designed to remove South Shore citizen: Karen Fink South Shore Agency Representative/Environmental existing AIS within the lake, highlighted by the Emerald Scientist: Nicole Cartwright Fink was a founding member of the Lake Tahoe Bicycle Bay project that has resulted in Emerald Bay being weed Coalition, and works on improving transportation, biking, Cartwright has been a part of Lake Tahoe’s Aquatic free for the last several years,” Zabaglo said. and affordable housing at Lake Tahoe. She inspired the Invasive Species Program since it began in 2007 and has

Washoe tribe’s land-use practices helped keep Tahoe’s natural ecosystems productive and in balance By Helen Fillmore manage streams for young willow through regular While the heavy winter at the lake this year may have trimming or burning. These actions prevent willows from some people ready for spring, it may also have some overgrowing along riparian systems. people wondering how the original people of these lands This example is one of the many stewardship practices were able to survive these conditions without all the used by the Washoe people to care for the Tahoe Basin. modern conveniences of four-wheel-drive vehicles and Using traditional knowledge in contemporary practices grocery stores. can be challenging. Throughout the year, Washoe The Washishiw (Washoe people) have lived and used community members work hard to develop educational the lands in and around Lake Tahoe for thousands of years. programs about Washoe cultural beliefs, value systems, Our traditional homes, food sources, and ancient land- and traditional practices. use practices have allowed the Washoe to live in extreme There are many opportunities to mimic and reintegrate climate variability over time. Also important to our traditional practices for the health of the basin as a whole; resilience is the ability to bring ancient ideologies forward however, there are increasing barriers that prevent Washoe with the changing times. people from being able to use their homelands in ways that The Washoe people were once a part of the natural their ancestors once did. ecosystem at Lake Tahoe. In the Washoe language, to say In addition to more limited access, the lands and that you are from somewhere, you might say, “Ditde’i ecosystems surrounding Lake Tahoe continue to change. le’i,” which actually translates to mean, “the land, I am.” We all face challenges trying to ensure the protection of Their connection to Lake Tahoe is much deeper than an Lake Tahoe and its beauty for future generations, but the appreciation for its beauty. changes that degrade the ecosystems make it even more Their land-use practices such as hunting and fishing, challenging to hold onto the spiritual and cultural practices and their material and plant harvesting helped keep that make the Washoe people so unique. ecosystems healthy. Because young willows were Angeles County Museum of Natural History History Research, Los Photo: Seaver Center for Western Helen Fillmore is a Washoe descendant and masters student in hydrologic Washoe women sit in front of bark slab house at Lake Tahoe prioritized for basket materials, the Washoe people would sciences at the University of Nevada, Reno. in 1908. tahoeindepth.org TAHOE IN DEPTH n PAGE 27

Lawmakers name highway after fallen firefighter; family An easy way to be in the know seeks help with signage California lawmakers have designated a portion of U.S Highway 50 from Mount Ralston Road to Echo at Lake Tahoe Summit as the Firefighter Michael Ever wonder how much water that last storm added to Tahoe? Which mountain peak is the “Mikey” Hallenbeck highest? How the snowpack compares to other years? The Tahoe Fund, a local nonprofit Memorial Highway. dedicated to preserving the Tahoe environment, has a fun way to stay in the know. Every Hallenbeck, a 21-year-old ski Thursday they publish a new Fun Fact. You can sign up for their emails at www.tahoefund.org lift operator and or follow the Tahoe Fund on Instagram and Facebook. If you have a fun fact to share, send it to wildland firefighter, died while fighting [email protected]. the Sierra Fire in August 2015. “He was taken from us too soon Hallenbeck and it is only appropriate to honor Mikey by naming this portion of the First Senate District on Highway 50 in his memory,” said Sen. Ted Gaines (R-El Dorado). The Hallenbeck family hopes to raise $9,000 toward the highway memorial signs. To contribute to the production and installation of the signs, Tahoe Fund is collecting donations for the family. Tahoe Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit incorporated in California and registered in Nevada, all donations are tax deductible. To donate, please go to www.tahoefund.org. After choosing “Donate Now,” select “I would like to make a donation to a project” in the drop down list, then select “Mikey Hallenbeck Memorial.” “Mikey loved the tranquil beauty and year-round recreation in the Sierra and Lake Tahoe,” said Kirby and Toni Hallenbeck, Michael’s parents. “A highway memorial where Mikey lived, worked, and played is fitting tribute, and a great opportunity for the community to join his friends and family in remembering his sacrifice. Please help make this tribute a reality.”

Thrush study aims to find out why bird becoming scarce at Tahoe

Continued on page 27 colleague from U.C. Santa Cruz is doing genetic tests on feathers from the captured birds. recaptured 15 of the 46 originally tagged birds. What they Richardson hopes that additional data will shed some have learned has surprised them. light on the habits of the Swainson’s thrushes spending The Tahoe birds from Ward Canyon and Strawberry their summers at Tahoe. He also plans to monitor the Creek were not migrating to Mexico, as Richardson thrushes’ nests to determine how many young they had theorized, but were joining eastern birds for a trip produce at places like Ward Canyon. It will be a few more to northern South America. The Plumas County birds, years before any solid theories emerge. meanwhile, were “bopping all over the place,” with some In the meantime, he’s encouraged. making their way to Central America. One Swainson’s “It’s great to know these birds are coming back to the thrush from the Quincy area spent the winter in balmy same location each year,” he said. “They are producing Panama. young here, and that’s also encouraging. We know babies The conclusion? It’s too early for solid theories yet, are produced, but whether there are enough young to Richardson said. His colleagues are still breaking down sustain the population still isn’t clear.” the data collected from the tracking devices, and another A thrush with leg bands showing it’s part of a study. PAGE 28 n TAHOE IN DEPTH tahoeindepth.org Tahoe Region summer road projects underway Road projects planned for the Tahoe Basin this summer include building 10 storm drain Drainage improvements, road widening, paving, permanent collection areas with more than 120 inlets and paved shoulders designed to collect stormwater What: 1 striping, and sign installations on state Route 89 runoff and filter out the dirt, oil, and litter before it reaches the lake. 8.2 miles These stormwater projects are part of the Environmental Improvement Program and are Distance: $70.1 million expected to affect almost every mile of the highways system in the basin, according to Caltrans. Cost: When: May–July Delays: Up to 20 minutes 9 What: Realignment and replacement of Truckee River “Fanny 2 Bridge,” construction of three roundabouts, streetscape, and drainage improvements on state Route 89, and multi-use path work Distance: 1.5 miles Cost: $35 million When: May–October Delays: Up to 20 minutes

What: Multi-use path and drainage improvements, state Route 89, 3 from Sugar Pine Point State Park to Meeks Bay Resort Incline Village 7 Distance: 0.2 miles When: July–October Delays: Up to 30 minutes Tahoe City What: Drainage improvements, road widening, sidewalk 4 construction, and paving, U.S. Highway 50 in South Lake Tahoe 2 from the “Y” to Trout Creek Bridge Distance: 1.9 miles Cost: $56 million 1 When: May–October Lake Tahoe Delays: Up to 20 minutes

What: Pedestrian safety enhancements on U.S. Highway 50 at 6 5 Lakeshore Boulevard Meeks Bay When: September–October Cave Rock Delays: Up to 20 minutes 5 3 What: Slope stabilization and erosion control, U.S. Highway 50 6 near Logan Shoals 8 Distance: 2 miles Emerald Bay When: May–October Delays: Up to 20 minutes South Lake Tahoe What: Water quality and safety enhancements and multi-use path 7 from Sand Harbor to Incline Village along state Route 28. 4 Distance: 11.3 miles When: May–October Delays: Up to 20 minutes

What: Drainage repairs on state Route 207 Kingsbury Grade from 8 summit of Daggett Pass to state Route 206. Distance: 7.3 miles When: April–October Delays: Up to 20 minutes

What: Emergency pavement removal, pavement grinding, 9 pavement rehabilitation, polyester concrete, joint seals, and striping on Interstate 80 Distance: 11 miles When: March–October Delays: Up to 20 minutes