MORGAN’S TAHOE By William A. Morgan 2nd Edition All Rights Reserved Copyright 2015 Published by Memdewee Books LLC Cover Photo by Craig Morgan Printed in the United States of America FOREWORD The following is sort of a memoir, a series of articles about some of the experiences of the author while he lived and worked in the Lake Tahoe Basin of California and Nevada. During the period from the spring of 1965 to the fall of 1989, he was involved in a wide range of activities, some of which had considerable influence on the environment and the political situation in the Basin. As Forest Supervisor of the National Forest lands at Tahoe for nine years, followed by four and a half years as the Executive Director of the most controversial agency in existence at Tahoe during this period, he provides his unique perspective of happenings and accomplishments with which he was associated. Some of these tales might satisfy the curiosity of residents of Tahoe as well as those who visit the area and wonder, “How did that come about?” Or “What’s the story behind the 64 Acres?” Or “What happened to the Jennings Casino?” You can learn about those things in this book. Some of you will come across familiar names, too. Maybe your own. ~ 2 ~ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS These people provided me information and/or assistance, that helped make it possible for me to write this book, and I’m indebted to them. Dave Allessio – Retired USFS Lori Allessio – Retired USFS Virgil Anderson – Retired USFS Gary Cooper – Retired USFS Bill Craven – Fallen Leaf Jonathan Cook-Fisher Tom Fuller – LTBMU Glenn Hampton – Retired USFS Brian Hansen - LTBMU Jon Hoefer – Retired USFS Sandy Hogan – Retired USFS Bill Johnson – Retired USFS Hollis Johnson - LTBMU Don Lane - LTBMU Doug Leisz – Retired USFS Tom Lotshaw – TRPA Mike Makley - Author John Mahar - LTBMU Bob McDowell – Retired USFS Jonathan Miller – Squaw Valley Ski Resort Megan Mullowney - LTBMU Tom Neenan – Retired USFS Sheryl O’Brien - LTBMU Jane Oden – Retired USFS Joe Oden – Retired USFS Dave Peters – Squaw Valley Ski Resort Bob Rodman - LTBMU Hillary Santana - LTBMU Susan Scholley – Retired TRPA John Shilling – Retired USFS Dave Stoms – USFS Bob Twiss - Consultant Andrew Zachary – LTBMU Dave Ziegler – Retired TRPA ~ 3 ~ ~ 4 ~ CONTENTS SUBJECT Morgan’s Tahoe - 7 Blackwood Creek - 21 The Trans-Sierra Highway That Never Was - 24 The Cinder Cone - 27 Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, 1970 Version - 31 The 1970s - 36 Forty Seven Thousand Football Fields - 47 Meeks Bay Resort - 52 Camp Richardson - 61 The Tallac Estates - 65 Rabe Meadow - 79 Glen Alpine Springs - 82 Zephyr Cove - 84 A 64 Acre Headache - 86 Round Hill Pines - 96 Break Time - 98 The Arsonist - 104 Heavenly Valley Ski Resort - 108 Ski Lifts and Squaw Valley - 112 The Sound of Silence - 121 Avalanche - 125 Camp Harvey West – 130 Adventures in the Political Thicket – 134 ~ 5 ~ SUBJECT The Casinos - 135 A Lake Tahoe National Scenic Area - 148 The Santini – Burton - Santini Act - 153 A Status Report - 159 The Federal Assessment - 169 Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, 1980 Version - 174 The Interlude - 178 The Tahoe Rim Trail - 188 Land Management Planning - 193 April Fools’ Day - 198 From Consensus to a Workable Regional Plan - 203 The 1987 Regional Plan - 214 Post Script - 217 The TRPA Staff - 223 The Spirit of Consensus Fades - 229 The 208 Plan - 234 Closing - 239 Appendix - 240 The TRPA Governing Board Consensus Workshop Participants Acronyms Index of Names ~ 6 ~ MORGAN’S TAHOE Lake Tahoe is a lake on the boundary between California and Nevada. It’s a big lake, about twenty two miles long and twelve miles wide. For most people in the U.S. and around the world, that’s more information about Lake Tahoe than they ever knew and probably all they care to know; but for the rest of us, we’re interested in knowing a good deal more. You see, Lake Tahoe is a special lake, a high alpine lake that’s the 16th deepest lake in the world and the 30th largest by surface area, and of that group of large lakes, a clarity that’s rivaled only by Lake Baikal in Siberia. Oh, but you don’t know anything about Lake Baikal? Maybe you should read about it. Lake Tahoe is special partly because of the surpassing beauty of its multihued blue water as seen under a clear summer sky and for the majesty, winter or summer, of the forested mountains that ring the lake, rising as much as forty five hundred feet above the lake’s surface. And just to give you some perspective, it’s a thousand feet higher than Denver, the Mile High City. It’s special also for its history as you will learn in this book. The Lake Tahoe Basin is the name many call the lake and the surrounding land that drains into the lake. To the more familiar, we just call it Tahoe. The name Tahoe suggests a certain ambiance, a certain culture, and to some, controversy. Since the 1890’s, Tahoe has been home to conflicts between those with economic interests foremost in mind and those with protection of the natural environment at heart. Between these competing forces have been those who’ve struggled to reconcile the two. Those attempts at reconciliation have been complicated by two strongly held philosophies, one believing in a strong form of government to regulate things and one that believes in limited government with local interests having priority when it comes to governing. For over twenty years in the 1960s through the 1980s I was heavily involved in many of the controversies as well as successes ~ 7 ~ in the public arena of the Lake Tahoe Basin. For nine of those years I was the Forest Supervisor of the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) of the U.S. Forest Service, which today (2015) manages 78% of the land at Tahoe. While serving as the Supervisor, I was privileged to grapple with a range of issues unlike any in other units of the U.S. Forest Service. Since 1970, Tahoe has had a planning and regulatory agency named the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) which has jurisdiction over all the lands at Tahoe, private and public. To say that the Agency has had a turbulent existence is an understatement. For over two years I sat on the Governing Board of that agency as the field representative of the President’s appointee to the TRPA. Though a non-voting member, I participated in deliberations on many issues. I also served as the Executive Director of the TRPA for four and a half years in the 1980s. In one role or the other, Forest Supervisor or Executive Director, I was deeply engaged in efforts that twice saved the TRPA from collapse. I’ll write about that in the pages that follow, but there’s a lot more I’d like to share with you first. Now bear in mind, this book is not one of historical scholarship with references cited or footnotes elaborating on the contents. Some historical facts will be presented however. I’ve had to mention dates from time to time to keep things in context. As sort of a memoir, most of the stories I tell are based on my recollections and are intended for your reading enjoyment or to satisfy your curiosity. Some things said are simply facts. I’ve tried to keep my recollections consistent with the facts. To that end, I’ve tapped the memories of several people who were in the action in those days, some of whom were members of my staffs; and I’ve also combed through the pages of various publications and poked around on the internet to gather relevant information. Before we get into telling those stories, let’s start with some history about Tahoe, way back before the acronyms TRPA, USFS, ~ 8 ~ LTBMU, CTRPA, NTRPA, STPUD, TCPUD, NTPUD, LTSLT, TSPC, LRWQCB, ULI, EPA, NEPA, and CEQA came into being. On February 14, 1844, John C. Fremont, the famous explorer of the West, sighted a large snowbound lake to the north of where he stood on a mountain peak near what would later be named Carson Pass. To quote Fremont, “We had a beautiful view of a mountain lake at our feet, about fifteen miles in length, and so entirely surrounded by mountains that we could not discover an outlet.” Fremont, guided by two intrepid scouts, Kit Carson and Thomas Fitzpatrick, had been seeking to establish a passage west from the western desert of the Great Basin over the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the “Valley of the Sacramento”. On January 18 he had made a rather foolhardy decision to cross those mountains in mid- winter with a modest party of men, horses, and mules. So off they went. He and his party struggled for days, following river and creek valleys deep into the mountains, trudging up ridges, traversing steep mountain slopes and often having to break trails through the deep snow. They were short of food and nearing exhaustion. Fremont climbed a mountain peak along with his cartographer, Charles Pruess, to get a better view of what lie to the west. That direction appeared to be just as rugged as the route they had traveled; and, given the condition of his party, he gave no thought to detouring north to explore the lands around that lake. Like many explorers of his generation and before, it was “ever westward” for him. He descended the mountain; and he and his men, with their horses and mules, struggled on over the crest of the Sierras, down the forested slopes to the scrub oak studded foothills, into the Sacramento Valley, and on to Sutter’s Fort.