Originally published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, 9/18/2026, Written by Katelyn Welsh

Friday morning, in front of a playground surrounded by caution-taped trees, a cohort announced a $147,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension and prosecution of whoever is responsible for the poisoning of 28 trees at Burnt Cedar Beach.

“It’s a little disheartening to realize that somebody has done something that can’t be repaired,” Sam Gough, IVGID arborist, said. “In 150 years, new trees could regrow, but we won’t be here for that.”

The reward comes from the efforts of a group of private donors, called the Friends of Burnt Cedar Beach, who pulled together $122,000, as well as Incline Village General Improvement District (IVGID), which provided $25,000.

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Fall is in the air, and Fall Fest is returning to the Village Center for its second year! Join IVCBA, Tahoe’s Connection for Families, and the Village Center merchants on Saturday, October 17, from 12 to 3 PM for an afternoon filled with family activities, live music, food, drinks, and community fun.

After a great first year, Fall Fest is back to bring our community together and celebrate this special time of year in Incline Village. As the temperatures cool and we start counting down the days until winter, it’s the perfect opportunity to gather with friends and neighbors and enjoy everything we love about fall.

Pumpkins, Scarecrows & Fall Fun

Grocery Outlet will bring the fall spirit with a pumpkin patch, giving families a chance to pick out a favorite pumpkin and enjoy one of the season’s best traditions.

There will also be pumpkin decorating, scarecrow building, games, and other fall-themed activities throughout the afternoon.

A Carnival for the Whole Family

Tahoe’s Connection for Families will be bringing a family carnival to Fall Fest. Kids and adults can join in the games, activities, and fun throughout the afternoon.

Fall Fest is all about creating an easygoing afternoon where families can spend time together while connecting with the local businesses and organizations that make our community special.

Food, Drinks & Live Music

Come hungry and plan to stay awhile! Enjoy food, drinks, and live music while exploring the Village Center and visiting participating merchants.

The Village Center merchants, Tahoe’s Connection for Families, and IVCBA are excited to host this year’s celebration and welcome everyone back for another Fall Fest.

Mark your calendar for Saturday, October 17, from 12 to 3 PM at the Village Center. Admission is free, and everyone is welcome!

Stay tuned as we share more about participating merchants, activities, entertainment, food, and everything planned for Fall Fest 2026!

In August we welcomed a statue of Mark Twain to the water’s edge at Lake Tahoe, where he looks ever so relaxed and satisfied. Gary and Susan Clemons, members in good standing of the Never Sweats literary society, arranged for the bronze likeness to be placed in the front yard of their Lake Shore House in Glenbrook, where Sam Clemens once stayed. And the sculptor, Gary Lee Price, came out from Utah with his wife for the occasion. Price told us how easy it was to select Mark Twain as a subject in light of Twain’s stimulating writings about human nature. Then Larry Schmidt delivered a compelling account of how Sam Clemens hiked from Carson City to Glenbrook.

This is not a statue of Mark Twain reading Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, no, by special request, this is a statue of Twain reading Roughing It! And I have to say, it gave me chicken skin all over to see it…

This regal likeness of The Wild Humorist of the Pacific Slope now highlights a garden at the very beach where Sam Clemens must have stood away back in 1861, and gazed out upon those caerulean waters, thinking to himself, “This must be the fairest picture the whole Earth affords.”

Of course we all stood patiently in line to get a picture of ourselves sitting on the bench next to The Father of our literature.

Sam Clemens loved “Lake Bigler” as it was known back then, loved it almost as much as today’s Clemons love the Lake of the Sky. Our Washoe Native Americans called it Da-o-aga. And having been a lifeguard at Tahoe myself away back in the wonderous summer of 1961, I might fall comfortably into line in my love for “Tula Tulia” as the lake has been called over the years. Actually, Sam Clemens found the name “Tahoe” to be too weak a name for so majestic a body of water, “…weak as soup for a sick child.”

Were he to come home to us today, I have to believe Sam would struggle with the difficult decision as to whether he should settle in the Sandwich Islands, or on the shores of Glenbrook, where his regal statue sits today. 

He must be smiling down upon such a masterful work of art, such a treasured addition to the Clemons’s Lake Shore House, the lovely community of Glenbrook, Lake Tahoe, and the Great State of Nevada. We can all feel a steely pride in this gift from the talented hand of Gary Lee Price.

I might like to close here with some poignant words from our mentor, Sam Clemens, “When I said goodbye to Virginia City, Carson City and Lake Tahoe, I knew I was saying goodbye to the most vigorous enjoyment of life I would ever be afforded. Those days were full to the brim with the wine of life, and there have been no others like them.” 

Audio: https://open.spotify.com/show/7Fhv4PrH1UuwlhbnTT23zO

Originally published by the Tahoe Daily Tribune, 9/11/2026, Written by Victoria Mastrocola

It’s easy to be captivated by Lake Tahoe’s ancient, shimmering waters and the vast mountain landscapes forever resting in the distance. Yet looming over every corner and rooted along almost every path are some of Tahoe’s oldest and most majestic locals – trees. “There are three ways to tell trees apart – cones, needles, and bark,” says Maria Mircheva, a passionate tree lover, expert and Executive Director of the Sugar Pine Foundation, an organization focusing on creating and upholding forest stewardship through things like environmental education and forest restoration. “The Sugar Pine Foundation plants hope as surely as it plants seedlings—restoring forests, creating a connection, and sowing seeds in people’s minds so that conservation becomes a shared promise for future generations.” From ascending the ridgelines of Mt. Tallac, to the wildflower-strewn Alpine Meadows, Mircheva shows us that these woods are teeming with a variety of species.

JEFFREY PINE (Pinus jeffreyi)

Residing in much of the Tahoe Basin, jeffrey pines are considered as the classic Tahoe tree. These lofty entities can live up to 500 years and are known to be very fire resistant thanks to their thick bark. A jeffrey pine’s needles are long and usually come in spurs of threes. They have heavy, spiny cones which range from 4 to 10 inches in length with the barbs pointing inward. “The spines are adaptations,” says Mircheva, “for animals to stay off, so they can’t get the seeds because the seeds are what reproduce.” Mircheva recalls reading about how a jeffrey pine was once found above 10,000 feet elevation. “They call jeffrey pines the ‘tree of the future’ because they’re so versatile and can survive in such extreme environments,” Mircheva adds.

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Washoe County’s Citizens Advisory Boards are beginning to plan their meeting topics for 2027, and we want to hear from you.CABs are advisory boards broken up by geographic neighborhoods of Washoe County that provide an opportunity for residents to learn about issues affecting their communities, hear directly from subject matter experts, ask questions, and share feedback.

As we plan for the upcoming year, we are asking residents to tell us: What would you like to learn more about at a CAB meeting in 2027?

When submitting an idea, please be as specific as possible about what you want to know.

For example: Instead of “Development,” you might ask:  How can residents follow a development project from its initial proposal through approval and construction? Instead of “Roads,” tell us what question or concern about roads, traffic, maintenance, funding, or future improvements you would like a presentation to address. Think about the questions you hear in your neighborhood, the County services you want to better understand, or the issues you would like an expert to explain.

Think about the questions you hear in your neighborhood, the County services you want to better understand, or the issues you would like an expert to explain. CAB members will review the ideas submitted by their communities and identify the topics generating the greatest interest. Washoe County will then work to invite appropriate subject matter experts to present on selected topics at future CAB meetings. Please submit your ideas by September 30.

Visit the Citizens Advisory Boards engagement page below and select the CAB for your geographic neighorhood to share your input, or email us your ideas. Be sure to include which neighborhood you live in!Thank you for helping shape the conversation for 2027!   Visit the Input Portal for Your Neighborhood