In The News – Forest Service proposes rollback of 25 year rule protecting lands that includes portions of Tahoe
June 26, 2025 | Member Submitted
Originally Published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, 06/26/2025, Written by Katelyn Welsh
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced Monday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture intends to rescind a rule that has prohibited new roads and timber harvest on 30% of National Forest System lands, including portions in the Truckee-Tahoe basin.
“The intent of the 2001 Roadless Rule is to provide lasting protection for inventoried roadless areas within the National Forest System in the context of multiple-use management,” the USDA Forest Service’s website states. Not only does the rule prohibit new roads and timber harvest on these areas, it keeps them open for a range of recreational activities, including climbing, hiking, mountain biking, paddling, and backcountry skiing.
These inventoried roadless areas constitute close to a quarter (23%) of Forest Service-Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit lands and a combined 80,000-plus acres on Tahoe National Forest and Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit forest, according to maps on the Forest Service’s website.
Launching on July 10 and running through September 18, the “Tunes on Tap” series will take place on Thursday evenings at the Alibi Amphitheater at the Incline Public House, giving all Alibi Ale Works patrons a pre-weekend celebration filled with live music, craft brews, and the natural beauty of Lake Tahoe.
“There’s nothing like hearing Tahoe artists with the lake in the background and a local Tahoe beverage in hand,” said Andy Chapman, president & CEO of Travel North Tahoe Nevada (TNTNV). “We’re proud to partner with Alibi Ale Works again to offer both visitors and locals a memorable way to enjoy our mountain culture.”
In The News – Nevada State Parks seeks public input for the Spooner Lake & Backcountry State Park Master Plan
June 25, 2025 | Member Submitted
Originally Published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, 06/25/2025, Staff Report
The Nevada Division of State Parks is seeking the public’s input on Spooner Lake & Backcountry State Park for the development of a new park master plan. The intent of this master planning effort is to provide a comprehensive management strategy for the state park over the next 20 years.
Spooner Lake & Backcountry State Park welcomes approximately 100,000 visitors annually. The park spans over 12,000 acres and features over 60 miles of trails, numerous historic sites, and vital wildlife habitat. The master plan will aim to best balance the increasing recreational demands of the park with preservation of natural and cultural resources.
To support this planning effort, Nevada State Parks has launched an interactive StoryMap to provide information on the existing conditions of the park. Nevada State Parks encourages the public to explore the StoryMap and share their feedback by completing the online survey, which will help guide the development of the Spooner Lake & Backcountry Master Plan. Public input is critical to the development of a successful plan.
Clearing the Way: How Mastication Machines Help Protect Tahoe from Wildfire
June 24, 2025 | Member Submitted
Forest fuel reduction projects happening throughout the Tahoe Basin this year are using a tool known as mastication around communities to connect fuel treatment projects and bolster defensible space within the wildland urban interface. The Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team (TFFT) is highlighting several of these projects to educate residents and visitors about work they might be seeing in and around Lake Tahoe communities this year, and the crucial role mastication plays in helping firefighters protect people and the lake. The TFFT is a multi-agency partnership committed to reducing wildfire risk and improving forest health across the Tahoe Basin.
As wildfire seasons grow longer and more intense, TFFT partners are using every tool available to reduce risk and protect communities. Mastication is one such tool, and it plays a key role in making forests more resilient. Mastication is a mechanical treatment that helps reduce wildfire intensity by grinding up small trees, brush, and woody debris into mulch. Specialized equipment, known as masticators, move through the forest and chip excess vegetation into chips that are spread around the treatment area as the equipment moves. Some masticators look like a compact tractor, while others are separate machines that attach to the arm of an excavator. Masticators clear out ladder fuels – those small trees and brush that allow fire to climb into the forest canopy – and help create defensible space around neighborhoods, roads, and critical infrastructure.
“Reducing flame lengths and limiting wildfire intensity provides critical time and space for firefighters to respond,” said Carrie Thaler, Fire Chief for the USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit. “We will continue to use every tool in our toolbox to reduce wildfire risk in the Tahoe Basin to protect our neighborhoods and communities.”
Mastication can stand alone as a treatment or complement other fuels reduction methods like thinning or prescribed fire. It is especially valuable in areas where burning isn’t practical, such as directly next to homes, recreation sites, or along busy roadways.
TFFT Partners Put Mastication to Work
The TFFT is prioritizing mastication projects across the Tahoe Basin this summer. These projects reflect the partnership’s focus on strategic, collaborative action to protect communities, critical infrastructure, and evacuation corridors. Recent and upcoming work includes:
Incline Village and Skyland – Targeted mastication to create defensible space within and around neighborhoods and reduce fuels within the wildland-urban interface.
Pioneer Trail Area – In South Lake Tahoe, TFFT partners are creating shaded fuel breaks, including a 200-foot-wide treatment near the Golden Bear neighborhood.
Elks Point and Nevada Beach – Continued mastication along high-use road corridors to prevent roadside ignitions and improve access for emergency response.
“Mastication is a strategic, cost-effective technique to help us protect Tahoe Basin communities,” said Annabelle Monti, TFFT Program Manager. “When integrated with other tools, it helps not only reduce the intensity of wildfires, but also gives firefighters safer, more effective conditions to work in if a fire does occur.”
Stay Informed
To explore fuels reduction projects happening across the Tahoe Basin, visit tahoelivingwithfire.com and view the interactive project map.
To receive updates when fuels reduction work is happening near you, sign up for the USDA Forest Service Fuels Reduction Notification List by emailing sm.fs.paltbmu@usda.gov.
Images
Image: Mini-Masticator_Amonti_crop
Caption: A compact masticator reducing brush that can act as a ladder fuel, carrying fire into the forest canopy. Credit: Annabelle Monti
Image: Masticator_USFS_CC4 (3)
Caption: A masticator clears roadside vegetation during a wildfire in Willamette NF, Oregon in 2023. Credit: U.S. Forest Service Flickr, CC 4.0
The Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team consists of representatives of Tahoe Basin fire agencies, CAL FIRE, Nevada Division of Forestry and related state agencies, University of California and Nevada Cooperative Extensions, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, the USDA Forest Service, conservation districts from both states, the California Tahoe Conservancy and the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board. Our mission is to protect lives, property, and the environment within the Lake Tahoe Basin from wildfire by implementing prioritized fuels reduction projects and engaging the public in becoming a Fire Adapted Community. For more information, visitTahoe Living With Fire.
Written by Julie W. Regan, Executive Director of TRPA, 06/20/2025
Imagine Lake Tahoe with high rises ringing all 72 miles of shoreline and waters that are muddy or gray. This picture is what we might be seeing today if many Lake Tahoe champions had not come together in the late 1960s to form the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA). While the “fairest picture the whole earth affords,” as Mark Twain once described Lake Tahoe, still takes our breath away today, the Tahoe Basin is facing new and unprecedented threats.
The clarity of the lake itself is susceptible to changes in and out of the Tahoe Basin, especially during summer months. The annual Lake Tahoe clarity report released by UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center this week indicates that while clarity is holding steady overall and clarity during winter months may be improving, summer clarity is declining.
TRPA is working with the Tahoe Science Advisory Council to learn more about the drivers of clarity in the lake and to understand the role factors like extreme weather, warming temperatures, aquatic invasive species, and wildfire smoke are playing. Just as important to this research are continued strategies to restore clarity, which averaged nearly 100 feet when UC Davis researchers began measuring it in the late 1960s. At that time, a city the size of San Francisco, complete with freeways and a bridge over Emerald Bay, was planned for the Tahoe Basin. TRPA’s creation led to protections for sensitive lands, regional environmental standards, and caps on future development.
However, damage had already been done. The lake lost about 1 foot of clarity every year for 30 years before stabilizing in the 2000s. Over the last 20 years, year-round clarity has averaged 69 feet. Scientists have pointed to fine sediment from erosion and polluted stormwater, and algae growth from additional nitrogen and phosphorus entering the lake as the main factors in lost clarity. In 2011, TRPA, state water quality agencies, and local governments adopted the Clarity Challenge, a science-based plan to achieve the 100-foot clarity goal by 2076. The plan calls for property owners, land managers, and local governments to reduce pollutants entering the lake through erosion control projects, stormwater treatment systems, and restoration of wetlands damaged by earlier development.
Despite the mixed trajectory of lake clarity, the Tahoe Basin is meeting or exceeding interim targets for reducing pollutants. Under the Lake Tahoe Environmental Improvement Program (EIP), public and private water quality investments are keeping more than 500,000 pounds of pollutants out of the lake every year, just from urban areas alone. Scientists tell us these reductions are improving water quality, and we need to stay the course while supporting research to better understand the complex drivers of lake clarity.
As with any landscape-scale restoration program, TRPA and our EIP partners can’t do this alone. You can help reduce erosion by staying on trails and parking on pavement instead of road shoulders. If you are a property owner, ensure your property is certified with the required stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs). Reduce vehicle trips and engine emissions by using bike and pedestrian paths, taking advantage of the new Emerald Bay shuttle and free microtransit, or carpooling to get around.
I believe wholeheartedly there isn’t a better summer experience anywhere than at Lake Tahoe. With changing conditions around lake clarity, new threats from aquatic invasive species, wildfire, and more extreme weather, preserving that experience takes constant care and vigilance from us all. Whether you are here for one day or have lived in the Tahoe Basin for decades, everyone who loves this special place must work diligently to protect it.
Julie W. Regan is Executive Director of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency
Summer Fire Restrictions for Incline Village & Crystal Bay
June 24, 2025 | Member Submitted
Submitted by Tia Rancourt, NLTFPD
Seasonal Open Burning (wood, slash, or needle piles) closed May 1, 2025.
Recreational fires (wood or charcoal fire within a non-combustible container with a 1/8” mesh screen) are still allowed with a permit. Please note however, that recreational fires are not permissible on short term rental properties.
Barbeque grilling (natural gas, propane, charcoal) is still allowed. All grilling appliances shall be used within the manufacturer’s guidelines and recommendations. This also includes smokers and pellet stoves.
Follow these simple safety tips when using solid-fuel, charcoal, or propane grills.
Propane, charcoal, and other solid-fuel grills should only be used outdoors.
The grill should be placed far away from the home, deck railings, and out from under eaves and overhanging branches.
Keep children and pets at least three feet away from the grill area.
Keep your grill clean by removing grease or fat buildup from the grills and in trays below the grill.
Never leave your grill unattended.
Always make sure your gas grill lid is open before lighting it.
Charcoal Grills:
Charcoal grills are prohibited on combustible surfaces.
There are several ways to get the charcoal ready to use. Charcoal chimney starters allow you to start the charcoal using newspaper as a fuel.
If you use a starter fluid, use only charcoal starter fluid. Never add charcoal fluid or any other flammable liquids to the fire.
Keep charcoal fluid out of the reach of children and away from heat sources.
There are also electric charcoal starters, which do not use fire. Be sure to use an extension cord for outdoor use.
When you are finished grilling, let the coals completely cool before disposing in a metal container. Contact the Fire District for a free ash can (residents will need to have some type of wood-burning heating appliance to be considered for the program). To obtain a free ash can, residents may fill out an application at the Fire District Administration Office, 866 Oriole Way, Incline Village. If the required criteria are met, an ash can will be provided.
Propane Grills:
Check the gas tank hose for leaks before using it for the first time each year.
Apply light soap and water solution to the hose. A propane leak will release bubbles.
If your grill has a gas leak, by smell, or the soapy bubble test, and there is no flame, turn off the gas tank and grill. If the leak stops, get the grill serviced by a professional before using it again. If the leak does not stop, call the fire department.
If you smell gas while cooking, immediately leave the grill and call the fire department. Do not move the grill.
If the flame goes out, turn the grill and gas off and wait at least 15 minutes before re-lighting it.
Please note: no open flame of any kind is allowed during Red Flag Warnings. Fire restrictions may differ on Federal land.
In The News – Incline Star Follies deliver big Talent, Bigger Heart
June 23, 2025 | Member Submitted
Originally Published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, 06/23/2025, Staff Report
INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. – The 2025 Incline Star Follies wrapped another standout season, filling the Incline High School Theater with music, laughter, and a whole lot of community spirit. Over two sold-out nights, audiences eagerly watched friends, neighbors, and local luminaries take the stage in a high-energy revue of music, dance, and comedy – proving once again that Incline’s got talent.
This beloved annual event blends professional-quality production with the playful charm of amateur performers — including teachers, business owners, students, and first-time stage stars. It’s all backed by a dedicated crew of volunteers who make the magic happen behind the scenes.
In The News – How Wá∙šiw (Washoe) stories and language relay data, observations, and reverence of Tahoe through time
June 23, 2025 | Member Submitted
Originally Published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, 06/23/2025, Katelyn Welsh
An ages old Wá∙šiw (Washoe) story outlines the journey of a large black and white flightless bird that carried a pouch of seeds. What the bird did with those seeds would go on to have important implications for the people and land. It’s a story tribe member Herman Fillmore shared in his discussion on how culturally significant stories relay data and observations through time at the Ethnobiology Conference that took place last month at the University of Nevada, Reno’s Tahoe Campus.
As the Tribe’s Culture and Language Resources Director, Fillmore has been working with elders and children to preserve and sustain the Washoe language, including through these stories.
The culturally significant story continues with the bird sharing the seeds with multiple species who were navigating survival amid the harsh conditions of ice and snow.
In The News – Park Party: A guide to bike parks in and around the Tahoe basin
June 20, 2025 | Member Submitted
Originally published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, 06/20/2025, Laney Griffo
There are hundreds of miles of mountain bike trails in and around the Tahoe basin. Riders of all fitness levels and experience can find almost anything they are looking for on those trails, from a flowy, casual ride, awesome views and technical descent.
But for those who are looking to work on specific skills, want to stay in one place or are just looking for a short pedal, a bike park might be a better option for their day on their bike.
Here is a guide to the several bike parks in the Truckee-Tahoe area:
New shuttle service to replace dangerous roadside parking in Emerald Bay this summer
June 19, 2025 | Member Submitted
Originally Published in The Tahoe Daily Tribune, 06/19/2025, Staff Report
This summer, unsafe, illegal, and environmentally harmful roadside parking will be removed in Emerald Bay and a new shuttle service, funded by Keep Tahoe Blue and the Tahoe Fund, will offer an easy, convenient and lake-friendly transportation alternative to access one of Tahoe’s most visited spots.
“Emerald Bay is one of Tahoe’s greatest treasures and also one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Basin,” said Amy Berry, Tahoe Fund CEO. “With this new pilot, the hope is we will see reduced traffic congestion, improved safety along the roadside, and it will be easier for people to experience the incredible beauty of Emerald Bay without the hassle of finding a parking spot.”
Over the July 4 holiday, Caltrans will conduct a Road Safety Audit that will be used to identify long- and short-term transportation solutions that the agency may be able to implement permanently. Following the holiday, the Tahoe Transportation District will install temporary barriers to restrict access to the roadside parking spaces in conjunction with the summer pilot project. Shuttle service to Emerald Bay will begin on Tuesday, July 15. During the pilot project, California Highway Patrol will be strictly enforcing the new parking restrictions.
