forest thinning

RENO — With wildland fires eating up the forests and rangelands of Nevada each summer, and fire season now upon us, University of Nevada, Reno scientists are examining how drought, climate change and land management will affect future fire activity and how fires can in turn influence plant, soil and hydrologic processes.

RENO — The forest of the Sierra Nevada mountains is an important resource for the surrounding communities in Nevada and California. Thinning the forest by removing trees by hand or using heavy machinery is one of the few tools available to manage forests.

RENO — Winter snows are accumulating in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, creating the snowpacks that serve as a primary source of water for the western U.S. However, due to rising average temperatures, snowpacks in the Great Basin appear to be transitioning from seasonal, with a predictable amount and melt rate, to “ephemeral,” or short-lived, which are less predictable and only last up to 60 days.

The Lake Tahoe Basin Fall Prescribed Fire Program will begin as early as this week under the management of the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team, which includes local, state and federal fire and land management agencies.

What began as a very dry winter in the Lake Tahoe Basin ended with Sierra snowpack approximately 85 percent of normal, thanks to heavy precipitation received during the month of March. However, both the National Interagency Fire Center and the Reno National Weather Service expect a warming trend to develop that will lead to drier than normal conditions by late spring.

As a kid, I pictured Nevada as a wasteland of sand and cacti. Today, I know better. For the past five years, I’ve been packing up my truck every spring and taking a long day to drive to eastern Nevada to bask in the glory of one of the least densely-populated areas of the United States.

Lawmakers from Nevada and California met Monday on the shores of Lake Tahoe to discuss how to protect a national treasure as it faces continued threats to water clarity, invasive species, wildfire and drought.

Ever since President Bill Clinton held the first meeting in South Lake Tahoe in 1997, the annual focus of the Lake Tahoe Summit is to protect what Mark Twain called "the fairest picture the whole world affords."

Thinning of trees for fuels reduction and forest health has resumed on approximately 340 acres of National Forest System lands on the east side of Highway 267 north of Speckled Avenue above Kings Beach, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

The fourth consecutive year of drought in California and Nevada emphasizes the need for communities to become fire adapted. The Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team implements forest thinning, prescribed fire and defensible space programs to reduce wildfire risk, but they need the public’s help to create Fire Adapted Communities at Lake Tahoe.

September brought the reality of wildfires to the forefront in the Lake Tahoe Basin. The King Fire came within 8 air miles of the U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit boundary, and as we all anxiously awaited its containment, the Cascade Fire broke out in the Desolation Wilderness.

The Clear Creek watershed that runs through Carson City and Douglas County and Franktown watershed at Washoe Lake are two of 10 areas within the Nevada's national forests to be picked as priority projects designed to combat damage from insects and disease that weakens forests and increases the risk of wildfire, U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell said Wednesday.

Responding to a provision in the new Farm Bill, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval had asked Tidwell to designate the watersheds and eight other areas for forest health projects.

Forest thinning on public land along the west side of Fallen Leaf Lake will begin Friday, Aug. 16, the U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit announced Thursday. Thinning will take place south of the dam and will move closer to the dam in a couple of weeks.

The Forest Service will issue a forest order to close a portion of the area from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. daily beginning Aug. 19, through Oct. 11 for public safety due to heavy equipment operations and the felling of trees.

South Tahoe High seniors Emily Barnett and Tyler Myers will travel to Russia to present their field research project, “The Effects of Fire and Forest Thinning on the Biodiversity of Understory Plants in the Lake Tahoe Basin,” at the 9th Annual International Junior Foresters’ Competition. Their project was selected by the U.S. Forest Service International Programs office in Washington DC to represent the U.S. in the upcoming competition.