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Squaw Valley USA, the iconic Lake Tahoe-area resort that has been home to some of the country’s top downhill skiers, is joining operations with neighboring Alpine Meadows. See story here. Here is the official press release dated today:

Today, firefighters throughout the region continue to battle the Buckeye Fire, five miles west of Bridgeport. The Buckeye Fire started yesterday, September 25, 2011 around 11 a.m.

No structures have been lost and no injuries have been reported. Firefighters have been faced with steep terrain and changing wind conditions making it a difficult fire to contain. As of this morning the size of the fire is estimated to be approximately 1,200 acres. At the time of this release there is no estimate on when containment will occur. The investigation of the cause of the fire is still ongoing.

The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit invites residents and visitors to attend the Kokanee Salmon Festival, which celebrates the annual fall migration of Kokanee salmon at the Taylor Creek Visitor Center. The event takes place the weekend of October 1 and 2, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. each day. The Visitor Center is located three miles north of South Lake Tahoe on Highway 89.

Looking for a great place to dirt bike, four-wheel or cruise through rocks with breeze on your ATV? The public lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service and BLM-Carson City District offer plenty of opportunities for off-road vehicle and ATV recreation. Check out the latest blog from the Carson City Convention and Visitors Bureau outlining some of the local hotspots for off-road adventure.

Lake Tahoe Basin agencies are investigating a small spill of what appears to be petroleum at Taylor Creek during the weekend.On Saturday, a U.S. Forest Service ranger reported a 10-foot-by-20-foot ...

By the Nevada Department of Wildlife
Game biologists are often hard to understand. When trying to explain something to the everyday man, they forget to stop using all of their scientific terms and sometimes leave people more confused than ever.
When asked about the upcoming chukar hunting season, which begins Oct. 8, Nevada Department of Wildlife upland game biologist Shawn Espinosa wanted to avoid any confusion, “I think overall it's going to be a good to excellent season. Hunters are going to be very happy this year.”

Update 1:30 p.m.: Fire crews have contained a fire that broke out this morning near Old Clear Creek Road near the top of Spooner Summit, and Highway 50 has reopened.

The fire was last reported to be about 1.5 acres in size, and there was one home in the area that was threatened. Light winds and cool temperatures helped firefighters get a handle on the blaze, with a helicopter dumping water to help out the hand crews on the ground.

The fire is about a mile from the top of Spooner Summit, along the upper portion of Old Clear Creek Road. This road has been cut off to vehicle traffic for several years, and in places has disintegrated into little more than a path. The area is used by many hikers and mountain bikers, and some people have been known to camp in the area.

LAKE TAHOE — If another La Nina visits the Sierra this winter – all-time records were approached in 2010-11 with more than 700 inches of snow – Tahoe South ski resorts are ready to roll on another epic season.

By Cheva Heck
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — A crew of military veterans who are preparing for future employment while they're helping to protect Lake Tahoe communities from wildfire were visited today by U.S. Forest Service and California Conservation Corps officials.

The Summer Science Program of the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center continues with a fly-fishing and fly-tying demonstration this Saturday, Aug. 27 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the UC Davis Tahoe City Field Station Historic Fish Hatchery, 2400 Lake Forest Road, Tahoe City, Calif. (located on the corner of Highway 28 and Lake Forest Road)
Join UC Davis volunteer David Long for activities for kids ages 6 and up:
— Learn Fly-Tying and Casting
— Discuss Lake Tahoe Fisheries

Chris Lemmers has been shocked more times than he can remember. As a fish surveyor for the Forest Service, his job is to walk or boat the rivers, streams and creeks of the region with an LR-24 Elec...

By the Shasta Cascade Wonderland Association
A great way to experience a sense of adventure and discover incredible scenery is by horseback riding through the Shasta Cascade region.
Many trails found throughout the area include trails on National Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, State Parks, and a couple of the National Parks that offer equestrian trails.
While traversing these trails riders can expect to experience breath taking country that cannot be seen in other parts of California.

Before summer segues to fall, Tahoe South will celebrate a Labor Day last call: an amped-up holiday weekend of non-stop activities on and off the water including a food and wine festival, sternwheeler race, outdoor and showroom concerts and a fireworks extravaganza.

LABOR DAY WEEKEND

By Mike Wolterbeek
A new invasive species has been identified at Lake Tahoe, and it’s likely to be the most aggressive fish to ply the waters of the mile-high lake.
“In our work to remove warm-water fish from Lake Tahoe, we’ve discovered smallmouth bass, a much more ferocious predator than other species known to have invaded the lake,” Sudeep Chandra, limnologist at the University of Nevada, Reno said. The removal work is being coordinated by the California Department of Fish and Game as part of the Lake Tahoe Aquatic Invasive Species Program and funded in part by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

If you’re someone like me, summer’s sweltering heat is not much fun.

I am an outdoors person who dearly loves the cold, frost, ice and snow of winter, and I absolutely and totally wilt at this time of the year.

I am miserable and grouchy during these hot weather months.

I hate the weather anytime it gets past 80-85 degrees. So, when it gets hot, I either hide in the tree shade in our backyard, stay indoors where it is delightfully air conditioned or go high in the Great Outdoors to avoid the miserable heat, especially in the month of August.

CARSON CITY – If a $490,000 grant to plant trees in Clark County public places as part of a federal job-creating stimulus project should be measured by the “greening” of Southern Nevada, then the effort might be considered a modest success.
Thirteen different government and nonprofit entities applied for 1,814 trees for planting at 35 different public areas in Southern Nevada through the grant. A total of 1,541 trees have been provided to the agencies and groups for planting, mostly at schools and parks around the Vegas valley.

Last week, I wrote about the large snow drifts and huge snow fields that Elaine and I encountered on our hike toward Winnemucca Lake from the top of Kit Carson Pass on California S.R. 88.

Our purpose for the hike was three-fold: To walk on snow (which we did), to photograph some wildflowers (which we did) and to fish for Brook and Kamloop trout at Winnemucca Lake (which we did not, due to too much snow and too much wind).

This week, I am suggesting that you take the time to hike on that same Winnemucca Lake Trail to admire and photograph the wildflowers.

Here’s how to do so:

"Captain America," subtitled "the First Avenger," currently showing at the Fandango Galaxy cineplex in Carson City, is the fourth in the series of related comic book heroes brought to the screen.

And while it does live up to its pulp ancestry with lots of action and fantasy, it reportedly is a 124-minute promotional effort for a film to come, "The Avengers," all four heroes joining to save the world or do other good deeds.

With our summer temperatures currently in the 90-100 degree range around Carson City, it is unbearably hot for this poor, sweltering soul.
I am a winter person, not a summer person, and do not like hot weather!
Thank goodness for those of us who live in this part of the United States, we can temporarily escape that miserable summer heat by finding coolness at the higher elevations of our nearby Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Last Wednesday morning (July 20), Elaine and I did just that.

We traveled to Kit Carson Pass on California S.R. 88 with a three-fold purpose in mind:

RENO, Nev(AP) - The U.S. Forest Service says it is not required to make sure there's enough black-backed woodpeckers to keep the rare bird from going locally extinct at Lake Tahoe as a result of a ...

RENO - Conservationists have asked a federal appellate court to keep the Forest Service from starting logging operations next week in an area near Lake Tahoe where a wildfire destroyed 250 homes...

By the Nevada Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources
This is a reminder that Nevada State Forester and Fire Warden, Pete Anderson, issued a warning on July 8 about fire danger throughout Nevada.
Western Nevada has experienced numerous wildfire ignitions over the past few weeks posing an increasing danger to the public as vegetation continues to dry out.

Fire crews have knocked down a 123-acre blaze that started late Saturday morning near the Carson City Rifle and Pistol Range off Flint Drive near the landfill.
Called the Rifle Fire, flames and smoke that billowed through the eastern edge of Carson City were extinguished after several agencies, helicopters and air tankers attacked the fire head-on through the afternoon and into the evening reports the Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center.
An air tanker was taken off the fire and some equipment was moved out of the area after 5 p.m., said Helen Frazier of the dispatch center.

How would you like to take a mid-to-late summer vacation at an out-of-the-way location, right here in the State of Nevada? 
If you are interested, did you know that our very own White Pine County is home to one of the nation's least visited and Nevada's only National Park — The 77,000 acre Great Basin National Park?

If you've never been there, here is a whole bunch of useful information:

By the Idaho Department of Fish and Game
Idaho biologists are set to begin grizzly bear trapping for research in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest south of Yellowstone National Park.
As part of ongoing efforts under the Endangered Species Act to monitor the distribution of grizzly bears in the Yellowstone Ecosystem, Idaho Fish and Game is working to inform the public that pre-baiting and scientific trapping operations are once again about to begin in the Upper Snake Region.

By the Nevada Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources
CARSON CITY — Nevada State Forester and Fire Warden, Pete Anderson, issued a warning on July 8 about fire danger throughout Nevada. Western Nevada has experienced numerous wildfire ignitions over the past few weeks posing an increasing danger to the public as vegetation continues to dry.

By Don Quilici
After a record-breaking year of many major-sized snowstorms this last winter, the Davis Lake area, just north of Portola, California has some spectacular displays of colorful wildflowers blooming at the present time.

ALPINE LAKE, CALIF:
It will be planted this week by the California Department of Fish and Game.

ANGEL LAKE, ELKO COUNTY, NEV:
The Nevada Department of Wildlife (www.ndow.org) reports: The road is open, but there is still a LOT of snow around the lake. The lake is about 80% ice covered with some fishable water. Unfortunately, there is enough snow on the ice, you can't tell what is safe and what isn't. With this week's warm temps and some wind, next weekend may be a different story.

BISHOP AREA, CALIF:

By Don Quilici
California has two Free Fishing Days associated with holidays this year. The first Free Fishing Day in 2011 is on July 2 (for the Fourth of July) and the second is on September 3 (for Labor Day).

A flood advisory issued by the National Weather Service remains in effect until 9 p.m. on Friday for northeastern El Dorado and Placer Counties and includes creeks, streams and rivers near South Lake Tahoe, Tahoe City, Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows.

The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit is cautioning residents and visitors to be aware of fast moving water and quick changing stream flows, according to a news release issued Tuesday.