pollution

Depending on the weather, prescribed fires around the Lake Tahoe basin may resume beginning Monday, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

The University of California, Davis and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency recently released their yearly water clarity readings for Lake Tahoe. The good news: Mid-lake water clarity improved significantly in 2014, with an average reading of 77.8 feet. That’s 7.5 feet greater than the average reading for 2013, and almost 14 feet greater than the 64.1 feet measured in 1997, Lake Tahoe’s lowest recorded clarity.

Clarity levels at Lake Tahoe in 2014 showed the biggest improvements in more than a decade, according to researchers Tuesday at the University of California, Davis, who have studied the lake for the last half century.

The improvements are in part due to continuous work from the Lake Tahoe community to lower pollutants to the lake. They were also influenced by the drought, as reduced precipitation meant fewer contaminants flowed into Lake Tahoe, particularly during the summer, when clarity levels were the highest recorded since 2002.

People think of elephants, tigers and sharks as a bellwether for how the environment is doing, but monster fish, two dozen species of large freshwater fish weighing more than 200 pounds, are an alarming indicator of the health of aquatic ecosystems around the world.

“These big fish are in a steep decline,” Zeb Hogan, conservation biologist and researcher in the University of Nevada, Reno’s College of Science, said. “The disappearance of aquatic animals is a freshwater extinction crisis.”

There’s a lot to be learned by studying others’ successes. At the Tahoe Talks Brown Bag Lunch this February, a design engineer for the Federal Highway Administration discussed how modern roundabouts are being used to improve traffic and make roads safer for drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians, as well as where they would make the most sense at Lake Tahoe.

As the incoming Chair of the 15-member Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board, this promises to be a hopeful and exciting year. 2015 will be full of opportunities, but also challenges, for the continued protection of Lake Tahoe.

The number one priority among our challenges is funding shortfalls. Federal and state funding that has paid for environmental restoration and protection efforts at Lake Tahoe for years is drying up and new approaches need to be pursued.

The Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District, California State Parks, the Nevada Division of Forestry and the U.S. Forest Service will continue prescribed fire operations beginning Monday, Jan. 12.

The Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District and the U.S. Forest Service will continue prescribed fire operations this week on Kingsbury Grade near Buchanan Road, Ski Run Boulevard near Heavenly, Luther Pass and Spooner Summit. Operations will last through the next several weeks as conditions allow.

The partnership between California and Nevada that created the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency turns 45 years old today, marking nearly a half-century of progress in the protection and restoration of Lake Tahoe and its treasured environment.

President Richard Nixon signed the Bi-State Compact creating TRPA on Thursday, December 18, 1969. Nixon’s signature followed the compact’s ratification by Congress and its approval by both states’ legislatures and former governors Ronald Reagan in California and Paul Laxalt in Nevada.

The Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation has granted the League to Save Lake Tahoe $35,000 to support its land-use planning program, which ensures strong environmental regulation surrounding development at Lake Tahoe. The foundation has also bolstered its named endowment at the League with a $200,000 donation.

Prescribed fire operations near Sugar Pine Point State Park, Pioneer Trail and Washoan Boulevard, Ski Run Boulevard near Heavenly, Luther Pass, Spooner Summit, and Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park in Slaughterhouse Canyon, the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team announced Friday.

The public will have a chance to learn about agency efforts to address stormwater pollution and get involved at a stormwater symposium on Dec. 10 at Lake Tahoe Community College.

Prescribed fire operations are planned around all four shores of the Lake Tahoe Basin beginning Sunday, according to the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team.

Prescribed burns are planned near Incline Village, Tahoma, Meeks Bay, Sugar Pine Point State Park, Tahoe Mountain and Heavenly urban lot areas. A winter storm system is expected to arrive around the time the burning operations begin.

As the keynote speaker at last month’s National Workshop on Large Landscape Conservation in Washington, D.C., U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell emphasized the central role collaboration must play for America to protect its natural resources, balance economic needs, and address emerging environmental challenges such as climate change.

“We are moving into an era of epic collaboration,” Jewell said, explaining that regional partnerships across jurisdictional boundaries are more important than ever for the federal department that manages 20 percent of our nation’s land.

The Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District and the U.S. Forest Service will continue prescribed fire operations in the Van Sickle Park, McKinney Rubicon and Heavenly urban lot areas. Operations will last through the next several weeks as conditions allow.

The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit will begin the fall and winter prescribed fire program this week. Operations may take place Thursday, Oct. 16, on various urban lots around the Lake Tahoe Basin including Elizabeth Drive on the West Shore, Christmas Valley, Angora Creek, Elks Club Drive, Echo View Estates, and Bakersfield Avenue on the South Shore.

The League to Save Lake Tahoe is inviting community members to help mark storm drains and prevent pollution from entering Lake Tahoe at two Stewards of Stormwater events in August at the Tahoe Keys.
The first event is on August 18 from 9 – 11 am and the second is on August 27 from 6 – 8 pm. The League will host the events in partnership with the City of South Lake Tahoe and the Tahoe Keys Property Owners Association.

New high definition fire cameras are scanning the mountains and shoreline, while University of Nevada, Reno researchers are discovering new animal species at the bottom of Lake Tahoe and working with colleagues at the Desert Research Institute to document the dramatic decline of other bottom dwelling species and nearshore water quality.

The League to Save Lake Tahoe hosted a Stewards of Stormwater event Thursday, Aug. 7 in Incline Village in partnership with Tahoe Family Solutions’ Camp Explore program, IVGID, the Nevada Tahoe Conservation District, and Washoe County, Nevada.

More than 50 kids from Tahoe Family Solutions along with other volunteers helped place 41 metal markers on storm drains that lead to Lake Tahoe and picked up 40 pounds of litter on the streets.

The League to Save Lake Tahoe will host its annual Keep Tahoe Red, White & Blue Beach Cleanups at five locations throughout Lake Tahoe on July 5. Volunteers of all ages and abilities are invited to join the effort from Tahoe City to Nevada Beach and South Shore.

The League to Save Lake Tahoe will host its annual Keep Tahoe Red, White and Blue Beach Cleanups at five locations throughout Lake Tahoe on July 5. Volunteers of all ages and abilities are invited to join the effort from Tahoe City to Nevada Beach and South Shore.

The Carson Ranger District, Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, will open dead-tree firewood cutting areas beginning Monday, June 16, 2014. Dead-tree cutting areas include Hope Valley, Thornburg Canyon, and Leviathan.

Live-tree cutting areas will open on July 21, 2014; live-tree cutting areas include Beagle in the Dog Valley area, Scotts Lake, south of Woodfords, Calif., and Jones Creek off Mt. Rose Highway.

In the live-tree cutting areas, only designated trees may be cut and slash must be piled. Designated trees are described on the live-tree cutting area maps.

Black Rock Solar began construction in late February on two new Carson City area photovoltaic arrays: 324 ground-mounted panels at Sierra Lutheran High School and 193 rooftop panels at Silver State Charter Schools.

That means 135 kW of clean energy from the sun powering the 91-student Christian school and the 7th to 12th-grade charter school. It also means an annual utility-bill savings of more than $19,000 for the two schools – that’s $19,000 that can go toward expanded educational opportunities within the Carson City and Douglas County communities.

“The Carson City Republican Central Committee, is hosting a program with Roger Hedgecock. You are invited to attend in room 3100 at the Nevada State Legislature on Saturday, March 8, 2014 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Roger Allan Hedgecock, is a conservative talk radio host and former mayor of San Diego, California. His show is syndicated by Radio America.”

Submitted to Carson Now by Carol Howell
.
Here is what Ms, Howell did not state in the spirit of “transparency” which now has become the new “buzzword” in American and Nevada Politics!

On Friday the Carson City Downtown Business Association hosted a “No Butt Party” eco-mixer. In an effort to help clean up the cigarette butt problem in the Downtown Telegraph Square area, the DBA purchased four “Butts Only Boxes” from Ken Beckstead of Cigarette Pollution Solutions.

The Butts Only Boxes are high grade steel, built to withstand bad weather and have a metal fenced opening that prevents animals and people from retrieving the contents.

The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection is asking people in the Eagle and Carson Valleys to refrain from burning wood this week during a period of stagnant air. Where wood is the only option, people should burn as cleanly as possible.

Strong temperature inversions and stagnant weather conditions can cause air pollution levels to increase rapidly in the valleys of Carson City and Douglas County.

Plans for vessels that would ferry up to 150 local commuters as well as visitors on Lake Tahoe with marina stops on the north and south shores are available for public comment through Jan. 3, 2014.

Layers of ice remaining on some of Carson City's side streets and walkways will see more snow added to them by Wednesday night and Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.

Carson City could get anywhere from 1 to 3 inches of snow when another cold front approaching from the north will drop temperatures and flakes overnight Wednesday into early Thursday morning.

Bently Biofuels and The Western Sustainability Pollution and Prevention Network are teaming to provide collection sites around the region so that residents have an environmentally safe way to get rid of cooking oil used to deep fry their holiday turkeys.

During the holiday season the two organizations are reaching out to the Carson City, Carson Valley, Reno and Lake Tahoe communities to encourage recycling of cooking oil used at homes throughout the region. Collection bins will be placed in various locations throughout the community from Thanksgiving until New Year’s Eve.

A Dense Smoke Advisory issued by the National Weather Service continues Wednesday for Carson City and Carson Valley.

Using data provided by the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, Carson City and Douglas County officials continue to monitor the rapid decline in air quality. On Wednesday Douglas County sent a news release stating that overnight pollution levels moved into the "hazardous" classification.