Working Groups: Forest Health and Fire Prevention

Fire Safe Councils
Although Tahoe Basin residents have avoided devastating wildfires for many years, the wildfire threat is getting stronger. The threat is so strong that most of the communities in the Basin are listed on the Federal Register for Communities-At-Risk and/or each state’s list of threatened communities.

Continuing population shifts from urban to rural areas have increased the danger of wildfire throughout the Tahoe Basin. At the same time, recent below-average precipitation levels and a tremendous accumulation of wildland fuels have created a hazardous environment that could host a catastrophic wildfire. Wildfire has the potential to destroy lives, property, and natural resources within the Basin.

Last year’s Gondola Fire was a scare for Tahoe Basin residents, but it was just a taste of the damage that wildfires can cause. The taste was bitter enough to leave citizens wondering how to protect their lives and property from future fires. Many have sought the assistance of one of two fire safe councils serving the Tahoe Basin. The Nevada Fire Safe Council is working with residents in the Nevada portion of the Basin, and the Tahoe Basin Fire Safe Council is assisting those on the California side. These are just two of over 120 fire safe councils nationwide.

Nevada Fire Safe Council

The Nevada Fire Safe Council evolved from growing recognition that the threat of wildfire to human life and property has been escalating rapidly. To address this issue, Cooperative Extension spearheaded a conference titled “Living With Fire…The First Fire Forum” in Carson City in June 1999. In attendance were individuals representing a broad range of interests. Following intense discussions, a resolution was adopted calling for “the establishment of a statewide fire safe council to provide support throughout Nevada to help make homes, neighborhoods, and communities fire safe.” Following the conference, Ed Smith of Cooperative Extension headed up the effort to convene an organizing committee, and on Aug. 4, 2000 the Nevada Fire Safe Council was approved as a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit corporation.

Currently the council’s board of directors is comprised of 13 members elected at a general membership meeting held each spring. The board has one paid employee who serves as primary staff and principle spokesperson for the council. Since its inception, over 400 individuals have joined the Nevada Fire Safe Council as individual members.

The Nevada Fire Safe Council’s primary mission is to foster the organization of members into local chapters to promote defensible space, complete pre-fire planning activities, and implement hazardous fuel reduction projects on private properties to increase the survivability of threatened communities. Currently the council has 14 chapters across Nevada, with four organized in the Tahoe Basin: (1) Glenbrook,. (2) Hidden Woods, (3) Incline Village, and (4) Tyrolean Village.

The Nevada Fire Safe Council invites any group that supports its purpose and principles to become a formally affiliated chapter. Elwood Miller , executive coordinator, can be reached at (775) 322-2413 or firesafe@renonevada.net.

Tahoe Basin Fire Safe Council

In 1995, the Tahoe ReGreen Project was created to address the extraordinary threat of wildfire in the Basin. The project was successful for several years, but lost funding in 2001. Former leaders from the Tahoe ReGreen Project, namely local fire chiefs, met to determine how to continue the efforts of the Tahoe ReGreen Project. The solution was to create a fire safe council for the California portion of the Tahoe Basin that would serve as a counterpart to the Nevada Fire Safe Council.

The Tahoe Basin Fire Safe Council (TBFSC) will work to raise fire awareness, identify fire hazards, develop projects to reduce the hazards, and secure funding to complete the work. Future projects may include community fire plans, hazardous vegetation removal services, senior and disabled assistance programs, defensible space improvement programs, and many others.

Currently, the council’s Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) is getting the Council ready to reach out to the public. The committee is comprised of 13 members representing the City of South Lake Tahoe Fire Department, Lake Valley Fire Protection District, Meeks Bay Fire Protection District, North Tahoe Fire Protection District, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, USDA Forest Service, California Department of Parks and Recreation, League to Save Lake Tahoe, California Tahoe Conservancy, Kiwanis, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, Sierra Pacific Power Company, local businesses, and concerned homeowners.

The Tahoe Basin Fire Safe Council was made possible by the Community-based Wildfire Prevention Grants Program of the Sacramento Regional Foundation. The funding was provided to the Sacramento Regional Foundation by the Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management as part of the National Fire Plan. The plan was conceived as a result of the catastrophic 2000 fire season. It calls for increased management of private developed lands that interface with public forests. The grant and the Tahoe Basin Fire Safe Council are administered by the Tahoe Resource Conservation District.

Individuals or groups interested in becoming involved or learning more about the Tahoe Basin Fire Safe Council are encouraged to call Jennifer Arrowsmith, (530) 543-1501, Ext. 112, or e-mail
tahoebasinfiresafe@yahoo.com.

About the Nevada Fire Safe Council Executive Coordinator

Elwood L. Miller, Ph.D. has been a professional forester for nearly 40 years. His career spans timber management and fire suppression positions with the USDA Forest Service and 30 years as a forestry professor and administrator with the University of Nevada, Reno. While at UNR, Miller served as Associate Dean of the College of Agriculture and Associate Director of Cooperative Extension. He has received numerous recognitions and awards including the university’s highest teacher award and selection as one of 23 outstanding graduates in the 75-year history of Northern Arizona University. In January 2002 Miller accepted his current position as executive coordinator of the Nevada Fire Safe Council. In this role he is helping urban interface communities to increase their survivability in the face of a growing threat from wildfire.

About the Tahoe Basin Fire Safe Council Administrator

Jennifer Arrowsmith is a recent graduate of Cal Poly State University, where she earned a degree in Forestry and Natural Resources. Arrowsmith’s studies of forestry were supplemented by work experience as a student assistant for the Forestry Department Head, an intern for the Dean of Agriculture, and a forestry aid for 18 months with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF). In March 2003, Arrowsmith was selected to serve as the Tahoe Basin Fire Safe Council administrator. In this role, she is charged with the responsibility of providing management for activities related to the development and maintenance of the Tahoe Basin Fire Safe Council.

last modified: August 30 2004

Regulators Say Protecting Tahoe Basin from Fire a Priority
Of all the environmental threats facing the Lake Tahoe Basin, regulators now agree the greatest is fire. The governing board of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) told its staff in December 2003 to alter its work plan for the year to fund forest-thinning projects.

Since the bistate agency was created in 1969, many of its programs have concentrated on reducing motor vehicle emissions, erosion and runoff. But Coe Swobe, a former Nevada lawmaker who helped establish the agency and now serves as Nevada's at-large appointee to its governing board, said the top priority must be prevention of a catastrophic wildfire.

Carl Hasty, TRPA's deputy director, noted that a shift toward a wildfire emphasis "does not come without some cost" and said some programs that now are a priority might have to be temporarily sidelined.

In the Tahoe Basin, more than 8,300 acres along the boundary forests and urban areas are targeted by TRPA and other agencies for thinning, controlled burns or other fire prevention efforts. Over a five-year period, cost of such treatment would range between $16.6 million and $26.5 million. Previous thinning of dead, insect-ravaged stands of timber have taken place on federal land in Lake Tahoe's backcountry, but the new effort should focus on property closest to communities, much of it privately owned, Hasty said.

last modified: August 30 2004

Integrating Hazardous Fuel Reduction with Ecological Restoration
By John Cobourn

This year, an unprecedented number of natural resource managers and planners are working closely with Lake Tahoe’s fire protection districts to integrate fire prevention practices with efforts to restore the ecosystem of the Tahoe Basin. While public awareness of fire danger has been growing for years, last fall’s disastrous wildfires in suburban Southern California focused national attention on the need to address unsafe conditions in neighborhoods close to wildlands.

At Lake Tahoe, interagency groups have studied this issue since at least 1992, when the Forest Health Consensus Group began addressing the unnatural condition of Tahoe’s forests. There are two main reasons why Tahoe’s forests are unhealthy. First, the original old-growth forests at Lake Tahoe were systematically logged 1870 - 1900, to provide timber for the vast mine system constructed in Virginia City during the famous Comstock silver boom. After the clearcutting of Tahoe’s forests ended, the “second growth” forest that grew back had many small trees growing close together. As the forest matured over the next 100 years, the trees grew tall, but they were too densely stocked for all to remain healthy during periods of less than normal precipitation. During droughts such as the one of the late 1980s and early 1990s, the trees competed for scarce moisture. Many were too weak to resist attacks by bark beetles and other forest diseases. As a result, Tahoe forests have suffered from tree die-offs for the past decade.

The other factor causing unhealthy forest conditions has been our vigorous suppression of all wildfires for the past 100 years. Forest fires were relatively common at Tahoe before European-Americans arrived. They usually burned slowly along the forest floor, consuming dead branches and weak trees and shrubs, and leaving the large trees alive. These “low intensity” wildfires are actually good for our forest ecosystem. Our forest management agencies are reintroducing such fires each year as “controlled burns.” Such practices can clear out the high-hazard dead fuel that has accumulated on the forest floor for decades.

New Forest Management Plans Underway

In late 2003, after catastrophic wildfires decimated much of Southern California, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) Governing Board directed its staff to make forest thinning and fuels reduction projects a top priority. By February 2004, U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., and California Assemblyman Tim Leslie, R-Tahoe City, had requested a share of the Federal Healthy Forest Restoration Act money to fund increased forest thinning and prescribed burning projects at Lake Tahoe.

As part of this effort, TRPA is working closely with the fire protection districts in the basin to gather their input in the form of community fire plans, and to merge these plans into a basin-wide fire plan in the summer of 2004. The fire safe councils on the Nevada and California shores are working with the Lake Tahoe Environmental Education Coalition (LTEEC) and others to inform the public about these efforts and encourage public involvement in the plans.

What Residents Can Do at Home

What is good for the Tahoe community and environment at the forest level is also beneficial to private property owners. Wildfire experts have been encouraging homeowners for more than 10 years to implement defensible space practices around their structures to increase their “survivability” in a wildfire. This year more than ever, education about defensible space is being combined with education about best management practices (BMPs), which protect the lake’s water quality and ecosystem. Rather than making two separate plans that might not be totally consistent, homeowners will save money and time by planning and installing their BMPs and defensible space activities together.

Members of the Partners in Conservation (PIC) coalition, who assist private property owners in implementing BMPs, are currently meeting with fire protection districts to agree on ways to work together.

The Home Landscaping Guide for Lake Tahoe, which is given out free during site evaluations, has a detailed chapter on defensible space that makes the point that fire prevention is not at odds with erosion control practices. In the “lean, clean and green” space, extending 30 feet from structures, shrubs can be cut down without removing the roots. In addition low-growing, low-fire-hazard plants can be irrigated, and mulch and new plants can cover bare soil. For people who want to maintain a small patch of turf, this is the best place for it. A one-inch to two-inch layer of pine or fir needles can be left on bare ground as a mulch to decay over time. Property managers should never rake all needles, leaving only bare soil, as this creates a serious erosion hazard. However, within 5 feet of structures, fire districts recommend use of a noncombustible mulch, such as gravel or river rock.

Why Integrate Fire Prevention and Water Quality Protection?

We should educate people to look at several issues at once. If we fail to address the hazardous fuel loading in our forests, the basin could be ravaged by a high intensity wildfire that could kill most of the trees for thousands of acres. Such a catastrophic wildfire could also burn many homes and lead to a large increase of polluted runoff into the lake. Nobody wants to see that happen. On the other hand, there is also a danger that if we become too intensely focused on fire prevention, we could lose sight of the need to restore the whole ecosystem at Tahoe. If we pour all our money into fuel reduction, even far away from our neighborhoods, we could actually reduce valuable wildlife habitat. If we remove too much vegetative ground cover and rake pine needles down to bare soil, we will create polluted runoff that flows down our street drains to degrade the lake.

For homeowners, one reason to combine defensible space and BMP education is the practicality of addressing both needs at once. If you can combine the installation of required BMPs with the installation of effective defensible space around your home, you can save time, trouble and money. There are agencies to help make this process easy for you. To request a free BMP site evaluation, you can call the Tahoe Resource Conservation District, (530) 543-1501, ext.6; or the Nevada Tahoe Conservation District, (775) 786-7223, ext.1. For commercial or multi-family residential properties, call the Erosion Control Team, (775)588-4547, ext. 202.

last modified: August 30 2004

Healthy Forests
California Assemblyman Tim Leslie and U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein met on March 13 with Tahoe officials to discuss ways to receive a portion of $700 million of federal money from President Bush's Healthy Forest Restoration Act. The act, signed into law by Bush in December 2003, reduces the threat of wildfires through project planning, prescribed burning and forest thinning.

The Lake Tahoe Community College forum was the first major step toward obtaining significant funding to make the Lake Tahoe Basin fire-safe. The first phase of the fire-management action plan is due Aug. 1. The plan, financed by a $660,000 grant from the Bureau of Reclamation, will assess the basin's fire risks. The only assessments in the works are for South Lake Tahoe and Incline Village. The second phase, due in March 2005, involves education and the construction of fire-safe homes.

After being called to action by members of the U.S. Congress, fire officials agreed to produce wildfire community protection plans for the Lake Tahoe Basin by August. The community plans are a key step in preventing a catastrophic wildfire like the ones that occurred in Southern California. Such a fire would threaten lives, homes and millions of dollars of environmental restoration work to protect the health and clarity of Lake Tahoe.

The forum, organized by Leslie and Feinstein, drew about 175 people to Lake Tahoe Community College. The purpose of the gathering was to energize the process of creating the community plans so they're ready before the Lake Tahoe Environmental Summit, typically organized in August. With the plans, Tahoe can be one of the first places in the nation in line to receive a portion of the $760 million to be provided through the Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2003.

last modified: August 30 2004

Community invited to Fire Plan Meetings
Tahoe-area citizens and leaders are encouraged to attend public meetings regarding the fire plans that will be written for the Fallen Leaf Fire Department and the North Tahoe, Meeks Bay and Lake Valley fire protection districts. During the meetings, officials from Davey Resource Group (DRG) will present an overview of the fire plan project, methodology to be used, and a summary of what will be included in each district's plan. DRG and its subcontractor, Native Communities Development Corp., will design and conduct a wildfire risk and hazard assessment and mitigation plan for each fire district. The final product will include assessments and mitigation proposals for the areas and adjacent public lands within the districts. Project officials are seeking citizen input, concerns and expectations for the fire plans.

Public input is critical to the creation of fire plans that will benefit each fire district. The second round of public meetings are scheduled for July 8, 9 and 10 (see Calendar Pages 7 - 8). The final public meetings, during which the final version of the fire plans will be presented, are tentatively planned for Aug. 2 and 3. For more information, contact Susan DiMauro, public information officer, Davey Resource Group, (505) 681-2358, or Jennifer Arrowsmith, Tahoe Basin Fire Safe Council, (530) 543-1501, ext. 112.

last modified: August 30 2004

Lake Tahoe is Losing Water Clarity
Lake Tahoe waters have been losing transparency at an average of about one foot each year since the late 1960s.

Lake Tahoe’s exceptional clarity is a result of the absence of suspended sediment and free-floating, single-celled algae in the water. Given undisturbed conditions, the lake’s water quality would change so slowly the changes would be undetectable over a human lifetime. Human settlements and logging activities that began in the late 1880s have contributed to the rapidly declining clarity. Lake Tahoe’s clarity has decreased by more than 33 percent since the 1960s and is steadily declining at the rate of one foot a year. Scientists say that the rate of water quality deterioration at Lake Tahoe has been steady for so long it may become irreversible in 10 years.

Lake Tahoe’s water quality problems are not caused by industry or by wastewater treatment plants. The causes of water pollution are the daily activities of the thousands of residents and visitors in the Lake Tahoe watershed. We all need to learn to reduce our impact on the environment—impacts like erosion, over-fertilization, spills, leaks, and disturbances of soils and stream environment zones.

last modified: December 27 2005

Fish Species of the Lake Tahoe Basin
Lake Tahoe Report #151
January 9, 2006
By John Cobourn and Heather Segale

In terms of lakes, Tahoe is a relatively harsh environment for fish. It was cutoff from other bodies of water many thousands of years ago, so as it evolved, only seven species of fish evolved in it. However, since the introduction of humans and human intervention at Lake Tahoe, that number has changed.

According to Brant Allen, fisheries biologist with the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center, “The original native game fish was the Lahontan cutthroat trout, which is no longer in the lake. But, there are still six native species of fish swimming in Tahoe.” The Lahontan cutthroat trout, named for the distinctive red streak under its chin, once topped Lake Tahoe’s food chain and weighed as much as 40 pounds. This fish thrived in the Tahoe Basin and migrated the length of the Truckee River between Tahoe and Pyramid Lake.

The native fish that still survive in Lake Tahoe include:

· The mountain whitefish (Prosopium willaimsoni) is Lake Tahoe’s only native game fish. It lives near the bottom to a depth of about 100 feet.

· The Lahontan redside shiner (Richardsonius egregious) is a native minnow that is abundant in the shallow shorezone and can usually be seen in large numbers around marinas and rock crib piers. It grows to 3 to 4 inches long.

· The Lahontan speckled dace (Rhinichthys osculus) is another native minnow that grows to about 2 to 3 inches long. It is difficult to find, as it seeks the cover of rocky substrate on the bottom of the lake.

· The tui chub (Gila bicolor) is a bottom-oriented chub that feeds on zooplankton or sediments on the bottom of the lake.

· The Tahoe sucker (Catostomus tahoensis) is a bottom feeder that grows to about 16 inches long.

· The Paiute sculpin (Cottus beldingi) grows to about 3 inches long. It lives under rocks and is rarely observed in less than 10 feet of water.

The native Lahontan cutthroat trout went extinct in Lake Tahoe in 1939, due in part to overfishing, competition with nonnative species, and the development of dams. In particular, Derby Dam below Reno and Sparks and the Tahoe Outlet Dam in Tahoe City isolated the Tahoe population of cutthroat trout from other populations within the historic range.

Beginning in the late 1800s, when the effects of human environmental changes had reduced the numbers of Lahontan cutthroat in the lake, humans began introducing nonnative fish species in hopes of increasing Tahoe’s yield of game fish. These introductions included lake trout from the Great Lakes, Chinook salmon, Atlantic salmon, golden trout, Arctic grayling, Great Lakes whitefish, brook trout, brown trout, and rainbow trout. Of these fish species, the lake trout, brown trout, brook trout, and rainbow trout were able to establish self-supporting populations in the Tahoe Basin.

In the 20th century, additional introductions of nonnative invertebrates and fish further altered the Tahoe Basin ecosystem. Using the best available science at the time, exotic species were introduced with the intention of adding a recreational component or supporting an existing fishery. Unfortunately, not all of the species behaved as expected in the clear, cold waters of the Tahoe Basin.

After 70 years of alteration, the aquatic ecosystem now supports nonnative lake trout (Mackinaw) as the top predator. They are accompanied by rainbow trout, brown trout and kokanee salmon, providing multiple recreational fishing opportunities for shallow and deep-line anglers. The native Lahontan cutthroat trout is now among the most endangered western salmonids. Fortunately, as noted above, the other six native Tahoe fish species have survived the planned exotic introductions and continue to thrive within the Tahoe Basin.

In recent years, new threats to Tahoe’s remaining native fish have arisen. A number of warm-water fish species have been illegally introduced to Lake Tahoe, including largemouth and smallmouth bass, crappie, and sunfish. While these fish are typically associated with warm-water environments, their populations are able to grow and spread within the Tahoe Basin. Taking advantage of seasonally warm water in bays and marinas, the fish feed on native minnows and successfully spawn.

Scientists from University of California Davis and University of Nevada Reno plan to study the potential expansion of these species, and with help from the USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, implement a plan for their control. “The warm-water invasive species appear to pose a great risk to Tahoe’s remaining native species,” states Brant Allen a research biologist for UC Davis. “Their ability to consume large numbers of fish and the apparent overlap with native minnow spawning areas is a big concern.”

Warm-water fish invasions are not new to California. Nearby Lake Davis continues to experience problems resulting from the illegal introduction of northern pike, a voracious predator. Controlling the spread of similar species in the Tahoe Basin could go a long way to preserving native fish and assist the recovery of Tahoe’s once great Lahontan cutthroat trout.

The Lake Tahoe Report is a collaboration between John Cobourn, Water Resource Specialist with University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, and Heather Segale, Education and Outreach Coordinator for the University of California, Davis. For more information, contact Heather Segale, (530) 583-3279, or logon to www.lteec.org, www.tahoe.unr.edu, or terc.ucdavis.edu.

last modified: January 10 2006

Bald Eagle Viewing More Likely During the Winter
Lake Tahoe Report #153
January 23, 2006
By Heather Segale and John Cobourn

Sighting a bald eagle is a magnificent experience, especially after the bald eagle’s near extinction in the not-so-distant past. The bald eagle population fell to endangered levels of less than 500 pairs in the early 1960s due to hunting, habitat loss and contamination of waterways and food sources by various pollutants and pesticides, most notably DDT.

There was a similar drop in eagle populations at Lake Tahoe during the late 1980s, when the two nest sites in the basin were both inactive. There are usually only one or two pairs of bald eagles in the Tahoe Basin during the summer. However, during the winter, bald eagles migrate to Tahoe because it is more temperate than Alaska and Canada. According to wildlife biologist Stewart McMorrow, “as many as 20 eagles have been counted in the Tahoe Basin during the winter months.”

Bald eagles live near large bodies of open water, such as lakes, marshes, seacoasts and rivers, where there are plenty of fish to eat and tall trees for nesting and roosting. Bald eagles feed primarily on fish, but also eat small animals, such as ducks, coots, muskrats, turtles, rabbits, and snakes. Occasionally, they also eat dead animals. They are a kind of predator called raptors. They swoop down to seize fish in their powerful, long and sharp talons. They exert approximately 1,000 pounds of pressure per square inch in each foot. They can carry their food off in flight, but can only lift about half their weight. Bald eagles can fly at speeds of about 65 miles per hour in level flight, and up to 150 or 200 miles per hour in a dive.

Bald eagles are monogamous and mate for life. A Bald eagle will only select another mate if its faithful companion dies. They build large nests, called eyries, at the top of sturdy, tall trees. The nests become larger as the eagles return to breed and add new nesting materials year after year. Bald eagles make their new nests an average of 2 feet deep and 5 feet wide. Eventually, some nests become 10 feet wide and weigh several tons. When a nest is destroyed by natural causes, it is often rebuilt nearby. Bald eagles line their nests with twigs, soft mosses, grasses and feathers.

The female lays one to three eggs each spring, which hatch after about 35 days of incubation. Feathers of newly hatched bald eaglets are light grey, and turn dark brown before they leave the nest in about 12 weeks. When they are 3 or 4 years old, bald eagles have mottled brown and white feathers under their wings and on their heads, tails and breasts. The distinctive white head and tail feathers do not appear until they are about 4 to 5 years old. Their beaks and eyes also turn from dark brown to yellow during this time.

Bald eagles are about 29 to 42 inches long, can weigh 7 to 15 pounds, and have a wingspan of 6 to 8 feet. This makes them one of the largest birds in North America. Females are larger than males, but both have white heads and tail feathers and yellow beaks.

The bald eagle is our national symbol, so when it became threatened with extinction in the 1960s, people took notice. Strong endangered species and environmental protection laws, as well as active private, state and federal conservation efforts, have brought back the bald eagle population from the edge of extinction in the United States. The use of DDT pesticide is now outlawed in the United States, which has contributed greatly to the return of the bald eagle to America's skies. There are now over 5,000 nesting pairs and 20,000 total birds in the lower 48 states. There are over 35,000 bald eagles in Alaska.

There are several other common raptors living at least part of the year in the Lake Tahoe Basin. One of the most common is the osprey, which is somewhat similar in appearance to the bald eagle, having white markings on its head and throat and a dark brown back and tail. It also preys mostly on fish. Most nests that you see in the Tahoe Basin are osprey nests. Sometimes eagles will steal freshly caught fish from the slightly smaller ospreys.

Forest hawks, which do not fish for food, include the sharp-shinned hawk, the Cooper’s hawk, and the northern goshawk. Such raptors are called accipiters. Other raptors in the Basin include the merlin, the great horned owl, the western screech owl, the flammulated owl, the northern Pigmy owl, the northern Saw-whet owl, and the rare California spotted owl. Red tail hawks also frequent Tahoe, and peregrine falcons sometimes pass through the region.

For more information about the birds of the Tahoe Basin, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/ltbmu/recreation/wildlife/birds.shtml.

The Lake Tahoe Report is a collaboration between John Cobourn, Water Resource Specialist with University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, and Heather Segale, Education and Outreach Coordinator for the University of California, Davis. For more information, contact Heather Segale, (530) 583-3279, or logon to www.lteec.org, www.tahoe.unr.edu, or terc.ucdavis.edu.

last modified: January 23 2006

Pine Needles: To Rake Or Not To Rake
The local fire chiefs and water quality experts have found common ground regarding the pine needle mulch issue in Lake Tahoe. While the threat of wildfire is real, raking your property down to bare soil can create ideal conditions for wind and water erosion, which threaten the clarity of Lake Tahoe. As a compromise, the following suggestions provide for adequate defensible space and best management practices:

* In areas more than 2 feet away from the base of the house, reduce thick layers of pine needles and leaves to a depth of 1 inch to 2 inches. Greater accumulations of pine needles and leaves create an unacceptable fire risk. Reducing the pine needles and leaves to less than a 1-inch layer may make the underlying bare soil more vulnerable to erosion. Take care to avoid disturbing the “duff layer” (the dark area at the ground surface where needles and leaves are decomposing) if present. Pine needles, especially the dark, moist layer found underneath, hold the healthy topsoil on your property, which helps plants grow, conserves water, fights disease and keeps your landscaping looking great!

* Do not allow any pine needles or leaves to accumulate within 2 feet of the house or under decks. Consider using inorganic (rock) mulches or planting low fire hazard vegetation to cover bare ground in these areas.

* Remove pine needles and leaves from roofs, rain gutters, decks, driveways, lawns, flower beds, and other areas where doing so does not result in exposing bare soil. Also, remove dead needles, leaves and branches that are still attached to living trees and shrubs and are within 15 feet of the ground.

last modified: July 8 2002

Defensible Space, Are You Prepared?
What is defensible space? What can you do to make your home defendable from wildfire? Are you prepared?

Defensible space is the area between a house and an oncoming wildfire where the vegetation has been modified to reduce the wildfire threat and to provide an opportunity for firefighters to effectively defend the house. Sometimes, a defensible space is simply a homeowner’s properly maintained backyard.

As more of us are building our homes nestled in the pine trees to enjoy the beauty of the environment and get away from city life, it has become increasingly important to take responsibility for the surroundings in which we live. Because we have chosen to live in the forest, we need to respect and maintain it. We need to keep it healthy and work to improve the forest around us.

Before wildfire threatens, design and landscape your home with wildfire safety in mind. Select materials and plants that can help contain fire rather than fuel it. Use fire resistant or non-combustible materials on the roof and exterior structure of the dwelling. Plant fire-resistant shrubs and trees. For more information on fire-safe landscaping, refer to “Home Landscaping Guide for Lake Tahoe and Vicinity” and “Living With Fire” published by University of Nevada Cooperative Extension.

The Three R’s of Defensible Space:

* Removal—elimination of entire plants, particularly trees and shrubs (such as cutting down a dead tree)

* Reduction—removal of plant parts, such as branches or leaves (pruning dead wood, removing low tree branches, and raking dry pine needles)

* Replacement—replacing hazardous vegetation with less flammable plants

last modified: July 8 2002

The Fire Safe Council
The Fire Safe Council, a coalition of public and private sector organizations, was developed with the mission to preserve our natural and manmade resources by enlisting all community members to make their homes, neighborhoods and communities fire safe. The Council works to meet this goal by combining the expertise, resources and distribution channels of its members.

Many wildland ecosystems are fire dependent; they need fire to survive. Fire thins the vegetation, giving plants room to grow. It cracks seed casings and replenishes the soil, allowing new life to thrive. Learning to live with fire means protecting our community assets from potential wildfire damage.

A Fire Safe Council can:

• Mobilize people in the community who stand to lose something of value in a fire.
  
• Create a powerful group initiative.
  
• Save lives, property and money from the effects of wildfire.
  

Local councils have made their communities safer places to live by:

• Developing an emergency preparedness plan for the community before a wildfire occurs. This proactive measure minimizes loss of life, property, homes businesses, natural and historic areas, and other valuable assets at risk of being destroyed by wildfire.
  
• Providing an opportunity for community residents and organizations to voice concerns about public safety issues and protecting economic interests in the community.
  
• Increasing the chances that homes in the community will continue to be insured. Insurance companies assess the potential liability of a community’s ability to survive a wildfire before writing insurance policies. In some areas, Fire Safe Councils have involved insurers in increasing community safety, which has resulted in continued commitments by insurance companies to keep their business in town.
  

For more information contact:
www.firewise.org (FireWise)
www.cafirealliance.org (California Fire Alliance)
www.firesafecouncil.org (National Fire Safe Council)

last modified: June 20 2003

Tahoe Basin Community Wildfire Protection Plans, California side
Tahoe Basin Community Wildfire Protection Plans, California side, are now available at http://www.geoarchsciences.com/catahoe/plan.htm.

last modified: March 28 2005

Why Are Trees Dying Along Our Roads?
Increased levels of tree mortality, primarily Jeffrey pines, Ponderosa pines and white fir, became evident along state highways in the Lake Tahoe Basin and surrounding areas during this spring and summer. “Although roadside vegetation tends to suffer similar damage every winter, the number of affected trees appears to be higher than in recent years, and they are located for the most part within 50 feet of the highways. The high visibility of the affected trees has caused widespread concern among the public and government agencies operating at Lake Tahoe,” said John Christopherson, forest protection specialist, Nevada Division of Forestry.

There is currently some debate on what is causing the widespread tree damage and mortality in the Tahoe Basin. Shouhua Wang, Ph.D., plant pathologist, Nevada Department of Agriculture, believes that some type of pine needle blight may be killing the trees. “Pine needle blight is found everywhere in the northern part of Nevada. All symptoms are the same, a red or brown band forms starting from the middle part of the needles, and then needles die from the band to the needle tip,” reported Wang.

Since so many of the dying trees are along state highways, some people suspect that the damage is from use of road salt or brine. However, drought conditions, road salt, insect attack, a fungal infection or a combination of these could be causing the problem. Christopherson notes that “the Lake Tahoe region experienced the third driest year on record two years ago,” and he suspects that “this is a highly significant contributor to observed tree damage and mortality.” The Nevada Division of Forestry is currently working with the Nevada Department of Agriculture and Nevada Division of Transportation (NDOT) to study the phenomenon.

last modified: October 14 2002

Fire Safe Councils Come to Lake Tahoe
The recent devastating fire seasons of 1999, 2000 and 2001 have caused a growing recognition that the threat of wildfire to human life and property has been escalating rapidly. Increasing the survivability of communities faced with a growing wildfire threat is the aim of the Fire Safe Council.

Fire Safe Councils have recently been formed on both the Nevada and California sides of the Tahoe Basin. Functioning in ways similar to the former “Tahoe Regreen” project, the Fire Safe Councils will help to organize local community chapters to explore how communities can better protect themselves and increase their chances of surviving a wildfire. The Council’s role is to help interested community groups accomplish necessary pre-fire activities including assessing hazards and risks, developing action plans, and securing funding to implement defensible space and hazard reduction projects. The Nevada and California chapters plan to work in a cooperative and coordinated manner.

In Nevada, Dr. Elwood Miller is the coordinator of the Nevada Fire Safe Council. If you have questions or would like to learn more please contact Miller, (775) 322-2413, or email firesafe@renonevada.net.
In California, a grant was recently awarded to the Tahoe Resource Conservation District to fund a California Fire Safe Council in the Tahoe Basin. Tim Oliver will be administering the grant and a coordinator will be hired. Contact Tim Oliver, (530) 573-2756, for more information.

last modified: October 14 2002

Home Landscaping Guide for Lake Tahoe and Vicinity
The second edition of the Home Landscaping Guide for Lake Tahoe and Vicinity is now available. This edition has been revised to include information about the new pine needle mulch recommendations and new Best Management Practice (BMP) technologies. (The book is essentially the same as the first edition, so if you already have a copy, you do not need to get a new one.) The book is available for a donation of $5 at TRPA, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, Conservation Districts, League to Save Lake Tahoe, and most local nurseries. You can receive a free copy as part of a free BMP site evaluation by calling (775) 588-4547, Ext. 202, or (530) 573-2754.

The Home Landscaping Guide for Lake Tahoe and Vicinity is the result of two years of collaboration between Cooperative Extension, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, the Resource Conservation Districts and others. The book helps homeowners design landscapes, control erosion, maintain native vegetation and wildlife habitat, improve soil and irrigate efficiently. It contains suggested plan lists, pest-management tips and defensible space practices to protect homes from wildfire. The book is a major component of Cooperative Extension's Tahoe Landscaping and Backyard Conservation Program, which includes workshops for professionals, block meetings with information on good landscape management techniques and Master Gardener volunteer activities.

"We hope this guide helps homeowners achieve their individual landscape goals, while encouraging them to implement appropriate landscape practices that preserve the lake's unique environment," said John Cobourn, water resource specialist and principle author.

Don’t Forget Fall Landscape Maintenance (Excerpted from the Home Landscaping Guide for Lake Tahoe and Vicinity)


- Good fall garden cleanup is the best way to prevent disease and insect problems next year.

- Fertilize and plant – Ornamental plants will benefit from light fertilization after they go dormant. This encourages healthy root production. This is also a good time to plant trees, shrubs and perennials.

- What to prune – Prune evergreen trees and shrubs, and summer flowering deciduous plants if needed.

- Protect your plants for winter – Mulch plants to conserve moisture. Protect all plants from heavy snow coming off roofs, decks and driveways.

- Prepare garden equipment for winter storage.

- Keep garden records – This helps you plan next year’s garden.

last modified: October 14 2002

BMP Workshops
Best Management Practices, designed to prevent nutrient and sediment loading in the Lake, are required on all commercial properties, on the public roadways, and yes, even on our own private property. Erosion control scientists continue to monitor and re-evaluate the most effective means for controlling stormwater runoff, forever in search of even BETTER Best Management Practices. Alternatives to infiltration trenches which displace less soil, are more effective in controlling stormwater runoff, are less labor intensive for installation, and that are much easier to maintain are available. LTEEC partner agencies such as the Nevada Tahoe Conservation District (NTCD), Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) and Tahoe Resource Conservation District (TRCD), offer workshops on Best Management Practices or BMPs.

last modified: October 27 2003