Lake Aloha in Desolation Wilderness is at 50 percent capacity and will continue to be drained for use downstream. Photos/Kathryn Reed

By Kathryn Reed

The water level of so many Sierra lakes is anything but natural. That’s because of dams and the needs of water users downstream. This in turn affects those who use these water bodies for recreation.

As the fourth year of one of the worst droughts in California’s history drags on, the impact will become more pronounced as spring turns into summer.

There was significant legislation in 1914 that established rights that are still in effect today and have been brought to light because of the drought.

It was in 1925 that the El Dorado Irrigation District was formed. The voters did so “to protect water filings, ensure a secure water supply, keep irrigation rates reasonable, and increase the value of agricultural lands,” according to EID’s website.

Today, EID has 39,775 water customers, 21,498 sewer and 4,678 recycled water. The number of actual people, as opposed to households or businesses being served, is about 118,000.

Silver Lake is almost full thanks to the rain in May.

Balancing needs

While those customers are on the West Slope, much of the water they use is from the Sierra – Lake Aloha, Echo Lake, Caples Lake and Silver Lake. They are storage facilities for EID for water consumption as well as the hydroelectric plant.

Water from these lakes goes into the South Fork of the American River, is diverted at Kyburz and then at Pollock Pines is rerouted again to the hydroelectric plant or for drinking water customers.

EID, though, doesn’t have complete control over its water. Rules are in place that mandate minimum stream flow into the South Fork of the American River. However, EID received a one-time variance that goes through the end of this month to limit that flow.

“This measure was to help us to ensure we can deliver our drinking water supply. We want to have water in the reservoirs so we have stream releases throughout the year,” Brian Deason, EID hydroelectric analyst, told Lake Tahoe News. “We want water next year, with enough storage in the event we have another drought year. We are positioning to respond to that.”

These four lakes are also popular recreation destinations for those who live in the Lake Tahoe Basin and visit the region.

“Drinking water needs take precedence over recreation needs by far,” Greg Hawkins, EID parks and recreation manager, told Lake Tahoe News. He is also in charge of Jenkinson Lake at Sly Park.

Still, Hawkins predicts the waterways EID oversees will be in better shape than reservoirs down stream, much like what occurred last year when Folsom Lake was so low and people headed east to EID’s lakes.

Saving water for human consumption outweighs all other needs – even making money off the hydroelectric operations, which in some years generates $14 million for EID. That is why Jenkinson Lake at Sly Park has fared well during the drought. EID is diverting water there for consumption and having less go to the South Fork for the 20-megawatt hydroelectric plant.

EID bought Jenkinson from the Bureau of Reclamation in 2003. Had it not done so, the state would be able to tap that water at will.

The boat shuttle at Echo Lake is operating now, but may have to stop if levels drop again.

Tahoe area lakes

“At Silver, Caples and Echo the outlook is a lot better than it previously was. Some of these recent storms really helped,” Deason said.

He said Silver is near capacity and that Caples is a few thousand acre-feet from full. (An acre-foot covers an acre with water to a depth of 1 foot.)

Recreation sites at these two lakes off Highway 88 opened May 1. EID regulates the day-use areas and campgrounds, has rights to the water, but does not regulate those lakes. In other words, if unsafe conditions were to exist, it would be up to Alpine County officials for Caples and Amador County officials for Silver to make those decisions.

At Echo Lake the use of water by EID is much less – usually three weeks after Labor Day water is diverted into the South Fork.

EID has no say over any recreation activities at Echo. Operators of the boat shuttle are on a storm-by-storm watch in regards to whether the upper lake will be reached. Today the boat can make it through the channel, whereas earlier this month it couldn’t. Smaller boats, and human powered vessels, have not been hindered by the flow.

Lake Aloha is a different animal than Caples, Silver and Echo lakes because it is governed by post-1914 rules. Aloha spills forth and is what makes Horsetail Falls. It then goes to the South Fork for EID purposes. Deason said Aloha is at 50 percent capacity and will only keep getting lower.

The four Sierra lakes fall under Project 184 of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The first 50-year license was issued to PG&E in 1922. EID took over the system in 1999. Until that time, EID bought water from PG&E. EID has a FERC lease that expires Oct. 1, 2046.

EID, like all water districts in the state, must curtail its use. Twenty-eight percent from 2013 totals is the magic number. Officials believe this will be met by reducing outdoor use. Last year EID cut its use by 24 percent.

The EID board meets May 26  to consider the staff recommendation to continue the restricted irrigation to two days per week. As of April 22, the most recent figures available, the district was at a 15 percent savings this year.

“This will limit customer confusion by conveying to customers that instead of changing to odd/even starting June 1, they simply must continue their current irrigation practices of watering no more than two days per week throughout the summer and fall. We went to twice a week water schedule on April 16 and if the board does not change the published schedule, it will go to the odd/even schedule on June 1, three days a week,” Mary Lynn Carlton, district spokeswoman, said.

By Paola Soto, San Diego Union-Tribune

The idea of attending college is frightening for some high school students. But the possibility of being exposed to the college atmosphere while still in high school can be rewarding.

My junior year at Kearny High School, I was given the opportunity to enroll in a three-unit course per semester at Mesa College. I was able to take three college classes over three semesters. I finished my high school course work a semester early and during the second semester of my senior year, I was able to attend Mesa as a full-time college student enrolled in 12 units. I was a full-time college student before receiving my high school diploma.

I received one spot out of a total of 100 available to the Kearny High campus for the Fast Track partnership program with Mesa. The students are selected on a GPA basis and the counselors decide which students are ready for the rigorous coursework. As Erica Heinzman, AVID teacher from Kearny High School, stated, “Our first priority is always to have the students graduate from high school.”

When I graduated from Kearny in June 2013, I received my high school diploma and had already completed 21 units at Mesa College.

Before even attending my first college class at Mesa College, I learned about applying to a community college, registration dates, registering for a course, the price of college textbooks and the effort necessary to be successful in a college classroom. I knew where and how to look for resources.

Read the whole story

Carolyn Slupsky of the UC Davis Departments of Nutrition and Food Science & Technology will give a free talk June 11 at 6pm at the Tahoe Science Center in Incline Village.

Diet can have considerable effects on the gut microbiome and overall metabolism, and its quality has been linked with overall health. Slupsky will describe how diet can impact the gut microbiome, and how the microbes in our gut can influence our health.

Cost is $5. A no-host bar opens at 5:30pm. The talk is at 291 Country Club Drive in Incline Village.

By Zócalo

Summer is a time of familiar comforts: the scent of sunscreen and the feeling of sand between toes, the taste of Bomb Pops and the sight of long, late, orange sunsets. But with the multiplexes filled with sequels, reboots, and retreads, and the beginning of a long election season crowded with familiar names, don’t you think something original is in order? In the spirit of getting out of our comfort zones this summer and taking a crack at something new, we asked recent Zócalo guests for the fresh and forthcoming nonfiction books they think curious people should bring to the beach, pool, bar, and porch this summer.

“Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People” by Elizabeth A. Fenn

This book is for all readers who think that we don’t have enough evidence to tell the histories of Native American peoples. Fenn counteracts that view with a marvelously deft history that weaves together resources as disparate as textual evidence, folkloric traditions, and climate science. The book fills long-lived holes in our collective understanding of the experience of Native American peoples on this continent.

— Danielle Allen, author of “Our Declaration and Institute for Advanced Study”,political philosopher

“Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America” by Jill Leovy

This is what the best nonfiction should be, and why a great true story will always trump an amazing novel. There’s savage, whip-smart, acid prose, iconic characters, and a driving narrative, but underlying that is a deeply argued, impeccably researched, gut-wrenching look at the tragic and flawed injustice at the core of violence in black America. A must read, but also a thoroughly enjoyable one.

— David Sax, author of “The Tastemakers”

“The Wright Brothers” by David McCullough

As always, McCullough is terrific at describing the personal and social side of important historical events.

— Robert D. Putnam, author of “Our Kids” and “Bowling Alone”, and Harvard University political scientist

“Everything You Ever Wanted: A Memoir” by Jillian Lauren

“Everything You Ever Wanted” is, in brief, about an adoptee who adopts a baby herself, but like all the best memoirs, it’s both personal and universal. It expands outward to encompass so many experiences and feelings we all share: love, loyalty, struggles with the past, what it means to take a profound and longed-for risk. Lauren is fierce and funny and unsparingly frank, and this book crackles with pain, love, truth, joy, and an abundance of excellent writing.

— Kate Christensen, author of “Blue Plate Special”

“The Prize: Who’s in Charge of America’s Schools?” by Dale Russakoff

Russakoff offers a rare window inside urban school reform in an age of unprecedented investment — but precarious-at-best community support.

— Elizabeth Green, author of “Building a Better Teacher”

“It’s a Long Story: My Life” by Willie Nelson

As a music journalist, I’ve interviewed Willie Nelson a few times — and yes, one of those times was on his tour bus. He was a candid and captivating storyteller, a warm-hearted outlaw with a unique perspective on his life as a singer, songwriter, and activist. And so first on my list of summer beach reads is his new autobiography. We all know Willie’s music, but equally interesting are his musical journey and his boundary-pushing, from bucking the established Nashville Sound of the ’60s to his current crusade to legalize marijuana.

— Denise Quan, entertainment journalist and producer

“The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History” by Elizabeth Kolbert

This book should be required reading in schools, the U.N., the IMF, the Chinese Politburo, and everywhere else. Kolbert knows her stuff—hard-edged, data-driven science! — and she writes swimmingly well.

— Ann Louise Bardach, author of “Without Fidel”

“Even This I Get to Experience” by Norman Lear

It’s moving, funny, beautifully written, and it spans show biz, politics, history, and dysfunctional families. Bonus: If you get the audio version, Lear recorded it — and he’s a terrific performer.

— Marty Kaplan, USC communications scholar and Jewish Journal columnist

Spain: The Centre of the World 1519-1682 by Robert Goodwin

As an artist whose work is highly involved with Mexican history and culture, I have been trying to fill in my historical gaps on the history of Spain. After recently reading “Dogs of God: Columbus, the Inquisition, and the Defeat of the Moors“ by Edward Reston, I have been searching for another book that picks up the thread. I’ve already pre-ordered “Spain: The Center of the World 1519-1682” by Robert Goodwin, which will be published in July. The book picks by where Reston left off and examines the Golden Age of Spain and its supremacy in Transatlantic exploration.

— Judithe Hernández, muralist

“Pig Tales: An Omnivore’s Quest for Sustainable Meat” by Barry Estabrook

“The Chain: Farm, Factory and the Fate of Our Food” by Ted Genoways

“Every Twelve Seconds: Industrialized Slaughter and the Politics of Sight” by Timothy Pachirat

 These three books about meat/processing plants/pigs are wonderful reads (doesn’t sound like it, right?). In order of easier to take to gutsier (sorry):

In “Pig Tales”, Estabrook takes an engaging look at the pig — its wild and domestic origins and our relationship with it on small sustainable farms — and focuses a critical eye on our large industrial “factories.”

In the absorbing “The Chain”, Genoways focuses on five Hormel plants. It’s hard to underplay how riveting this tale of line workers, union leaders, hog farmers, local politicians, and activists is. You will never eat Spam again.

And in “Every Twelve Seconds“, which began as a doctoral thesis, Pachirat goes undercover as an employee in a large slaughterhouse to investigate how the workers are affected by the seen and the unseen. It’s a fantastic read.

— Evan Kleiman, host of KCRW’s “Good Food”

By James MacLeod

World War I was one of the most destructive events in human history, killing about 16 million soldiers and civilians worldwide, including 116,000 Americans. It did more than just destroy lives. It destroyed confidence in progress, prosperity, and the rationality of civilized society, perhaps the most treasured characteristic of the 19th century.

The Great War also arguably destroyed much of the next generation: those who would have provided leadership to Europe in the dark days of the 1920s and 1930s, when once again the continent began sliding towards annihilation.

World War I also happens to be the most spectacularly memorialized war in history. In Britain alone, there are more than 50,000 war memorials. What many may not know is that three of the greatest World War I memorials in the world are located in the Midwestern United States: in St Louis, Kansas City, and Indianapolis.

The Soldiers’ Memorial Museum, in the heart of downtown St. Louis, is a huge and deeply impressive building dedicated in 1936 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a memorial to the 1,075 men from St. Louis who died in World War I. The memorial is spectacular — all mosaics and marble, with terrazzo floors and four huge Bedford stone sculptures entitled Loyalty, Vision, Courage, and Sacrifice.

The memorial’s centerpiece is a vast black granite cenotaph – Greek for “empty tomb” – covered with names of the fallen, in neat row upon neat row. It is a classical temple in some ways, full of symbolic carved figures, symbols of victory, with a huge empty tomb at its core.

The second impressive World War I site in the Midwest is the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, which broke ground in 1921 and was dedicated on Nov. 11 (Armistice Day), 1926. It was the result of a remarkable design competition, and an even-more remarkable fundraising campaign. In less than a year, $2.5 million had been raised through donations from more than 83,000 contributors.

The winner of the international design contest for the structure was Harold Van Buren Magonigle, a distinguished American architect. It is centered on a 268-foot-tall tower that dominated – and still dominates — the skyline of this part of the city. At the top of Van Buren’s structure are four symbolic “guardians,” each standing at 40 feet high, entitled Honor, Courage, Patriotism, and Sacrifice.

A “flame of inspiration” burns from the tower each evening. Below this is the “Great Frieze,” which depicts the optimistic story of humanity’s march from an era of war to an era of peace. The sculpture, created by Great War veteran Edmond Amateis, runs about 488 feet long and is 48 feet tall.

The names of the 441 Kansas City war dead are listed inside of one of the two temple-like buildings that sit on either side of the tower. Outside, we see Kansas City’s version of the cenotaph – two empty cinerary urns, which would in antiquity have contained the ashes of the dead, flank the entrance of both buildings. And there are also two huge sphinxes: “Memory,” which faces the east toward the battlefields of Europe, shields its eyes from the atrocities of war. “Future” faces the west, covering its eyes from a future that is unknown. The overall effect of this memorial is quite stunning, and it is wholly appropriate that is now home to the National World War I Museum.

The third noteworthy U.S. World War I memorial is in Indianapolis. Five downtown blocks were razed to make space for War Memorial Plaza, which is the biggest war memorial project ever undertaken in the United States. It has three distinct elements – a cenotaph, an obelisk, and a war memorial shrine, which itself contains a shrine within a shrine. The cenotaph – which memorializes James Bethel Gresham of Evansville, the first American casualty of the war – is surrounded by four columns, topped by eagles.

The 100-foot black granite obelisk was built in 1923, and the square was completed in 1930. Near its base are four-by-eight-foot panels to represent law, science, religion, and education – the sculptor said, “upon these four fundamentals are built the foundation of our nation, without any one of which it could not long survive.”

Gen. John Pershing laid the cornerstone of the memorial shrine on July 4, 1927. One of the biggest war memorials in the world, it is so packed with symbolism and references to the history of memorialization that it almost defies analysis. One of the highlights is the sculpture on the outside steps entitled Pro Patria; it is 24 feet high, weighs seven tons, and was the largest cast bronze sculpture in the United States.

And finally, there is the “shrine room.” A huge American flag hangs over an empty tomb, blue lights shine from above, with light coming from an ornate chandelier known as “Star of Destiny.” The massive ceiling is supported by dramatic, blood-red marble columns, and the empty tomb, sometimes referred to as the “Altar of the Flag,” is guarded by four fire urns. In the words of American historian Jared Mayo, “Among American war memorials, there is no equivalent to the shrine room. The craftsmanship and grand opulence of its interior has not been surpassed.”

Like all war memorials, these three represent a paradox – they are elaborate celebrations of nationalism, and of military success, yet by having at their core a focus on the dead, they are also a powerful reminder of the cost of war. For all their splendor, the real purpose of these war memorials, and of our Memorial Day commemoration, is to draw our minds back to the men and women who fight the wars, and who pay the price for our freedoms.

Mayor Bernard Dickmann of St. Louis made these remarks upon the public opening of the St. Louis Soldiers’ Memorial to the public in 1938: “We who live, because others have died, should make of this shrine a place of love and a monument of peace.”

These are fitting words for any Memorial Day.

James MacLeod is professor of history at the University of Evansville. He has researched, written and lectured on war memorials, and is currently completing a book – “Evansville in World War II: A City Transformed” – that will be published by the History Press later this year. He wrote this for What It Means to Be American a national conversation hosted by the Smithsonian and Zocalo Public Square.

·  River Ranch is hosting a fund-raising dinner for the Truckee Donner Land Trust on June 11 from 5:30-9pm. For more info, call 530.583.4264.

·  Fifty Fifty Brewery in Truckee is making changes. With the owner being the mayor, some questions have arisen about some of the decision-making processes. Check out this story for more details.

·  The Summer Reading Club Kick Off Party at the South Lake Tahoe Library is June 26 at 2pm. It is free to attend.

·  Sheryl Ferguson will lead a bird watching tour in Washoe Meadows State Park on May 30 from 8-10am. Space is limited. RSVP to Lynne at LCPaulson@comcast.net or Krissi at 530.577.4335. Meet at 758 Little Bear Lane a little before 8am.

·  High Fives Foundation raised nearly $30,000 at its fund-raising golf tournament this month.

Renowned limnologist Charles Goldman will tell stories and the history of five decades of scientific research at Lake Tahoe and the challenges ahead at a June 4 talk in Incline Village.

UC Davis research at Lake Tahoe began with Goldman. In 1959, Goldman formed the Tahoe Research Group and began regularly monitoring Lake Tahoe.

Goldman is retired from UC Davis where he had been a professor since 1958. He developed the first courses in limnology (the study of fresh waters) and oceanography at UC Davis.

The talk is at 6pm at the Tahoe Science Center on the campus of Sierra Nevada College. Cost is $5. The no-host bar opens at 5:30pm.

By David Zucchino and David S. Cloud, Los Angeles Times

Jovano Graves’ parents begged him not to join the Army right out of high school in 2003, when U.S. troops were fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But their son refused his parents’ pleas to try college. He followed them both into the Army instead.

Last June, 11 years later, Staff Sgt. Jovano Graves returned home from Afghanistan, joining his mother, Chief Warrant Officer 4 Sonia Graves-Rivers, for duty here at Ft. Bragg.

“My family, going way, way back, has always felt so proud to be Americans,” said Graves-Rivers, who comes from a family in which military service spans six generations, starting with her great-great-grandfather, Pfc. Marion Peeples, who served in a segregated black unit during World War I.

Her father, Cpl. Harvey Lee Peeples, fought in the Vietnam War. Her uncle, Henry Jones, was career Air Force. Another uncle, Sgt. 1st Class Robert Graves, spent 22 years in the Army. Her sister, Janice, served 24 years.

“In our family, there’s a deep sense that being American means serving — showing gratitude by giving back to your country,” Graves-Rivers said.

Multi-generational military families like the Graveses form the heart of the all-volunteer Army, which increasingly is drawing its ranks from the relatively small pool of Americans with historic family, cultural or geographic connections to military service.

Surveys suggest that as many as 80 percent of those who serve come from a family in which a parent or sibling is also in the military. They often live in relative isolation — behind the gates of military installations such as Ft. Bragg or in the deeply military communities like Fayetteville, N.C., that surround them.

The segregation is so pronounced that it can be traced on a map: About 49 percent of the 1.3 million active-duty service members in the U.S. are concentrated in just five states — California, Virginia, Texas, North Carolina and Georgia.

The U.S. military today is gradually becoming a separate warrior class, many analysts say, that is becoming increasingly distinct from the public it is charged with protecting.

Read the whole story

John Muir’s great-great-grandson, Robert Hanna, will share an intimate view of John Muir during a presentation at the South Lake Tahoe Library.

“Growing Up Muir” offers a personal view of Muir from the perspective of his family. Hanna will describe and uncover the many sides of Muir through family stories and never before seen photographs and writings.

The May 30 1pm talk is free. The library is at 1000 Rufus Allen Blvd.

Poet, professor, and human rights activist Carolyn Forché will be at Lake Tahoe Community College on May 28.

Forché will read selections from her works, answer audience questions, and sign copies of her books, which will be available for sale.

Forché’s first poetry collection, “Gathering the Tribes” (1976), won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition, and was then published by Yale University Press. In 1977, she traveled to Spain to translate the work of Salvadoran-exiled poet Claribel Alegría. She then received a Guggenheim Fellowship, which enabled her to travel to El Salvador where she worked as a human rights advocate. Her second book, “The Country Between U”s (1981), received the Poetry Society of America’s Alice Fay di Castagnola Award, and was also the Lamont Poetry Selection of the Academy of American Poets. In 1998, Forché received the Edita and Ira Morris Hiroshima Foundation for Peace and Culture Award for her human rights advocacy and her work on the preservation of memory and culture.

Other books include a memoir, “The Horse on Our Balcony” (2010, HarperCollins); a book of essays (2011, HarperCollins); and a fifth collection of poems, “In the Lateness of the World” (Bloodaxe Books, due out this year). Forché is perhaps best known for her famed international anthology, “Against Forgetting” (1993), which was praised by Nelson Mandela as “a blow against tyranny, against prejudice, against injustice.”

LTCC’s Writers’ Series is committed to providing a cultural outlet for students and the community by hosting free readings, discussions, craft talks and workshops with nationally known, award-winning authors, as well as poetry slams, open mic nights and student readings.

The free event is at 7pm in the board room.