If conditions are favorable, North Lake Tahoe and Tahoe Douglas fire protection districts, California State Parks, California Tahoe Conservancy, and U.S. Forest Service may continue prescribed fire operations on April 24. Operations may take place near Meeks Bay, Tahoe City, Kings Beach, Incline Village, Glenbrook, Round Hill, Lower Kingsbury Grade, South Lake Tahoe, and Meyers.

Weather permitting, operations may continue over the next several weeks. To receive prescribed fire notifications, send an email
to pa_ltbmu@fs.fed.us.

Smoke from prescribed fire operations is normal and may continue for several days after an ignition depending on the project size and environmental conditions. Agencies coordinate with state and local county air pollution control districts and monitor weather conditions closely prior to prescribed fire ignition. They wait for favorable conditions that will carry smoke up and out of the basin. Crews also conduct test burns before igniting a larger area, to verify how effectively fuels are consumed and how smoke will travel. Smoke sensitive individuals are encouraged to reduce their exposure by staying indoors if they are in a smoke affected area.

Expect lane closures on Highway 50 now through May during the week while the El Dorado Beach to Ski Run Bike Trail is constructed.

Lane closures during June are not expected to occur on a daily basis. The class 1 bike trail is expected to be completed in mid-July or early August.

The project includes construction of an approximately 1 mile paved bike path in a dedicated right-of-way separated from the road on the north side of Highway 50.

Sierra Nevada Construction will be installing erosion control and water quality measures this week.

By Kathryn Reed

TWIN BRIDGES – Bottle it. It was that good.

Jerry Lee Marsh took home top honors April 22 at Sierra-at-Tahoe’s Salsa Showdown. For his winning efforts he earned a 2017-18 season pass to the ski resort.

Jerry’s Verde, as he called it, was one of 11 traditional salsas. Two fruit salsas were judged separately.

The six judges – all with a connection to Sierra except for this reporter – agreed Jerry’s Verde was outstanding. It was thicker than a lot of green salsas. The heat was perfect – starts out mild, then has a strong finish, but not overpowering.

One judge suggested chopped avocado would enhance it, but not all were in agreement.

Now in its 10th year, this contest brings out locals and people throughout Northern California.

Tomatillos beat out tomatoes April 22 at the Sierra Salsa Showdown. Photo/Kathryn Reed

Jerry’s Verde had close competition from Salsa Romo. It had great flavor without having to be hot. Some judges thought it might have had pickled veggies in it.

Doug Abbott of South Lake Tahoe came up with Smoky Bacon Salsa. He said the creation was an accident that he liked. It was the only one with meat in it. Abbott is a veteran of this contest, having won it a few years ago.

Allen Evangelista of San Francisco has been entering his salsas every year, even winning it a couple years back.

“It’s an awesome tradition,” Evangelista told Lake Tahoe News of the event. “This year I put honey in it.” His Rainbow and Sunshine was near the top of the pack.

Teresa Elena Petersen of Meadow Vista was a first-time entrant with her Neña’s Pico de Gallo.

“The secret to a good salsa my aunt Mercy told me is to chop everything finely, use salt and don’t make it the last day,” Petersen told Lake Tahoe News. “You need to let the juices of fresh tomatoes sit.”

Winning the fruit salsa contest was Arica Davis, who now lives in South Lake Tahoe, after moving out from Louisiana.

Both fruit salsas were mango dominated, but Davis’ edged out her competitor’s because her flavors were more balanced and overall it tasted more like a true salsa. She also won a season pass.

It was all things Mexican-themed Sunday afternoon at the Golden Bear Terrace – with taco eating contests, a piñata for kids, and plenty of margaritas being mixed for the adults.

This is closing weekend for Sierra, with Monday being Customer Appreciation Day. Proceeds from the $35 lift tickets will benefit youth recreation and education in South Lake Tahoe. All guests are invited to join General Manager John Rice and the rest of Sierra’s team for the official “last run of the season” from the top of Grandview Express beginning at 2pm. Last call at the Sierra Pub will be 2:45pm, in time for the ending of all winter operations at 3pm.

Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the April 18, 2017, East Bay Times.

 California’s cities and counties, weighed down by ever-mounting retirement costs, are barely keeping their heads above water. Now the state Legislature is considering an onerous bill that would ensure many of them drown.

AB1250, introduced by Assemblyman Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, D-Los Angeles, would effectively prohibit most local governments from contracting out for key services. It’s a union-driven bid to force the hiring of more public employees, complete with their unaffordable high benefit costs. 

Never mind that local governments are struggling to meet current obligations, or that public employee pension benefits have already saddled taxpayers in California with at least $374 billion of debt.

Read the whole story

By Justin Ewers, PublicCEO

It didn’t get much attention outside San Diego, but it may well have been the biggest step a political coalition has taken this year to shift the focus of a major city onto a crisis impacting millions of Californians—and moving rapidly up the income scale.

“More than 70 percent of San Diegans cannot currently afford a median-priced home,” San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer said in his January state of the city address—noting that renters in the region now spend a higher portion of their income on housing (an average of 35 percent) than people in either hyper-expensive San Francisco or New York City. San Diego’s affordability crisis, he noted, has moved into the middle class—and shows no signs of stopping: “People who love San Diego and want to live in San Diego should not be priced out of San Diego. I’m going to say something that mayors have traditionally been afraid to say: We need to build more housing!”

Faulconer’s call to arms may not sound that dissimilar from the rhetoric emerging from other parts of the state, as rising prices make living in California increasingly unaffordable. But the San Diego mayor’s framing of the problem—and the solutions the city is developing with a unique coalition of business associations, labor groups, environmentalists, and builders—are fundamentally different.

Read the whole story

Tahoe Keys property owners have voted to assess themselves the necessary fees to pay for the use of herbicides to rid the South Lake Tahoe canals of invasive weeds.

Now the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board must approve the application, with the goal to start using the chemicals in 2018.

Homeowners will pay up to $1,600. The first payment of not more than $400 will be due June 1. Subsequent payments would be required after all the agencies sign off on the treatment. The money is projected to cover costs through 2023.

There are 1,529 Tahoe Keys Property Owners Association members. Fifty-nine percent voted. Of the valid ballots turned in, 588 votes were in favor of the assessment. To pass, there had to be 383 yes votes.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Ann M. Simmons, Los Angels Times
 
They cover a third of the world’s landmass, help to regulate the atmosphere, and offer shelter, sustenance and survival to millions of people, plants and animals.

But despite some progress, the planet’s woodlands continue to disappear on a dramatic scale.

Since 1990 the world has lost the equivalent of 1,000 football fields of forests every hour, according to World Bank development indicators from last year. That’s 1.3 million square kilometers of forest, an area larger than South Africa, according to the international financial institution.

Read the whole story

·      Tahoe Transportation District is having an open house April 24, 5-7pm at Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel in South Lake Tahoe. There will be an update on the loop road project, affordable housing initiatives, and release of the environmental impact report.

·      Students in the Art Club at Lake Tahoe Community College are once again heading to the California Conference for the Advancement of Ceramic Art conference in Davis from April 28-30. LTCC students are designing and installing a personalized exhibition that will be on display throughout the conference

·      Truckee Police Department will be taking back unwanted prescription drugs on April 29 from 9am-1pm at the Gateway Shopping Center.

·      Here are the El Dorado-Tahoe and Sierra roadwork schedules from Caltrans for the coming week.

·      Truckee Thursdays return June 15. Every Thursday through August from 5-8:30pm the downtown comes alive with a food court, artisan vendors, merchant and community displays, children’s activities, live music and a beer garden.

Mother Earth will be the center of attention in South Lake Tahoe on April 29 in the annual Earth Day celebration from 10am-3pm at Bijou Community Park.

The free event will include an array of educational booths, vendors, and an area where children can make recycled-themed arts and crafts. Sacramento’s Ideateam will provide a funk-and-soul soundtrack.

Earth Day recognizes, celebrates, and promotes the region’s unique beauty while educating the public about local environmental issues. Learn about ways to counteract global climate change through recycling and composting, alternative energy, water conservation, sustainability, and reducing one’s ecological footprint.

The Tahoe Earth Day Foundation, a nonprofit organization, was formed to educate the general public about the Lake Tahoe and Truckee region’s unique beauty and how to preserve and protect it.

The community is invited to a free seminar titled “I Can’t Hear You Because I Am Shouting! Respectful Dialogue Even When We Disagree.” 

The focus will be on strategies for positive conversations in polarized environments, conversations that offer an exchange of views so that people are listened to, respected and valued.  The workshop will be May 6 from 9am-2:30pm at Lake Tahoe Community Presbyterian Church, 2733 Lake Tahoe Blvd., South Lake Tahoe. 

Presenters include local resident Fred Roberts, a Lake Tahoe Community College instructor and communications consultant, and Hilda Pecoraro, a Presbyterian pastor who provides support with difficult conversations by offering avenues for individuals to feel heard and to help relationships remain in tact. 

Due to limited space, registration is required by calling 775.392.1715.