Balto

Balto is a beautiful 4 year old Alaskan Malamute; a little smaller than the typical Malamute.

He takes treats very nicely, and walks well on a short leash. He is bossy with other dogs, but may do well with a mellow female. He is way too interested in cats, small animals and birds.

Balto is neutered, microchipped, tested for heart worm, and vaccinated. He is at the El Dorado County Animal Services shelter in Meyers, along with many other dogs and cats who are waiting for their new homes. Go to the Tahoe animal shelter’s Facebook page to see photos and descriptions of all pets at the shelter.

Call 530.573.7925 for directions, hours, and other information on adopting a pet.

For spay-neuter assistance for South Tahoe residents, go online.

— Karen Kuentz

By Kathryn Reed

Crews are diligently working at the Leviathan Mine superfund site in Alpine County to ensure contaminants don’t reach nearby waterways.

“We are doing our best to prevent a discharge, but it is touch and go,” said Scott Ferguson who is in charge of overseeing the regulatory and compliance aspects of the site. Last week he gave an update to the Lahontan Water Quality Control Board directors about what is going on with this project.

The ice and slush on the ponds make work difficult. Several feet of snow still remain. Just accessing the area is problematic, let alone working in those conditions to treat the acid mine drainage. The work is labor intensive.

This is only the fourth year for spring treatment operations at the mine site. The other years were in 2005, 2006 and 2011. And this year was unique in that the work started a month sooner than those three years because the abundance of rain and snow this winter.

The threat is that all of the moisture and the spring runoff could lead to toxins leaving the immediate area and polluting waterways downstream. Leviathan Creek, Bryant Creek and the East Fork Carson River are all nearby. The mine is five miles east of Markleeville and six miles west of Topaz Lake.

The last time there was a discharge was in 2006.

Leviathan has not been an operating mine since the 1960s. The previous 100 years it was a sulfur mine. In 2000 it was deemed a superfund site. Various lawsuits, with the last settlement agreement coming in 2015, has Lahontan and ARCO working together to find a final resolution for cleaning up the site. This whole process, though, will take decades and may never be completely resolved.

Nonetheless, the goal for now is to treat as much of the discharge as possible.

Removed from the site since 1999 have been:

·      405,000 pounds of aluminum

·      5,500 pounds arsenic

·      590,000 pounds iron

·      6,400 pounds nickel.

In 2016, 163 tons of sludge were trucked to Beatty, Nev., and 5.7 million gallons of acid mine discharge were treated.

By Ari LeVaux, High Country News

This is the time of year to think about planting trees. It’s a powerful, important and often a genuinely fruitful thing to do. Planting a tree is also a long-term commitment. It requires a deep look into the future, and given the way the climate is shifting around us, it’s like aiming at a moving target you can’t even see.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s plant-hardiness zone boundaries are marching steadily northward, as can be seen on a map loop. In the 15 years since my friend Tom McCamant planted his peach orchard in northwest Montana, his land has been reclassified from Zone 5b to 6a.

It wasn’t long ago that if you wanted to grow peppers here in Montana, you had to plant them in a greenhouse. Now we get outdoor peppers every year. Ranchers who used to get two cuttings of alfalfa are now getting three. Pasta makers are already looking northward, in search of the next hot spot for the best durum wheat. Some wine grape growers are preparing to move north as well.

Read the whole story

·      The Parks Division of El Dorado County is cautioning river users of high water on the South Fork of the American River, and to wear appropriate cold weather gear and use advanced boating skills. Be prepared for changing water levels.

·      The Placer County Youth Impact Awards are accepting applications through March 28. Go online for more info.

·      Tahoe Douglas Rotary Club’s 49th annual St. Patrick’s Day Celebration is March 17, 6-10pm at the Harrah’s Lake Tahoe.

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

·      The Associated Press reports, “The federal Natural Resources Conservation Service says March 1 measurements had snowpacks in the Truckee, Lake Tahoe, Carson and Walker river basins all at or above 200 percent of normal, with projections calling for stream flows well above average through July. According to the service, the snowpack is keeping pace to meet or beat records set in 1983— a year which the service had ‘a winter talked about with awe and reverence by snow surveyors and water managers’.”

CalStar takes a teen to Reno March 12 after a sledding incident. Photo/EDSO

A 16-year-old girl had to be airlifted to Renown Medical Center in Reno on Sunday after sustaining injuries while sledding.

She was sledding in the Saw Mill Pond area of the South Shore.

CalStar landed near there about 4pm March 12.

The exact injuries are not known. Her name and hometown have not been released.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Kurtis Alexander, San Francisco Chronicle

If you don’t think California has seen enough rain this year, just wait. There may be more to come.

Federal forecasters said Thursday that the chances of an El Niño developing by fall are on the rise — now between 50 and 55 percent —an outlook that could skew the odds in favor of yet another wet winter.

“There are a lot of players on the (weather) field,” said Emily Becker, a research scientist with the Climate Prediction Center, the federal agency that released the latest report on the El Niño climate pattern. But “El Niño is associated with an increased chance — not a 100 percent chance, but an increased chance — of higher-than-average rainfall in California.”

The state is already seeing some of its wettest weather in recorded history.

Read the whole story

By Jenny Kane, Reno Gazette-Journal

As the National Endowment of the Arts faces rumors of being on the chopping block under the new White House administration, the organization’s director is conducting business as usual and made a trip to a surprising location last week: Reno.

Jane Chu, an Oklahoma native, former piano prodigy and daughter of Chinese immigrants, was appointed in 2014 to take charge of the federal organization tasked with appropriating $148 million in grants each year to arts organizations around the country. She is the first director to visit Northern Nevada in two decades; it’s the 47th state that she has visited so far under her leadership.

The biggest grants in recent years were a $60,000 grant to the Reno Chamber Orchestra for a composer residency and a $50,000 grant to the Nevada Museum of Art for the “Tahoe: A Visual History” exhibition.

Read the whole story

American Legion Post 795 of South Lake Tahoe is hosting a  St. Patrick’s Day dinner on March 17. 

Food will be served beginning at 5pm. The cost is $10. 

Door prizes will be given away during the evening.

Presale tickets are available, but tickets may also be purchased at the door.  Food to go will be available. 

The American Legion Hall is located at 2748 Lake Tahoe Boulevard, South Lake Tahoe, CA  96150.  

For more information and to purchase tickets, contact Carol Olivas at 530.544.1306.

The Zephyr Cove Library will be hosting a library game day on the third Saturday of every month. 

Play a variety of board and card games provided by the library, or bring your own collection of table top games to challenge other participants.  The first game day is March 18. 

The meeting room will be set up with multiple gaming tables from 10am-4pm. Library game day is sponsored by the Friends of the Douglas County Public Library.

Zephyr Cove Library is located at 233 Warrior Way in Zephyr Cove.

Auditions for the smash-hit musical “Godspell” will be at Lake Tahoe Community College’s Duke Theatre on March 27 at 7pm.

Performances of the musical take place June 16-25. Actors of all ages and ethnic backgrounds are sought for this award-winning musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and book by John Michael Tebelak.

“Godspell” was the first major musical theater offering from three-time Grammy and Academy Award winner Schwartz, and it took the world by storm when it first opened off-Broadway in 1971. Led by the international hit, “Day by Day,” “Godspell” features a parade of beloved songs, including, “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord,” “Learn Your Lessons Well,” “All for the Best,” “All Good Gifts,” “Turn Back, O Man” and “By My Side.”

The musical tells the story of a small group of people who help Jesus Christ tell different parables by using a wide variety of games, storytelling techniques and a hefty dose of comic timing.

Scripts will be available on reserve at the front desk of LTCC’s Roberta Mason Library. Audition sides will also be available in the Duke Theatre lobby inside the Fine Arts building, and listed on the Theatre Arts Department’s Facebook page one week prior to auditions.

In addition to acting roles, LTCC is also seeking light and sound board operators, a stage manager, backstage crew, and construction workers. For more information about these positions and this production, call 530.541.4660, ext. 240.