By Katie Arnold, Outside

As a kid, Sally Jewell spent a lot of time outside. Her parents took her to her first national park when she was 4 years old, and by age 15, she’d scaled Mount St. Helen’s with a group of friends.

But the current Secretary of the Interior, now 60, isn’t as interested in recounting her childhood adventures as she is in trying to ensure that all American kids have the same opportunity to get outdoors that she had. Her latest initiative seeks to help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds experience the wilderness. Her new Secretarial Order aims to do just that, by making it easier, faster, and less costly for youth organizations to obtain permits to explore public wild lands on overnight or multi-day trips.

Jewell has issued similar orders, like one from 2014—the year after President Obama appointed her to the post—that sought to expand recreational, education, volunteer, and career opportunities for kids and veterans on public lands by encouraging the DOI to work with business and nonprofits. The new order goes a step further by targeting a very specific demographic. All participants must be under 26 years old, and 70 percent of the group must meet one or more of the following criteria: live in foster homes, have limited English proficiency, have run away from home or are homeless, live with disabilities, are at risk of dropping out, or are former juvenile delinquents or at risk of delinquency.

Read the whole story

·       The 5th annual Tahoe Bike Challenge Bike Path Cleanup is June 11 from 9:30am-noon. There are various locations. Go online to sign up.

·       Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows celebrated Memorial Day with a $150,000 donation to High Fives Foundation for the 2016-17 Military to the Mountains program.

·       Tahoe Adventure Company is reviving the mountain bike rental program at Tahoe Cross Country in Tahoe City. It will include mountain bike rentals and accessories, basic tuning services, and guided tours.

·       South Tahoe Association of Realtors has begun a weekly program to volunteer at the Boys & Girls Club of Lake Tahoe.

·       The League to Save Lake Tahoe’s Restoration Day is June 4 from 9:15am-noon. Volunteers will survey the plants that were planted last September, water any plants that need a little care, stabilize stream banks and survey for aquatic invasive plants. For more info and to RSVP, go online.

Truckee Police Department has partnered with Tahoe Forest Church’s Pedal Project. The nonprofit Pedal Project collects bikes in any condition, refurbishes and distributes them to those of any age in need.

Since the project began in early April, donations have been pouring in. People have been donating their unused or outgrown bikes. Volunteers have graciously donated their time and expertise repairing, cleaning, and restoring these recycled bikes. The Truckee Police Department has donated helmets for every bike.

To date, 40 bikes have been restored and distributed to various locations such as Truckee Elementary School, Truckee Family Resource Center of Truckee, Sierra High School, Grass Valley Foster Care System, Boys and Girls Club of Truckee and the homeless in our community.

For more info about Pedal Project, call 530.550.1516 or email mrcks04@yahoo.com, or drop any used, unneeded bikes at 10315 Hirschdale Road in Truckee.

To the community,

Members of Kirkwood Mountain Resort’s human resources team were on hand to help the Bread & Broth volunteers serve the guests at Kirkwood’s sponsorship dinner May 4 at St. Theresa Grace Hall.

Representing their fellow HR team members were Becca Hamm, supervisor; Christine Avenett, assistant; Angela Eckhardt, talent acquisitions manager; Eric Davidson, director; and Chris Crushkowsky, manager.

“We had a fantastic time volunteering,” commented Crushkowsky.  “You B&B volunteers are wonderful, courteous, happy and selfless. Thank you for serving others.”

B&B would also like to extend thanks to the Kirkwood team for their help and spirit of service they displayed at their sponsorship dinner. B&B would also like to give a special thanks to Vail Resorts and their Vail EpicPromise Grant program for the funding provided to sponsor the 12 Adopt A Day of Nourishment hosted by Kirkwood and Heavenly mountain resorts annually.

B&B truly appreciates our partnership with the local Vail Resorts and the truly great team members that volunteer at each of their sponsorship dinners. Serving our Monday night dinners would not be possible without the support of our incredible sponsors.

Carol Gerard, Bread & Broth

By Kathryn Reed

Sweet woodruff is spreading, with tiny white flowers blooming. The yarrow is going nuts. The salvia is strong and the maple is happy.

Those are the sentiments of landscaper Brian Hirdman about the plants in my yard.

“This is what I aim for every year,” Hirdman said as he surveyed the work he did last year.

The growth since last August has been phenomenal. The mounds shrunk a little, which was to be expected. Nothing died, though a couple items that were transplanted look a little sketchy. Hirdman bent them – soft, not brittle, as well scratched a bit of the bark to reveal green – meaning it’s alive even though it doesn’t look like it.

I went through South Tahoe Public Utility District’s turf buyback program last summer. I took out all of the grass and then had Hirdman work his magic.

Brian Hirdman talks about what to plant to fill in the herb garden. Photo/Kathryn Reed

He was like a proud dad walking through the front yard last week. A smile never left his face. Looking at every plant, he marveled at the success.

“Your catmint exploded. You will have some beautiful purple flowers coming up soon,” Hirdman said.

The Shasta daises are taller than he would have expected this time of year.

As the snow was melting and things in the herb garden started to come to life, I would eat a little of the plant to determine if it stayed. There’s probably a more scientific method, but this worked.

I have a few holes to fill in because not everything is a perennial. Cilantro and basil for sure will be planted. Hirdman reminded me to plant those so they aren’t getting the intense sun.

The chives have already been prolific. The catnip has been a delight for my friends’ cats. The mint is doing well, I just haven’t done anything with it.

I’d like to think every year I’ll get morels in this spiral herb garden, but that is doubtful. I’m savoring the two I found in there.

Polemonium, the purple, and sweet woodruff, white, are already blooming. Photo/Kathryn Reed

While it’s still possible to get a late frost in Tahoe, any time after June 1 is usually OK to plant.

Something the herb garden didn’t have last year is salad greens, which Hirdman highly suggested. He even said tomatoes would do well in the hugel mound closest to the property line because of the amount of sun it gets.

“As for the irrigation, the way I tell if I need to turn it on is if I move the soil around, like dig an inch or 2 below the surface of your mounds. If it’s still wet, which it should be with the mulch that’s on the mounds, then I hold off turning on the irrigation,” Hirdman said. “If it’s looking dry, I turn it on. Also, the plants help me judge that too, cause I’ll pay attention to see if any of them begin to weep. If only a few weep, I’ll spot water until the majority of the garden needs water, then turn on all the irrigation.”

The whole point of the turf buyback is to use less water. Which I have. And I have a full rain barrel right now that will cover any spot watering I need before the sprinklers are turned on.

Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the May 16, 2016, Los Angeles Times.

Those shaggy-haired, shoulder-humped bison roaming Yellowstone National Park have lived in the area since prehistoric times, surviving migration, predators, disease, development.

But can they survive tourists? Despite signs in the park and fliers handed out to visitors warning them about being gored by the horned bison, tourists just can’t seem to stay the officially required 25 yards away.

But wild creatures need to be left alone — if not for our survival then certainly for theirs.

Read the whole story

By Jeremy W. Peters, New York Times

WASHINGTON — Leaders of the Republican Party have begun internal deliberations over what would be fundamental changes to the way its presidential nominees are chosen, a recognition that the chaotic process that played out this year is seriously flawed and helped exacerbate tensions within the party.

In a significant shift, Republican officials said it now seemed unlikely that the four states to vote first would all retain their cherished place on the electoral calendar, with Nevada as the most probable casualty.

Party leaders are even going so far as to consider diluting the traditional status of Iowa and New Hampshire as gatekeepers to the presidency, by pairing them in one proposal with other states holding nominating contests on the same day as a way to give more voters a meaningful role much sooner.

Read the whole story

By Joan Patterson, Las Vegas Review-Journal

So, you can’t remember what you had for dinner last night, your knees ache and after years of perfect vision there is now a collection of snazzy drugstore reading glasses stashed all over the house.

Congratulations, it’s only going to get better. Really.

In their book, “Lighter as We Go: Virtues, Character Strengths and Aging” (Oxford University Press, 2015), authors Mindy Greenstein and Jimmie Holland point to some of the latest research showing an increase in reported well-being as we age. One significant finding is a pattern that emerges called the U-bend.

In a nutshell, feelings of satisfaction are high in early adulthood such as the 20s, then start to curve downward and hit rock bottom in middle age, around the late 40s to early 50s. Then, despite all those preconceptions about growing older, well-being actually starts to curve upward and keeps rising into at least the eighth decade.

Read the whole story

Whether you are taking a rafting trip on the Truckee, and leaving your car at one of our local river parks, or getting away from it all on a wilderness trail, remember that criminals are looking for opportunities. Leave nothing of value, or any visible trace of valuables, in the car when you’re in the outdoors.

Bring an appropriate sized back pack or water proof container to carry essential belongings and leave non-essential valuables at home.

Here are other tips from the Washoe County Sheriff’s Department:

• Lock the door when leaving the car.
• Don’t leave valuables in the car. If valuables must be left in a vehicle, be sure to lock them in the trunk or glove compartment not under jackets or blankets behind the seat as that is one of the first places criminals look.
• Leave no trace. Don’t leave any sign that there might be valuables hidden in a vehicle by leaving items such as docking stations or connector cables visible. Leave nothing in plain sight that might make the vehicle a target for thieves, not even loose coins or a CD.
• Be sure to set the car alarm or anti-theft devices. These are still effective deterrents against criminals who are looking for the easiest target.
• Keep windows completely closed.

By Megan Messerly, Las Vegas Sun

If the success of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders is any indication, this could be the year of the outsider in American politics. But will the anti-establishment sentiment that has fueled their campaigns trickle down to statewide and local elections in Nevada?

That’s one of several key questions that will be answered in the run up to the June 14 primary election. Early voting kicked off Saturday, with a number of offices from school boards to Congress hanging in limbo.

The Nevada primary also is expected to be a reckoning over a $1.4 billion tax package passed by the 2015 Legislature, and some incumbent Republicans already have been fighting to justify their votes in favor. To top it off, the outcome likely will be decided by a fraction of Nevada’s electorate; historically poor turnout is expected, so a small number of votes could mean the difference between a candidate’s victory or loss.

Read the whole story