The Lake Tahoe Federal Advisory Committee is accepting public comment on capital projects and science themes that have been recommended for funding to help restore the Lake Tahoe Basin ecosystem, using Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act Round 12 funds.

Twenty-five project proposals were received, addressing federal vision focus areas: watershed and habitat improvement, forest health and air quality and transportation.

Proposed Round 12 science themes are: forest health, watershed, water quality and habitat restoration, air quality and integrating science.

The Lake Tahoe Federal Advisory Committee is made up of representatives of an array of constituencies concerned with the environmental and economic health of the Lake Tahoe region. One key role of LTFAC is to facilitate the integration and coordination of appropriate federal programs and funds to help achieve the goals of the Lake Tahoe Basin Environmental Improvement Program.

A list of projects may be viewed online.

The public may comment until May 9. Comments may be submitted by email to: comments-pacificsouthwest-ltbmu@fs.fed.us, or by regular mail to Linda Lind, 35 College Drive, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150.

LTFAC will review and discuss comments at its next meeting and develop final funding recommendations.

By Maneeza Iqbal, News 10

DONNER SUMMIT — A Serene Lakes home exploded after a gas leak Friday around 10:30pm.

The explosion demolished the home and damaged a home next door, said Truckee Fire Protection District spokesperson Gene Welch.

The home was unoccupied and no injuries were reported.

Officials in the area have identified 21 homes with significant amounts of gas around them, Welch said. The homes were identified after high snow banks cut power to the area. Before restoring power, crews checked the homes for gas leaks.

Unfortunately, many of the vacation home residents were waiting for it to happen because of the record amounts of snowfall.

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Truckee River Winery is having a full moon snowshoe on the property on April 17 from 8-9pm.

Winemaker Russ Jones will be the guide on the tour, and homemade desserts, hot mulled wine and homemade apple cider will await the treksters on their return.

Snowshoe rentals are available for the walk, although reservations should be made ahead of time by calling (530) 587.4626.

Special events today at many resorts.

Here is the ski report from Curtis Fong, the Guy from Tahoe.

A fun and fast-paced workshop that will teach the leading energy medicine method, Emotional Freedom Technique, is slated for April 20 starting at 8:30am.

It is easy to learn, and one can use it any time to alleviate stressful emotions. Workshop will include handouts and PowerPoint demonstration.

The workshop setting is the Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber conference room, 169 Highway 50, Stateline. It will be taught by mind-body therapist Rosemary Manning, a chamber member.

The cost is $12 for chamber members and $20 to non-members.

The registration deadline is noon April 19.

To register, go online.

Publisher’s note: This is from the March 1974 Lake Tahoe Historical Society newsletter.

By Sheryl Morris

Tales of Snowshoe Thompson, logging days and the pre-logging era at Lake Tahoe and stories of heavy winters were recalled Wednesday night by Arnold Trimmer of Genoa, Nevada.

Trimmer was addressing members of the Lake Tahoe Historical Society and telling them of some of his recollections from the early 1900’s and relating some of the stories passed on from other family members.

“My great-grandfather used to tell us of an incident involving himself, a number of other men from Carson Valley, and Snowshoe Thompson,” Trimmer said.

It was in the 1850’s when Snowshoe was carrying the mail from Placerville to Carson Valley. While traveling around the south end of Lake Tahoe during the winter of 1857, Thompson came upon James Sessions, who had been caught by the snowy weather. He was suffering form frozen feet, Trimmer said.

Since Snowshoe couldn’t help him alone, he left Sessions in a cabin and went to the Carson Valley for help. His call was answered by Trimmers’ great-grandfather and some other men from the area.

The group, traveling on skis, hauled Sessions out in a hand sleigh. It took them four days. Sessions’ frozen feet had to be amputated but before the surgery could begin, Thompson set out in search of some anesthetic, Trimmer explained.

Snowshoe went first to Placerville. When there was no anesthetic there, he traveled on to Sacramento and then returned with the medical supplies to the Carson Valley. He made this entire trip without sleep, the speaker added.

“He traveled in shirtsleeves,” the speaker explained. “He always said he moved fast enough to keep warm.”

Thompson was also a farmer and cultivated acreage in Diamond Valley east of Woodfords for some 20 years. In 1876, while sowing a wheat field with the aid of Trimmer’ grandfather, Snowshoe took sick and died.

The Genoa man also spoke of the days before the logging industry invaded Lake Tahoe Basin.

“I can remember my great-uncle telling of trees 100 feet tall. The forests were so thick the trees were like a blanket keeping the sun out,” Trimmer commented. He said he also remembers of his uncle telling of going down to the lake in the Stateline area and seeing a trout that must of weighed 32 pounds. Trimmer had numerous humorous stories of the logging days at Tahoe. He explained that July 4th was always the date of a big celebration with the big event being held at Meyers Station.

“There were horse races in the afternoon. The loggers spent the morning drinking and betting on the horses. By the afternoon they were all so drunk they couldn’t remember which horse they had bet on, but they were all sure it was the winner. You never saw so many fist fights in your life,” he added.

In recalling some of the stories of hard winters in the Tahoe area, Trimmer singled out 1889-90. A logger and his wife from Genoa stayed that winter at Edgewood House. They had to crawl out the third story window to go out and milk the cow. After a couple of weeks, when the snow had been packed down, they crawled out the second story window.

Trimmer concluded by telling of High Meadows. This Tahoe area property has been in the Trimmer family since the early 1920’s.

“We bought it for grazing range cattle,” Trimmer said. He noted that at one time they grazed 250-300 head of cattle in the area, driving the herd up Kingsbury, down Pioneer Trail and then up to the meadows via the Sierra House turnoff.

By Kathryn Reed

Sue often says she could skip the pancakes and just have the syrup. It’s something about being from Vermont.

I need something to go with my syrup. And every now and then I like her to try a new pancake recipe.

The recipe below we got while on our girls camping trip last summer. What makes it unique is the pastry flour was ground at the mill we visited in Calistoga. The package says “not for human consumption” because the mill doesn’t meet current day health codes. Still, everyone who has eaten these flapjacks in our house is still alive.

Sue first made them when my nephew visited last summer. They seemed a bit runny to her so she kept adding more flour. Plus, she didn’t think what was in the bowl would be enough for the three of us. Oliver and I were shaking our heads in amusement.

We had enough pancakes for days.

Next time Sue followed the recipe exactly. She proved the recipe could feed four. Of course the other two at the table were my mom and my sister – and neither are huge eaters. So, you might want to increase the quantities if people at the table are super hungry.

What is so much better about these pancakes is how light and moist they are compared to the stuff from a box. I’m going to guess they are healthier too – if pancakes can ever be healthy. Sue does add sliced bananas to her pancakes, so there is that nutritional component.

Even though we have this special pastry flour, any pastry flour should suffice.

Bale Mill Pancakes

1¼ C pastry flour

1 T baking powder

2 T sugar

½ tsp. salt

1 beaten egg

1 C milk (or buttermilk)

2 T vegetable oil

Mix all dry ingredients.

Mix egg, milk, oil and add to dry ingredients.

Bake on ungreased griddle.

• El Dorado County will host a public meeting to receive input on a proposed bike trail alongside Lake Tahoe Boulevard southwest of the Y. The forum starts at 6pm on April 29 at the South Lake Tahoe City Council Chambers, 1901 Airport Road. For more information, go online.

• May 3 is the date of the election to choose the state representative for District 4, which includes the California side of the basin. Polls will open at 7am and close at 8pm. The last day to register to vote is April 18. Sample and vote-by-mail ballots have gone out this week.

• Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki and other Nevada Commission on Tourism officials honored industry professionals from around the state last week, presenting the annual Volunteer Tourism Awards for exceptional achievement at the 21st annual Rural Roundup tourism conference. Representing the Reno – Tahoe Territory is Gordon Horsley, business development manager for Amador Stage Lines in Reno.

• The Lake Tahoe Historial Society will kick into spring with featured speaker Margie Daum on April 26 at Camp Richardson Resort at its annual meeting starting at 7pm. The museum is scheduled to open May 15 to welcome Amgen visitors. Nine days later, historian Frank Tortorich and Kim Copel will tell Pony Express stories.

• U.S. Census Bureau employees will begin the first wave of data collection for the National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation from about 53,000 households across the country.

• Also from the U.S. Census, a report called the “Dynamics of Economic Well-Being: Fluctuations in the U.S. Income Distribution: 2004-2007” divides the nation’s 106 million households into quintiles of 21.3 million based on income and compares their characteristics and their movements between and within the quintiles.

By Kathryn Reed

CALISTOGA – Camping at Bothe-Napa Valley State Park almost had us forgetting about all the nearby vineyards.

This 2,000-acre park is quiet despite its proximity to Highway 29, the main artery through the Wine Country. Tucked into the hills, the vegetation – and tents – reminds us why we are here. It’s our annual girls camping weekend.

We barely got a campsite last June. Such are the hazards of being in snow country; you can forget June is the heart of summer for most of California and that recreation sites fill up. In fact, campsites can be booked up to seven months in advance.

(We learned from last year and already have reservations for this year.)

Pam Valentine relaxes during the annual girls camping trip. Photos/Kathryn Reed

But I’m not much of a camper – that’s why I picked this particular park. I would prefer wine tasting and spa treatments as a girls’ get-away. A little wine tasting with our camping made it my kind of roughing it.

Still, the park is magnificent with redwoods sprouting near Ritchey Creek. Douglas fir, tanoak and madrone make up most of the flora.

Although 10 miles of trail exist in the park, we didn’t just stretch our legs there. We drove through the town of Calistoga, along the windy section of Highway 20 to Robert Louis Stevenson State Park.

The author used his diary from his days of honeymooning at the site to create “Silverado Squatters.”

Parking is on both sides of the highway. The trail leads to the top of Mount St. Helena. Much of it is wide because it becomes a fire road. (Bikes are allowed on this section.)

It is one of those hikes to do early in the day because of the heat of the sun is baking. Shade is scarce.

Once at the top we realize it’s really two peaks. We stop at the south peak – elevation 4,003 feet and 4.1 miles from the truck. The north peak – elevation 4,343 feet – is another 1.7 miles up the road.

From our perch we look down into the verdant Napa Valley. On clear days Mt. Diablo and Mt. Tamalpais are visible.

Back at the park we spend part of a day walking along the 1.2-mile History Trail that starts in the picnic area and ends at the historic Bale Grist Mill.

Along the dry, hot trail (bring water) is the site of the first church built in Napa County in 1853. Tombstones fill a cemetery. Oh, the stories that must be associated with them.

At the mill we are treated to a tour of what is still an actual working grist mill. It was built in 1846. Grain is ground into flour just like it was 150 years ago.

The end product is for sale. But the packages say “not for human consumption” because the site doesn’t meet 21st century health codes. Nonetheless, there are women buying up the various mixtures – saying this is their annual trip to do so.

We leave with pastry flour and a recipe for Bale Mill Pancakes. Bisquick could take some pointers from this mill.

The history of the area is worth a side trip next time you are in the Napa Valley – and certainly worth a camping trip away from the Sierra. This state park is on Highway 89 between St. Helena and Calistoga on west side.

More information about California State Parks is on the agency’s website. The camping page is here.

ngg_shortcode_0_placeholder (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Please join Bona Fide Books at a reception for photographer Patty Gilbertson, May 7 at 6:30pm. On exhibit will be a dozen of Gilbertson’s arresting images of Tahoe, Utah, New Hampshire and the eastern Sierra.

Bona Fide Books is at 1069 Magua Street, #4, in Meyers behind the Getaway Cafe.