Support Choices for Children on Oct. 18 form 5-9pm at Primo’s Italian Bistro, 2180 Lake Tahoe Blvd., South Lake Tahoe.

A portion of the night’s proceeds will be donated to this agency to help raise funds to benefit the local child care provider community.

For more information, call (530) 541.5848, ext. 108.

Publisher’s note: This is the last of five Q&A profiles of a South Lake Tahoe City Council candidate running in the Nov. 6 election.

Name: Hal Cole

Age: 63

How long have you lived in South Lake Tahoe?: 52 years

Hal Cole

Work/volunteer experience: I have owned and operated a successful construction company for over 35 years. I have also served on the City Council, Barton Hospital board of directors, Governing Board of the TRPA and CTC and sat on the city Planning Commission.

Why are you running for City Council?: I love this community and have dedicated the past 20 years to serving in any way I can. I believe my experience and institutional knowledge can be of great benefit as we face the challenges ahead.

What is your vision for South Lake Tahoe, the South Shore and the entire Lake Tahoe Basin?: To truly be a world-class destination resort. In order to accomplish that we must begin serious work on restoring the near shore waters, encourage private investment to help rebuild our infrastructure, make a concerted effort to improve and market our recreational opportunities and build a spirit of partnership within our community.

What are the three best things about South Lake Tahoe?: The sheer beauty of it all, the changing seasons and the feeling of community a small town affords.

What three things would you like to change in South Lake Tahoe and how will you go about changing them?:

1. Encourage the demolition of the blighted buildings lining Highway 50.

Solution: Offer more options for their use and consequently their value. This can be done by changing the restrictions put on the property by the TRPA. For example, if you own a motel and want to remodel or transfer its use to another property, your only option is to build another motel or apartment. If we want to encourage the development of our commercial centers such as the Y, we must allow the freedom to transfer existing development out of areas where they are not profitable and into areas we are trying to develop. Whether the new use is a motel or commercial should be determined by the market and not a document created by bureaucrats.

2. Reduce the divisiveness in our community.

Solution: I think we are making progress. There is more community outreach lately. The city is going into neighborhoods and holding local meetings to get more focused input. Our City Council meetings encourage participation and our council members are open to new ideas. We need less criticism and more participation.

3. I would like to see more emphasis put on recreation for our infrastructure development and our marketing.

Solution: Develop a recreation master plan as I elaborate later.

What would you do to balance the budget?: Probably a more pertinent question would be, “What have you done to balance the budget?” First, a little background. In 2002, when our economy was booming and our revenues were growing, our city had no money in reserve. I was part of the council that decided to build a cash reserve. By 2009 we had close to $14 million. On advice from economic advisors, we also adopted a policy that we would always retain at least 25 percent of our annual operating budget in reserve, enough to run the city for three months. 2008-09 was also the first budget year that the impact of the recession was fully felt. Prior to 2008, we were receiving approximately $30 million in general fund revenues. Today we are getting close to $28 million. To compound matters, our expenses were rising. Two years ago we were facing a $5 million deficit. Today that has been reduced to $500,000 and next budget year (2013-14) we expect to present a balanced budget. This was accomplished a number of ways. Over the past four years we have reduced our labor force by 30 percent (from management to line employees) while minimizing the impact on our core services (police, fire and snow removal). Our employees are now paying their full share of their retirement and we revamped our health insurance. This kind of downsizing is unheard of in the state and could not have been done without having a reserve in place to soften the blow to our community and employees. Property tax revenues have not yet bottomed out, but the slide has slowed and usually the property tax collected lags the economy in general. Our sales tax and TOT are above our projections; signaling what I believe to be the start of a long, slow recovery. While we were reducing expenses, we have been investing money into our infrastructure as seen by Lakeview Commons, the Bonanza Community Park, repaving of our streets and the planned improvements to Harrison Avenue – all of which should enhance our visitors’ experience and restore some of our residents’ faith in the future.

What would you like to see in a recreation master plan?: I would like to see both private and public providers from both states develop the plan with an emphasis on identifying unmet needs and creating recreation programs that can be bundled and marketed (i.e. skiing and ice skating, youth camps, canoeing and guided hiking, etc.)

Promoting recreation was touted two years as a means to stimulate the local economy. Nothing has been done in that time. What will you do so that same sentence can’t be said two years from now?: First of all I strongly disagree with the statement, “Nothing has been done”. The planning and construction of Lakeview Commons is arguably the single biggest recreation project the city has done since the ice rink. We are seeing locals and tourists alike flocking to the beach. Families are enjoying the water, we have hosted paddling events, we have boat launching and canoe rentals. We are in the process of using unspent recreation JPA funds to improve our bike trails and ball fields. I cannot think of a time when we were as focused as we are now on recreation. Recreation is what will define Tahoe’s future.

What types of recreation do you enjoy in Lake Tahoe?: Tennis in the summer, skiing in the winter.

How will South Lake Tahoe be different in four years after the end of your term?: The TRPA Regional Plan will have been adopted and the city will have an approved plan for the Y, incentivizing new investment. We will have continuous sidewalks and bike trail from the Y to Stateline. We will be well on our way for the development of the “56 acres” (the property across highway 50 from Lakeview Commons). Edgewood will be near completion of their project. Harrison Avenue will have a complete renovation complementing Lakeview Commons. Community pride is infectious. Business and homeowners alike will invest in their property.

Being on the council requires working with four others. Give readers an example of how you work well others in difficult situations with differing opinions: I have always prided myself in my ability to listen. I do not like to weigh in on issues until I have heard all sides. The most recent example is the Loop Road. The council heard hours of testimony and was divided on how to proceed. I proposed reopening the process and bringing forward other alternatives to be considered when preparing the environmental documents. Since then we have had a much more open dialogue and I do believe the final outcome will be embraced by a larger majority of our community.

What are your opinions about the following issues and/or entities?:

• Loop road – The option proposed was developed in a vacuum. The concern of affected businesses needs to be addressed. Other options need to be considered. Improvements to Highway 50 at Stateline are essential and we need to make sure the investment gives us the most benefit.

• Hole at Stateline – The City Council made a huge mistake when they approved the permit in 2007 and allowed the developer to go ahead with only the foundation, with no timetable or financing to complete the project. They also did not require that the property be consolidated into five parcels as required in the development agreement. The consequence has been catastrophic. The foundation now covers most of the 29 separate lots. Any potential buyers have to negotiate with separate lot owners making it impossible to make a single offer. The city has two potential options: take control of the property with eminent domain (something I don’t think any future council will ever do) and market the project or begin abatement action declaring the site a health and safety issue.

• Tahoe Valley Plan – This is a prime example of how the TRPA stifles our ability to plan our own community. We spent years on the process. We formed a committee of local businesses and residents and created a vision of what we wanted to see at the Y. I worked with our assistant city manager to codify the various elements of the plan. Our City Council formally approved it. The TRPA then told us that they would not consider any more community plans until they adopted the broader Regional Plan update. Three years later it still has not happened.

• Giving money to any chamber or tourism bureau – I have always felt that there is a partnership between the city and the chambers and LTVA. Our pledge was that we would invest in the infrastructure to attract visitors, fill our lodging and shop at our stores as evidenced by the Gondola Village, the ice rink, Lakeview Commons, etc. We have spent millions of dollars on these improvements, often in lieu of other services. In return, we hoped the tourist industry would invest in the marketing of our product. The city cannot afford to do both.

• Benefits, including pensions, for city staff – As I mentioned earlier, our employees have agreed through their bargaining units to pay their full share of the retirement (PERS) and have agreed, albeit not without much discomfort, to the revamping of our health insurance. We are one of the few cities in the state of California to achieve such concessions.

• Tahoe Regional Planning Agency – For me this issue is a double-edged sword. I was living here as a young child in the early ’60s and saw how clear our waters and how unspoiled our beaches were. Left unchecked, unbridled development could have had an even more serious impact. On the other hand, the only way to improve our built and natural environment is to rebuild what is here. The TRPA has done a terrible job at recognizing this and reducing the barriers preventing the redevelopment of our town.

• Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board – Again, the goals are lofty, but the reality is slapping us with unfunded mandates that we will never be able to afford. I feel that many times environmental agencies take the “all or nothing” approach. Either comply with all their regulations or be hit with fines or barriers to development. I believe that a small step in the right direction is better than standing still.

• South Shore Vision Plan – I have seen many visions and plans presented over the years and they usually fall flat due to lack of financial resources. This plan is the most comprehensive I have seen and one that is likely to proceed. I support it. I vocally offered one suggestion at our joint meeting with Douglas County, and that was lake access is still not fully addressed. Shuttling people to a dropping off point and then having them board a waterborne shuttle to the beach is not the best answer. We need easy to ride shuttles to take them from their lodging to the water. We must realize that they are visiting “Lake Tahoe” and it needs to be all about the lake.

• Lake Tahoe Airport – This is one of our most underutilized assets. For certain an airport could not have been built post TRPA. It is here — let’s take advantage of it. It has shown its value when our forests are on fire, and it offers an alternative for our visitors to travel here. It has also proven to be an effective alternative for housing our city offices.

Why should voters vote for you over someone else?: We are still in critical times. Running a city like ours requires many skill sets (i.e. police, fire, road maintenance, recreation, land use planning, budgeting, etc.). There are many people who are relatively new to the city and in very critical positions and I believe I offer the balance needed between new ideas and experience.

What is your relationship to Community Athletic Coordinating Council and is being on the recreation joint powers authority a conflict of interest for you?: I have no affiliation with the C.A.C.C.

Four years ago you said the Tahoe Valley Plan would be done by now. It isn’t. Any comment?: Yes, as I mentioned earlier, the city did its due diligence in preparing the plan. It was the TRPA that was unwilling to review it.

Is there a person or business you would not take a campaign contribution from?: I will not accept any contributions from anyone in return for any promises. I am fiercely independent and over the years I’m sure I have made some decisions that have disappointed people who are my most ardent supporters and at times have voted in support of my harshest critics. I have always voted my conscience and always will.

Tell readers something about yourself that they may not already know: Since my early adulthood I have been distrustful and critical of government. I still am. That is the main reason I entered politics.

It’s the peak time to see the Kokanee salmon spawning at Taylor Creek on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe.

The fish will continue migrating upstream from Lake Tahoe to spawn and then eventually die.

Early morning is a good time to see bears feasting.

Near the bridge on Highway 89 is the place to see where beavers have been gnawing on aspens and other trees.

The stream profile center explains the significance and whole process of this annual event.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

Migration up Taylor Creek.

A Kokanee swims to its death in Taylor Creek on Oct. 7. Photos/Kathryn Reed

Kokanee at Taylor Creek.

Early voting for the Nov. 6 election begins this week in various locations in California.

In El Dorado County, early voting is at the Recorder-Clerks Office, 3368 Lake Tahoe Blvd., No. 108, in South Lake Tahoe. (Office is closed from noon-1pm.) The Placerville location is at 2850 Fairlane Court. Both are open from 8am-5pm.

Truckee’s early voting is in the Town Clerk’s Department at Town Hall, 10183 Truckee Airport Road on weekdays from 8am-noon and 1-5pm from Oct. 9-Nov. 5.

Oct. 22 is the last day to register to vote in the Nov. 6 election.

People registered absentee will have their ballots mailed Oct. 9.

By Matt Weiser, Sacramento Bee

The California Department of Parks and Recreation is investigating whether crucial records were destroyed by officials at Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area, an off-roading park in the desert east of San Diego.

Richard Stapler, a spokesman for the California Natural Resources Agency, which oversees the state parks department, confirmed that an investigation is under way at Ocotillo Wells. He also said a new superintendent, Kent Gresham, was put in charge of Ocotillo Wells on Thursday.

“This has all happened just in the past 24 hours,” Stapler said Friday.

State officials declined to give further details Friday, citing the ongoing investigation.

But an administration official who was briefed on the Ocotillo investigation told the Bee that it concerned the unauthorized destruction of documents. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter.

The official said that Kathy Dolinar, park superintendent at Ocotillo Wells, was placed on “administrative time off” as of Thursday. In addition, another employee, the park’s administrative officer, had been previously reassigned.

The Bee was unable to reach Dolinar for comment.

The investigation was reportedly sparked when, about two weeks ago, custodial staff at Ocotillo Wells found bags of shredded documents in a trash bin and alerted headquarters officials. Destruction of documents would violate a department-wide directive in July ordering parks employees to preserve all records for a larger investigation into financial misconduct.

The episode marks the latest fallout from a scandal in which the state parks department was found in July to have hidden $54 million in two park operating funds. For reasons that remain under investigation, the parks department kept the money secret for years by reporting false balances to the state Department of Finance.

Parks director Ruth Coleman resigned as the scandal unfolded. Numerous other parks officials were either fired or demoted. Separate investigations are under way by the state auditor and attorney general’s office.

Ocotillo Wells is the largest of eight off-roading parks operated by the state Department of Parks and Recreation. Over the past year, the park has also been the source of sexual harassment complaints filed by employees against park supervisors, and a whistle-blower complaint alleging supervisors refused to uphold environmental laws to protect wildlife and habitat.

The Lake Tahoe Federal Advisory Committee is scheduled to meet Oct. 11 from from 9am-noon at the Tahoe Environmental Research Center, 291 Country Club Drive, Incline Village.

LTFAC will address issues related to federal activities at Lake Tahoe.

Items on the agenda include an update on biomass in the Lake Tahoe Basin, aquatic invasive species in Lake Mead, and public comment.

All Lake Tahoe Federal Advisory Committee meetings are open to the public.

A Carson City woman died Saturday when she was ejected from her vehicle.

Lynette Lucille Cieri, 63, was traveling west on Mottsville Lane in Douglas County at 5:20pm Oct. 6 when for an unknown reason her Jeep Grand Cherokee entered the north dirt shoulder of Mottsville Lane before re-entering the westbound lane. The vehicle crossed over the double yellow lines before overturning, according to the Nevada Highway Patrol.

Cieri was not wearing her seat belt. Officers said speed appears to be a factor, but it is unknown if alcohol is a factor at this time.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Ron Sylvester, Las Vegas Sun

The slot machines you see in casinos today could soon be things of the past.

Not in 20 years, but in five.

Experts predict that the games themselves aren’t likely to change. They’ll just get more portable, as gaming tries to keep pace with customers used to being entertained by iPads and smartphones.

Instead of players sitting at big banks of slot machines, they’ll gamble on iPads installed in restaurants, bars and other parts of the casino, much like video poker screens are today, but portable.

“If we’re going to survive, we’ve got to change the way we do things,” Deana Scott, marketing director for casino technology company Acres 4.0, told an audience at last week’s Global Gaming Expo, where many of the ideas were discussed. “Over time, what we do now will become obsolete.”

For casinos, it’s a winning proposition.

First, a $500 iPad is far less expensive than a $22,000 slot cabinet. Second, customers are expected to increasingly demand the speed and convenience they get from their personal devices from casinos.

Casino iPad games already have proven viable in smaller test markets in Northern California, Oregon and Oklahoma. Boutique areas set up by Acres 4.0, such as tapas bars that offer iPad slots, have resulted in the average age of players dropping five years.

In Asia, areas devoted to e-gaming are thriving, casino architect Paul Heretakis said. There, players congregate in stadiums, making bets on iPads while real dealers shuffle and deal cards.

“The cost savings are tremendous,” said Heretakis, of Westar Architects, which has designed more than 1,000 casinos, restaurants, retail centers and hotels.

Keno actually was one of the first mobile gaming devices, but it used a pencil and paper instead of a touch screen, said Brett Ewing, an architect who oversees resort design for the Cunningham.

“It allowed people to move around a casino,” Ewing said.

That’s what a growing segment of gamblers wants.

“No longer do they want to sit in a dark corner like a mushroom,” said Steve Waither, vice president of marketing for Aruze Gaming.

In fact, players’ feelings of seclusion helped drive people away from gaming in recent years and toward more social venues such as restaurants and nightclubs, which now bring in more revenue than gambling, the experts said.

Moving forward, casinos hope to integrate those types of amenities with gaming.

IGT, for example, used G2E to debut a new menu feature that allows players to bid on buffets and other perks and hotel amenities using players’ points. WMS has designed platforms that let players carry over bonuses earned on their personal computers to the casino.

Casinos are developing ways to engage customers on their smartphones as soon as they walk in the door.

Future competition, meanwhile, may not come from gambling companies on the Strip but from technology companies worldwide.

“WMS, IGT and Ballys are seeing their biggest competition from (mobile phone app designer) Zynga and Facebook,” said Kevin Parker, also of Acres 4.0.

Tangled Roots Writing in Truckee has a few workshops coming up.

One is Shaping and Revising your Project. This ongoing three-part workshop series will help develop your first draft into a refined piece through monthly feedback in a small dedicated group of writers while learning techniques for structuring and revising your book. Tips on project management, working with deadlines, and publishing will be given. Classes are Oct. 21, Nov. 11 and Dec. 9 from 10am-1pm. Cost is $160.

Monday nights is a Creative Writing Workshop. Craft, technique, and prompts for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. This is a six-week sessions from Oct. 22-Dec. 3 — no class Nov. 19, from 6-8pm. Cost is $140.

For more information and to register, call Karen Terrey at (530) 386.3901.

By Tom Knudson, Sacramento Bee

To Sherry Guzzi, the beaver dam on Taylor Creek was more than a watery jungle of sticks and branches.

In that snarl of debris, she saw hope for a species long regarded as non-native in the Sierra but which new research claims has occupied the range for centuries and is key to ecosystem health.

Late last month, her hope was extinguished when the U.S. Forest Service tore down the dam to protect a tourist facility celebrating a non-native species: kokanee salmon.

“They are doing all this to showcase an introduced species,” said Guzzi, co-founder of the Sierra Wildlife Coalition, a local environmental group. “It’s a little nuts, isn’t it?”

The Forest Service, which is having its 23rd Kokanee Salmon Festival this weekend, defended the action. But spokeswoman Cheva Heck said the agency hopes to make its facilities and festival more beaver-friendly in the future.

“The Forest Service’s main interest is in promoting native species,” she said. “We are aware that over time our messages are going to need to change.”

What’s happening here is more than a flap over a furry, flat-tailed rodent with a penchant for gnawing down trees and damming up streams. It is part of a wider controversy over the role of beaver in nature and their provenance – native, non-native or both? – in the Sierra Nevada.

“A beaver can go 10 kilometers by land or 50 kilometers by water in a day. What would keep them out of the Sierra?” said Richard Lanman, a historical ecologist from Los Altos and co-author of two new studies concluding beaver occupied the range long before settlers arrived.

“Every mountain range from northern Mexico to the Arctic tundra, from the Atlantic to the Pacific” had beaver, Lanman said. “And they were supposedly never native to the Sierra? This makes no sense.”

Lanman and his colleagues also write that beavers help “fish abundance and diversity in the Sierra Nevada” and their dams “reduce (the) discharge of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment loads into fragile water bodies such as Lake Tahoe.”

Their papers challenge long-held assumptions and have met with resistance in some quarters.

“I have learned to view beavers with great suspicion,” said Phil Pister, a retired fisheries biologist who believes the animals are not native to the southeast Sierra. “Beavers are remarkable creatures, but only where nature intended them to be.”

The conflict is muddied by a century of dramatic management swings – a story that begins with the near eradication of beaver by 19th century trappers and their subsequent protection from exploitation by the California Legislature in 1911.

One of the most colorful chapters played out in the 1930s and ’40s when the California Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Forest Service transplanted beaver to the Sierra, in some cases by air.

The idea was to conserve soil and water behind their dams and expand opportunities for trapping. As one Fish and Game publication at the time put it: “California’s busy beavers are being transplanted, sometimes by parachute, to mountain areas where their industry and skills will benefit the state.”

“Beaver dams in the mountains save water for fish, wildlife and agriculture,” it added.

Thriving by the 1980s

By the 1980s, beavers were doing so well that Tahoe National Forest officials launched an effort to remove them – “by transplant or trapping” – north of Truckee, citing damage to trees, wetlands and campgrounds.

“Beaver populations are on the increase,” one 1987 Sierraville Ranger District document reads. “This poses a direct threat to many of our riparian areas.”

Some old beaver dams remain visible today – minus the beaver. “It was like you snapped your fingers. Aliens came and got them. They were just gone,” said Tom Leavell, a cattle rancher who opposed the agency action.

He said beavers and their dams made great fishing on a stream he called Little Creek. “It was the best fishing I’ve ever had,” Leavell said.

“I would take a hundred brook trout a season. And it replenished itself every year.”

Now “you are lucky if you can catch 20 a year,” he said.

Agencies still treat the species harshly.

When beaver flooded a Forest Service campground in Mono County in 2010, for example, the state Department of Fish and Game signed a depredation permit authorizing the agency to kill three animals. A hand-written note on the permit notes that a trapper did just that – taking two males and a female.

Elsewhere, the animals – which back up water behind dams to protect themselves from predators and stockpile an aquatic pantry of nutritious sticks and branches – have been killed for toppling trees and damming culverts and waterways.

“They have a right to be here,” said Heidi Perryman, founder of Worth A Dam, a beaver conservation group in Martinez. “There is a way to manage their difficult behavior. And there is a reason why you should bother to do it.”

“Killing them is an extreme response to managing their behavior,” she added. “It’s like shooting all the cars that speed. It would work, but at what cost?”

Dam dates to Middle Ages

Perryman is one of the researchers whose articles in California Fish and Game, a peer-reviewed scientific journal, challenge the long-held view that beaver did not inhabit the Sierra above 1,000 feet on the west slope.

Some of the most persuasive evidence in the articles comes from a beaver dam found buried along a creek in Plumas County. Samples sent to a laboratory for radio-carbon dating showed the structure was built at the dawn of the Middle Ages, around A.D. 580, and used and reused until around 1850.

“Personally, I think beaver were keystone species that helped form meadows in the Sierra by trapping sediment behind their dams,” said Mike Kossow, a Plumas County fisheries consultant who helped discover the dam.

Researchers turned up other supporting material, too, including historical accounts from famous California mountain man James “Grizzly” Adams and other 19th century fur trappers who reported finding beaver at widespread locations in the Sierra.

The researchers also searched official U.S. Geological Survey place names and found several locations in the Sierra named for ‘Beaver,’ including four Beaver Creeks, one Little Beaver Creek and one Beaver Canyon Creek.

“Either there were a lot of people named Beaver who named those streams after themselves or they named them after beaver,” said Lanman.

The articles have caught the attention of the California Department of Fish and Game, which is re-examining its beaver policies in the Sierra, said Matt Meshiry, an environmental scientist with the department.

“If they are a native component, then we need to examine land use and species management … in terms of maintaining and preserving the ecosystem,” Meshiry said.

Pister, the retired fisheries biologist, is skeptical, saying beaver have harmed golden trout – the California state fish and a native species – in the Eastern Sierra.

“We found beaver dams prevent migration and genetic interchange between populations while silting in the best food-producing and spawning areas,” he said. “Trout would grow larger in beaver ponds, but at a biological price.”

Non-native fish festival

The conflict this fall at Lake Tahoe is not about golden trout but kokanee salmon, a non-native fish introduced to Lake Tahoe in 1944. Every fall, navies of the bright red fish surge up Taylor Creek to spawn.

And on the bank, armies of tourists gather to watch at a 23-year-old Forest Service salmon festival. For many, the highlight is strolling through a streamside corridor offering an aquarium-like view of the fish.

But this year, beavers built a dam not far from the facility, threatening to flood it and a trail. The Sierra Wildlife Coalition urged the Forest Service not to disturb the dam, suggesting a piping system be installed to permit water to flow through the dam, preventing flooding and protecting beaver – or that the level of the pathway be raised.

On Sept. 26, Forest Service crews dismantled the dam instead. The beaver weren’t harmed but Guzzi fears for their future.

“They have to stockpile food for the winter because they don’t hibernate,” she said. “So this is taking away their food. And they could starve.”

“It’s a strange corner for the Forest Service to be backed into because it’s all artificial,” Guzzi added. “It’s a little ironic, to say the least.”

Heck, the Forest Service spokeswoman, acknowledged the subject is challenging.

“There are a lot of complex issues,” she said. “Are you dealing with two non-native species and balancing their needs? Are you balancing a native and a non-native? There has been quite a bit of conversation.”

She also said dismantling the dam was the right decision.

“Essentially, we were hoping we could discourage them (the beaver) from rebuilding in that location while allowing downstream dams to persist.”

“It’s one thing to suggest things. It’s another to be the entity that has to implement solutions,” Heck added. “We have to look at what the maintenance load would be (and) whether it’s actually going to work.”

Also up for discussion is the focus of the popular fall festival on a non-native species.

“It does take some thought about how to shift an event like that,” Heck said. “What would that new theme be? How are we going to talk about both the kokanee and native species?”

In recent days, the Taylor Creek beavers have been busy with matters of their own – gnawing down more aspen and willows to repair the dam the Forest Service tore down.

By Thursday, the dam had been rebuilt. But when Guzzi returned to the site Friday, she said it had been destroyed again.

“On some level, (the Forest Service) must realize how ludicrous a situation this is,” said Guzzi. “It’s so counterproductive. They are wasting tax dollars and harassing an animal that is good for the lake and its clarity.”