Prolonged drought can have severe and long-lasting effects on trees. University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, in partnership with the Nevada Division of Forestry will provide information on current threats to trees, how trees respond to water stress and strategies to make trees more drought resilient.

According to Heidi Kratsch, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension horticulture specialist, trees may exhibit visible damage from drought in the short term. In the long term, they may reduce flower and fruit production and eventually die if damage is severe. Drought-stressed trees are also less able to protect themselves and become more susceptible to invasion by insects or disease.

Keeping Your Trees Alive During a Drought will be May 1 from 8:30am-4:30pm. The workshop will be held in Reno, at 4955 Energy Way, and will be available via interactive video at several Cooperative Extension offices throughout the state. Workshop cost is $10 and covers certificates of attendance, refreshments and International Society of Arboriculture and Pesticide Applicator Continuing Education Units. Participants must register by April 29.

For more information or to register, go online.

• Sonora and Tioga passes are open.

• Kenny Curtzwiler will be a speaker at the Veteran Suicide Awareness March on May 2 at 1pm at Western Nevada College in Carson City. For more info about the 1.5-mile walk and event, email wncveterans@gmail.com.

• Check this story out to learn about the snowboarder who landed the first Quad Cork 1800.

• The County Health Rankings report ranked El Dorado County the seventh healthiest among the 57 ranked counties in California.

• Four Washoe County sheriff’s deputies will join more than 3,000 of their law enforcement colleagues on May 9 to kick off the 2015 Police Unity Bike Tour to honor officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty. The tour will culminate with a national vigil at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington on May 12.

• Crews at the Valhalla Estate on the South Shore are replacing part of its foundation.

• Former South Lake Tahoe City Manager Dave Childs is retiring from public service. His last day as city manager of Palmdale will be June 18.

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

• An item on the April 21 South Lake Tahoe City Council agenda is for Councilman Tom Davis to be reimbursed $75.04 for driving to Placerville to watch Supervisor Sue Novasel be sworn in.

• The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s Lake Tahoe Sustainability Action Plan is being recognized this month with a National Planning Achievement Award for Environmental Planning from the American Planning Association.

Highway 50-Kingsbury in the late 1950s. Photo/UNR Library

In the 1950s, Highway 50 at Stateline was a two-lane mountain road where it met unpaved Kingsbury Grade, then labeled State Route 19, a twisting dirt road going to the Carson Valley. It was gated at the Daggett Pass summit for winter closure until the 1960s.

The two white diagonal streaks between the junction and the lake are today’s Kahle Drive and 4-H Road. Just left of the highway junction is Casino De Paris or Oliver’s Club in Tahoe Village. Early gaming endeavors at the state line appear at the right edge of the photo.

Highway 50 remained as two lanes in this area until 1957. Kingsbury Grade was paved only part-way up and only on the Tahoe side by then.

Development surrounds Highway 50-Kingsbury Grade. Photo/Google Earth

Today, Kahle Drive and 4-H Road are enclosed by various businesses, including Lakeside Inn, plus diverse housing in Oliver Park and Tahoe Shores.

On the north side of Kahle Drive is Rabe Meadow and the Lam Watah walking trail to Nevada Beach. The large center green area is Edgewood Golf, seen nationwide every July via NBC-TV coverage of the American Century Championship golf tournament. The Nevada portion of the loop road encircles the Stateline casinos along Highway 50.

All of Kingsbury Grade was paved to the Carson Valley floor in 1967. Then it was realigned to join Foothill Road about three miles south from its original junction near Mueller Lane

A sign captures the road’s history. Photo/Bill Kingman

Kingsbury Grade was renamed State Route 207 in 1976. Today it handles an annual average daily traffic count up to 10,000 vehicles daily, according to the Nevada Department of Transportation. Highway 50 in the same area counts up to 22,000 vehicles daily, according to NDOT.

— Bill Kingman

• South Tahoe High School’s Key Club, which is a student service club associated with Kiwanis Club, collected 1,200 non-perishable food items for South Lake Tahoe Family Resource Center. From left to right are Key Club members Alec Jobbins, Jomae Santos and Kylee Lyons.

• Chris Fiumara has been hired as vice president and general manager of Hard Rock Lake Tahoe.

• The League to Save Lake Tahoe is putting on two community cleanup days. One is April 19 from 1-3pm at Lakeview Commons; meet on the beach. The other is April 22 from 9am-noon. Meet at the grassy knoll under the gondola between Shoreline Ski & Snowboard and the parking garage. Bring gloves.

• El Dorado County Senior Day Care Services is offering Dementia 101, a workshop for family and friends who care for people with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia. The workshop will be May 30 from 8:30am-1pm at the Senior Center, 990 Lassen Lane, El Dorado Hills.

Economic and Community Revitalization is the theme of this year’s South Shore tourism forum.

It will include lessons learned from Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce’s trek to Park City and how the South Shore can tackle its challenges through Park City’s example. Guest speakers Ken Fisher, Park City recreation manager, and Jonathan Weidenhamer, Park City economic development manager, will discuss unique issues and solutions mountain towns face in today’s economy.

Presentations will also address ways South Shore can improve its visibility as a world-class recreation destination.

The forum is April 21 at Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel from 3:30-5:30pm. Cost is $5 for chamber members, $10 for non-members.

For more information, email Emily Abernathy at emily@tahoechamber.org.

• Caltrans and Southwest Gas are hosting a public open house April 23 from 6-8pm at Lake Tahoe Airport to discuss upcoming construction work on a 2-mile stretch of Highway 50 in South Lake Tahoe.

• South Tahoe Wooden Boat Classic will be July 24-25 at the Tahoe Keys Marina in South Lake Tahoe.

• There will be a public hearing May 21 at 6pm to discuss changing the water and snow removal fees for Kingsbury General Improvement District customers. The meeting is at the district office, 255 Kingsbury Grade, Stateline.

• The High Fives Foundation’s 5th annual Charity Golf Tournament is May 14 at the Golf Club at Gray’s Crossing in Truckee. To register, go online.

• “Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch” movie will be at the Tahoe Art Haus & Cinema in Tahoe City on May 13. For more info and tickets, go online.

El Dorado County Board of Supervisors is considering amendments to the General Plan that could significantly affect how properties, neighborhoods, regional boundaries, and open spaces are designated.

There will be a meeting to discuss the plans on April 29 from 6:30-8pm at 2502 Country Club Drive, Cameron Park.

Opponents to the plan believe the rural nature of the towns of Diamond Springs, Camino, Pollock Pines, Cedar Grove, El Dorado Hills, Shingle Springs, Cameron Park, El Dorado and others are being threatened.
Come learn how the amendments affect traffic, zoning, open space, and more.

The meeting is sponsored by Citizens for Responsible Development in El Dorado Hills and Save Our County.

• Squaw Valley has extended its season to April 26.

• The Nevada State Museum in Carson City on May 29 will put on a Demonstration of Coin Press No. 1 from 10:30am-noon and 1-3pm. Cost is $8 for adults; free for museum members and ages 17 and under.

• The Eldorado National Forest has extended the comment period to April 20 for the scoping phase that will guide the forest in developing an environmental impact statement for the designation of over-snow vehicle use. For more info, go online.

• The entrance fee to all national parks will be waived this weekend.

• BloodSource will have a South Lake Tahoe Community blood drive at the South Lake Tahoe Parks and Recreation Center, 1180 Rufus Allen Blvd. on May 1 from noon-5pm. Donors must weigh at least 110 pounds, be 17 (16 year olds need a signed BloodSource Parental consent form) and be generally healthy. There is no upper age limit for blood donations. Bring a photo ID and drink plenty of fluids before donating.

To be eligible for enrollment in kindergarten in Lake Tahoe Unified School District a child must be 5 on or before Sept. 1, 2015. If your child will be f5 after Sept. 1, 2015, or before Dec. 2, 2015, he or she qualifies for transitional kindergarten, a two-year kindergarten program located at Tahoe Valley Elementary School.

Registration for fall is May 4-8.

California law requires that:

1. You bring child’s birth certificate.

2. You bring proof of immunizations, which includes the Varicella (chicken pox), hepatitis B and for most children the last booster shot. Children will not be enrolled in school without presenting an up-to-date immunization record.

3. Your child has a health examination upon entry to school.

4. Your child has an oral health examination upon entry to school (dental examinations that have occurred in the last 12 months meet this requirement).

5. You bring proof of California residency.

Call your neighborhood school to schedule an appointment:

Bijou Community School 530.543.2337; Sierra House Elementary 530.543.2327; Tahoe Valley Elementary 530.543.2350.