By Kathryn Reed

Anything with a gill breathing apparatus living in Alpine County’s Silver King Creek is about to die.

This decision by the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Board is an attempt to preserve the Paiute cutthroat trout. This is the only place in the world where this fish lives.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife website, the Paiute was listed as endangered on March 11, 1967, and reclassified as threatened on July 16, 1975.

The problem is the California Department of Fish & Game stocked the remote wilderness area creek with nonnative fish starting in the early 1900s and ending in 1991. Those fish are the same ones the DFG now wants to kill.

Successfully poisoning waterways to rid them of nonnative species isn’t something the California Department of Fish & Game has a great record with. Think Lake Davis. (Another water board handles that area of the state.)

Pumping Rotenone into the lake near Portola in 1997 was disastrous. Eighteen months later the northern pike were back. Fast forward to 2007, the lake was poisoned again. This time the nonnative pike seem to have disappeared for good – or until someone recklessly reintroduces them to the lake.

Rotenone is the same poison that will be used latter this year on an 11-mile stretch of Silver King Creek. This poison was tried before starting in the 1960s and continuing into the 1990s without success.

Stafford Lehr with the Department of Fish & Gane addresses the Lahontan board. Photo/Kathryn Reed

DFG thinks its plan this time around is more comprehensive and will work. Stafford Lehr with the DFG told the board and nearly packed room at Lake Tahoe Community College that he knows his department is under a microscope and that everything is being done to ensure the project’s success.

Even though the Alpine County Board of Supervisors is against the poisoning and no real economic consequences to California’s smallest county have been forecast, the poisoning of the stream is going forward.

Lahontan board member Eric Sandel was the lone vote Wednesday night against the poisoning. He believes staff was too dependent on making its findings based on DFG data and not enough independent study was used to come to the recommendation.

Former board member Laurel Ames is against the poisoning, pointing out how Rotenone is banned in some areas and it has links to Parkinson’s disease. She also took issue with how long the EIR/EIS has been available to the public.

Anyone with “trout” in their organization’s name spoke in favor of the plan.

Executive Director Harold Singer added more monitoring to the plan.

The area will essentially be dead for three to four years. Once it’s determined everything that should have died did die, the Paiute will be reintroduced to the creek. They will be collected from the headwaters area and put into the creek.

The DFG has also taken the Paiute cutthroat trout to locations in the Southern Sierra, beyond Lahontan’s jurisdiction. This ensures the species continues to live, even if it’s not in its native habitat.

Bring the sunscreen and stay hydrated on the slopes — spring is back. Here is the ski report from Curtis Fong, the Guy from Tahoe.

By SKI Magazine

Ski movie season isn’t till the fall, but we’ve got a behind-the-scenes look at a segment from next year’s Warren Miller ski movie, the 61st film from Warren Miller Entertainment. In this shot, big-mountain skier Arne Backstrom heads to Lake Tahoe’s Heavenly ski resort to shoot some powder skiing with cinematagrapher Tom Day.

Read the whole story and see the footage.

It’s another beautiful day to ski in Lake Tahoe. Here is the ski report from Curtis Fong, the Guy from Tahoe.

The sun has returned to the skies of Lake Tahoe. Note that some resorts like Homewood and Diamond Peak are closed for the season. Here is the ski report from Curtis Fong, the Guy from Tahoe.

Join the Tahoe Rim Trail Association and partners for the 5th Annual Trails and Outdoor Leadership Workshop at Washoe County’s Galena Creek Park May 14-16.

Each year, local trails organizations and agencies gather to train trail crews and volunteers in the art and science of trails at our nationally recognized workshop.

The weekend kicks off with a trail design and layout workshop, followed by two days of construction seminars. Courses available include; basic trail building, advanced trail seminar, trail design & layout, and crew leadership. The weekend is a way to network with local trail volunteers and professionals and learn how trails are planned, constructed and maintained. Training is supported through the Nevada State Parks Recreational Trails Program, and participants pay $85 (3 days) or $70 (2 days) to cover instruction, park lodging, food, training materials and transportation to class sites.

To participate, register online. Call (775) 298.0012 for more information.

Participants will be sent a gear list and must bring long-sleeved shirts, long pants, boots and work gloves. The Tahoe Rim Trail Association will provide hard hats and all trail building and maintenance tools.

By Scott Oxarart, Reno Gazette-Journal

This year’s group of NIAA Top 10  Student-Athletes of the Year includes students from Eureka to Incline Village.

They are once again leaders in their schools — as team captains and student body officers, as volunteers and tutors. And they were selected from one of the largest applicant pools in the 15-year history of the event.

The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association (or NIAA), in conjunction with Farmers Insurance, Lifetouch Photograph and the Reno Gazette-Journal, will present five boys and five girls with their awards on May 25. Each will also receive a $1,500 college scholarship courtesy of Lifetouch Photography and Farmers Insurance.

Bryce Baker of Fernley, Steven Carlson of Bishop Manogue, Michael Ceragioli of Incline Village, Aaron Greenblat of Reed and Sam Harris of Whittell will be the North’s boys honorees.

The northern girls winners are Delayni DeWitt of Eureka, Skylar Estes of Lowry, Morgan Hines of Elko, Katie McFarren of Carson and Kelsey Smith of South Tahoe.

Read the whole story

It could be windy on the slopes today. On Tuesday it’s the fundraiser for Pam Warman at Sierra-at-Tahoe. Here is the ski report from Curtis Fong, the Guy from Tahoe.

The Sunchaser Challenge, a sporting event from sunrise to sunset that features orienteering, running, mountain biking, road biking and kayaking, is headed to north Lake Tahoe.

The North Lake Tahoe Visitors Bureaus and Chamber of Commerce secured the multi-discipline adventure challenge set for May 22 at Northstar-at-Tahoe in Truckee.

The challenge will be in four time zones across the United States, including Lake Saranac in New York, Lake Geneva in Wisconsin and Lake Havasu in Arizona in addition to North Lake Tahoe, as part of Endangered Species Day.

According to race officials, approximately 1,000 competitors are expected to participate in each of the four event venues. Registration is now open for individuals and teams of two to five racers.

The North Lake Tahoe Visitors Bureaus and Chamber of Commerce are working in partnership with Wild Ones Promotions at the local level to bring access to sites for competitors to undertake the competition disciplines, secure various permissions needed for facilities and logistics, as well as coordinate safety components associated with servicing the participating athletes.

Winter is going to return to Tahoe later today. Here is the ski report from Curtis Fong, the Guy from Tahoe.