Tahoe Fund was awarded a $130,000 Recreation Trails Program grant to restore the Incline Flume Trail, also known as the “other flume trail.”

The restoration work will be led by the Friends of Incline Trails in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, Tahoe Rim Trail Association and Tahoe Area Mountain Biking Association. Trail days are scheduled for June 15-17, July 21-23, Aug. 12, and Sept. 26, 28 and 30.

They will be build a retaining wall in a particularly erosive area, and install interpretive and way-finding signage. It will also help fund the transfer of the historic bull wheel (located nearby the trail) from the Nevada Land Trust to the Forest Service.

Tahoe Fund partnered with Friends of Incline Trails to provide funding for the environmental permitting to have the trail adopted by the U.S. Forest Service. The new designation as an official Forest Service trail was received in May.

The Incline Flume Trail, known for its flat terrain and lake views, runs for seven miles from Mt. Rose Highway across Diamond Peak Ski Resort to Tunnel Creek Road. It is the site of a former flume system that operated in the Comstock Era.

In December 2015, David and Cheryl Duffield donated 18.6 acres of land along the trail, including the historic bull wheel, to Nevada Land Trust, a nationally-accredited nonprofit conservation land trust based in Reno whose work includes a portion of the Tahoe basin. Volunteers from TAMBA, Tahoe Rim Trail Association, and Friends of Incline Trails built the missing link of the trail through that section of property last fall, opening the trail from Mt. Rose Highway all the way to the Tunnel Creek Trail. The land will be transferred from the Nevada Land Trust to the Forest Service later this year, putting the entire trail in public hands for the first time in decades.

By Gretchen Reynolds, New York Times

If all of the children who currently are sedentary started exercising every day, societies could save enormous amounts of money in the coming decades and have healthier citizens as a whole, according to a remarkable new study. In the United States alone, we could expect to save more than $120 billion every year in health care and associated expenses.

The study is the first to use sophisticated computer simulations to arrive at a literal and sobering societal price tag for allowing our children to be sedentary.

Inactivity is, of course, widespread among young people today. Recent research shows that in the United States and Europe, physical activity tends to peak at about age 7 for both boys and girls and tail off continually throughout adolescence. More than two-thirds of children in the United States rarely exercise at all.

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A park ranger will lead a trek where participants will be taught how to identify some of the most common plants found near Spooner Lake.

On this hike, participants will learn how to tell the difference between the various trees, shrubs and flowers that grow around the lake.

Bring water and wear sturdy shoes or hiking boots. Meet in the upper section of the parking lot.

Dates are June 17 and June 24, 10-11:30am.

Entrance fee of $10 per vehicle. Nevada residents receive a $2 discount. There is no additional charge for the hike.                               

For more info, Spooner.Ranger@gmail.com.

Douglas County Parks and Recreation and Northern Nevada Junior Vollleyball Coaches are offering a skills volleyball clinic at Kahle Community Center open to boys and girls ages 7-18.

It will focus on basic through advance concepts of the game. This for players familiar with the game or just starting out. The cost is $99 for each session.

For dates and to preregister, call Kahle Community Center at 775.586.7271.

Derrick Crescencio of the Pinole Park 8.0 team winds up for a forehand on the way to winning his match June 9 at Incline Village. Photo/ Kathryn Reed

Fifty-six teams are in the greater Lake Tahoe area for the three-day USTA mixed doubles sectionals for the 40 and over league.

Rain on June 9 delayed the start and stopped play before it was completed. Weather and the altitude dominated many conversations at Incline Village. (Action was also taking place at Northstar and Tahoe Donner.)

The players – more than 650 at the start – will continue playing Saturday and Sunday. The levels are a combined rating of 6.0, 7.0, 8.0 and 9.0.

Most teams are from the Bay Area. Playing at this elevation took some getting used for many players. With thinner air, some people were easily winded. For others, they noted the ball seemed to bounce differently, even playing with high altitude balls.

Many players were in long sleeves and pants. Spectators had down jackets on and blankets wrapped around them.

Winners in each division will advance to the national championships.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Christopher Reynolds, Los Angeles Times

Who flies to Reno on a spring evening, rents a car and heads into the mountains with no skis, no mountain bike and a backpack full of books? Me.

Why? Because in 1861 a 25-year-old Missouri riverboat pilot named Sam Clemens boarded a stagecoach bound for the same territory.

He was going to dodge the Civil War for a few months, work for the government, do some writing, maybe dig for silver. Instead he stayed for almost seven years, emerged as Mark Twain, gave us “Huckleberry Finn” and won global fame as that sardonic old man with the white hair and droopy mustache.

I wanted to see some of what he saw in those early travels — a dusty Nevada silver-mining town, the shores of Lake Tahoe, the hills of California Gold Country. And I wondered: After so much history, myth and marketing, how much Twain remains?

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By Carlos Correa, CBS-13

Californiais working to make the waterways around the region a lot of safer by making sure anyone who operates a boat is well educated on how to properly run one.

This time next year, people will be required to carry a boater education card.

The education card is like a permit you can carry in your wallet or place on your boat. It proves you’re able to operate it and know exactly what to do in an emergency.

In order to keep the water ways safe, starting Jan. 1, 2018, anyone under the age of 20 will be required to get a California boater card, which proves a person, has successfully taken and passed a state-approved boater safety education exam.

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The Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest’s Carson Ranger District will begin issuing dead tree firewood cutting permits on June 15.

Woodcutters may cut dead trees anywhere on the Carson Ranger District, including the Washington Fire burned area. Some areas on the district may later be removed or chainsaw restrictions may be put into place as the season progresses.

Firewood permits are valid through Dec. 31. They may be purchased for $15 per cord with a two cord minimum and a 10 cord maximum.

No tree cutting is permitted in administrative sites or along state and county roads, and Forest Service designated trail. Dead fuelwood cutting will only be allowed for conifer species such as pine and fir. Hardwoods such as aspen or cottonwood are not allowed under this permit.

Permittees are required to have fire extinguisher and a shovel when using a chainsaw for cutting firewood.

For more info, call 775.882.2766.

Charles Barkley is a fan favorite at the annual celebrity golf tournament in Tahoe. Photo Copyright 2017 Carolyn E. Wright

By Jim Krajewski, Reno Gazette-Journal

Charkles Barkley is not much of a golfer, and he readily admits that.

He relishes it actually and is not afraid to poke fun of himself.

Barkley remains one of the more popular celebrities each summer at the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament at Edgewood Tahoe.

Barkley has become the event’s unofficial spokesman.

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Zephyr Cove Tennis Club pro Dave Nostrant teaches Dylan Bradley how to serve. Photo/ZCTC

It was a little noisier than usual at Zephyr Cove Tennis Club on June 3 as two dozen youngsters took over the courts.

From bouncing the ball with a racket to master control, to zinger serves and everything in between, the kids were all more proficient by the time the event was over. Some of the 4- to 12-year-olds were new to the sport, while others clearly had held a racket before.

Instruction was under the direction of Dave Nostrant, the first year pro at ZCTC.  He has been teaching for more than 30 years.

This free two-hour session was co-sponsored by Douglas County Parks and Recreation Department and the nonprofit Zephyr Cove Tennis Club Foundation.

Nostrant will be conducting three clinics for ages 4-12 this month and in July. For more information or to register, go online. Cost ranges from $35-$75. Private lessons are also available. Nostrant may be reached at 775.588.5533 or zctennisclub@gmail.com.