November 2019 Conservancy Newsletter

Lake Tahoe

November 2019 Conservancy Newsletter

As we near the holidays, we have much to be thankful for at the Conservancy. We’re grateful to our partners, our staff, and all who we worked with this past year. Special thanks to the California Wildlife Conservation Board, who last week awarded the Conservancy an important grant to help restore the Upper Truckee Marsh. We appreciate our crews, who just wrapped up another successful season maintaining and restoring Conservancy lands.

We still have work much ahead before 2019 comes to a close, but we look forward to an opportunity to pause and give thanks, and wish all you a happy holiday season.

Patrick Wright
Executive Director, California Tahoe Conservancy

Wildlife Conservation Board awards the Conservancy $2.98 million to help restore the Upper Truckee Marsh

Upper Truckee Marsh at Lake Tahoe

Wildlife Conservation Board awards the Conservancy $2.98 million to help restore the Upper Truckee Marsh

The California Wildlife Conservation Board has awarded $2.98 million to the Conservancy to help restore the Upper Truckee Marsh, the largest wetland in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Restoring the Marsh will improve water quality and enrich native fish and bird habitat, while making the Marsh more resilient to droughts, flooding, and other climate change impacts. Learn more.

The Tahoe Pines Restoration and Public Access Project moves ahead

Our newest video highlights one piece of a larger effort to restore the Upper Truckee River: the Tahoe Pines Restoration and Public Access Project.

The site of a defunct campground, the Conservancy’s 8.1-acre Tahoe Pines property sits along the Upper Truckee River in Meyers, California. Our contractor, along with crews from the Tahoe Resource Conservation District and the California Conservation Corps, recently removed an old well and concrete walls from the site, and also large pipes and concrete debris from the river bank. The crews also removed dead trees and planted willow and alder poles to improve wildlife habitat and stabilize the river banks. Work begun this fall will continue in spring and summer 2020, when the Conservancy plans to reconstruct the parking area and build a pathway, pedestrian bridge, and stream overlook pad that are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Learn more. 

Dollar Creek Forest Heath Restoration

Mechanical thinning at Dollar Creek

Dollar Creek Forest Heath Restoration

The Conservancy’s contractors are wrapping up this season’s work on the Dollar Creek Forest Health and Biomass Project, where they mechanically thinned 151 acres of forest and are sending the removed timber to a biomass electric power generating facility. Projects like this reduce the risk of wildfire to Lake Tahoe communities, while restoring the resilience of forests to climate change impacts such as drought, disease, and insect outbreaks.

Community Meeting: Housing Solutions at the South Tahoe "Y"

Community Meeting: Housing Solutions at the South Tahoe "Y"

6:30 – 8:30 pm | Wednesday, December 11, 2019

South Tahoe High School, South Lake Tahoe (Student Union – Fallen Leaf Lake Room)

The Conservancy and its State and local partners invite you to a community meeting at South Lake Tahoe High School on December 11 to discuss the housing crisis and how redevelopment at a pair of Conservancy asset lands near the South Lake Tahoe “Y” can be part of the solution. Learn more.

Department of Finance Project Tour

Department of Finance Project Tour

Conservancy staff recently hosted our colleagues from the California Department of Finance for a tour of Conservancy projects and activities around the Lake Tahoe Basin. The Department of Finance plays a critical behind-the-scenes role in delivering California’s investments in support of efforts to restore and enhance the extraordinary natural and recreational resources of the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Upcoming California Tahoe Conservancy Board Meetings

The California Tahoe Conservancy Board will meet at 9:30 am on December 12, 2019 at Lake Tahoe Community College in the Lisa Maloff University Center, Classrooms U112 and U113, at 1 College Drive, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150. An agenda will be available on the Conservancy website ten days prior to the meeting.

2020 Board Meetings
March 12, 2020
June 25, 2020
September 16-17, 2020
December 10, 2020