Published: Apr 19, 2019
Sacramento, Calif.—At its Board meeting yesterday, the California Tahoe Conservancy (Conservancy) accepted a $1.95 million grant from the Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC) to co-manage the Tahoe-Central Sierra Initiative (TCSI), a pioneering landscape-level effort to restore forest and watershed resilience to more than 2.4 million acres.
“If we have learned nothing else from the recent wildfires in California, increasing our pace and scale of forest management is essential to protecting Tahoe and Central Sierra communities,” said Jeff Marsolais, forest supervisor for the U.S. Forest Service, Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, and ex officio member of the Conservancy Board. “Efforts funded by this grant will advance critical landscape-scale restoration.”
This Proposition 68 grant from the SNC will enable the Conservancy to provide strategic direction to forest health and watershed restoration across the entire TCSI landscape, which extends from the North Yuba River to the American River watershed, and encompasses the Lake Tahoe Basin. Conservancy staff will also plan restoration projects, coordinate restoration crews, and conduct research to speed up large-scale restoration.
The Conservancy and the SNC collaboratively lead the TCSI, along with 12 other partners including three National Forests. The TCSI partners have committed to:
- restore resilience to the landscape using a science-based approach;
- integrate research to guide development of climate and fire-resilient forests and fire-adapted communities;
- accelerate planning, permitting, and implementation of high priority projects;
- increase the use of resulting biomass and wood products; and
- increase and leverage funding for large scale restoration.
At the same meeting, the Conservancy Board approved a $99,100 grant to the Tahoe Resource Conservation District (Tahoe RCD) to address five recently-identified aquatic invasive plant infestations in Lake Tahoe. Aquatic invasive species pose one of the most significant threats to Lake Tahoe’s delicate ecology. The Tahoe RCD will remove infestations at Baldwin Beach, Emerald Bay, General Creek, Camp Richardson, and Timber Cove Marina. Funds for this grant come from the Lake Tahoe Science and Lake Improvement Account, Senate Bill 630.
Media Resources
Media Contacts
- Chris Carney, Communications Director, California Tahoe Conservancy, (530) 543-6057
- Jane Freeman, Deputy Director, California Tahoe Conservancy, (530) 543-6038
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The California Tahoe Conservancy is a State agency, established in 1985, with a mission to lead California’s efforts to restore and enhance the extraordinary natural and recreational resources of the Lake Tahoe Basin. Learn more at tahoe.ca.gov.