Grant will expand the outdoor youth program’s impact in Lake Tahoe

The Tahoe Fund is proud to announce it will continue its support of SOS Outreach, a nonprofit that provides opportunities for underserved youth to experience the outdoors while participating in a mentorship program that is designed to prepare them for life’s challenges. The Tahoe Fund’s support will expand the program’s impact in Lake Tahoe where more than 585 kids learn to ski and snowboard, learn leadership skills, and learn the importance of protecting the environment through service projects each year. In the summer months they participate in mountain biking, backpacking, and kayaking. Off the slopes, they engage in social service projects that help improve their local community.

Over the past 10 years, SOS programs have led to more kids graduating from high school, attending college, finding careers and giving back to their communities. In fact, 96% of SOS youth plan to attend college, and 61% return to mentor peers. Staff of the Tahoe Fund have also served as mentors in the program since 2017. 

“At its core, our programs are meant to encourage a deep sense of belonging for underserved youth in our outdoor community,” said Heather Schwartz, North Lake Tahoe Program Manager. “Through positive mentorship and the power of community, our kids feel empowered to engage in service projects, learn leadership skills, and are mentally and emotionally equipped to handle all that life throws their way. What starts as just learning to ski or snowboard, soon transpires to tangible life skills that these kids will use for years. We’re incredibly thankful for the continued partnership of the Tahoe Fund and our community of supporters who make this work possible.”

“The SOS Outreach program supports the Tahoe Fund’s mission to use the power of philanthropy to improve the Lake Tahoe environment for all to enjoy,” said Amy Berry, Tahoe Fund CEO. “Making these outdoor opportunities available to the next generation is critical to the long term sustainability of special places like Lake Tahoe. It is also a wonderful opportunity for our staff to participate as mentors and see firsthand how impactful the program is.”

SOS Outreach is looking for positive adult mentors and volunteers! If you love to ski or snowboard and want to support local youth, this is your program. Reach out to Heather Schwartz, North Lake Tahoe Program Manager at hschwartz@sosoutreach.org.

Trail work is scheduled to begin this fall on the new trail

We are excited to announce that we have met and exceeded our campaign goal of raising $50,000 for a new Tunnel Creek Singletrack thanks to individual donors and a match by the Spaht family. Once built, the trail will be a 2.3-mile multi-use trail that will provide users with a new alternative when descending from the Marlette Flume Trail, the Incline Flume Trail and the Tahoe Rim Trail. 

The current loose, sandy descent at the end of the iconic Flume Trail has long been an issue for mountain bikers and hikers alike. This new trail will relieve the pressure and create a safer, more enjoyable experience for everyone.

This $50,000 will close the gap to complete Phase 1 along with a Rec Trails Program grant secured by project partners Great Basin Institute and the Nevada Conservation Corps program, Tahoe Area Mountain Biking Association (TAMBA), Nevada State Parks, Flume Trail Bikes, Nevada Department of Wildlife and the Tunnel Creek Lodge. All funds raised above and beyond the original campaign goal will go towards Phase 2 of the trail. 

“Creating opportunities for sustainable recreation within the Basin is a key goal of the Tahoe Fund, and this project has become even more important now that closures and trail damage caused by the Caldor Fire will be driving more users to the Flume trail,” said Tahoe Fund board member Cory Ritchie. “We are so grateful to all the donors and the Spaht Family for helping us fund this project twice as fast with their matching donation.”

“On behalf of Great Basin Institute and the Nevada Conservation Corps, I would like to thank the Spaht Family and individual donors for continuing to make this project a reality.  Without the generous donations, project implementation would not be possible.  The GBI team is very excited to begin trail construction and look forward to providing additional sustainable recreation opportunities for the Tahoe Basin” said Kevin Dose, deputy director of Great Basin Institute.

Volunteers are needed to help begin the work of clearing brush along the trail route. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact TAMBA at trails@tamba.org or keep an eye on our events page for upcoming volunteer days at tamba.org/events.

The donation will support the Tahoe Fund’s Smartest Forest Fund and post Caldor Fire restoration efforts

In celebration of its 20th anniversary, casual footwear brand BEARPAW is donating $20,000 to the Tahoe Fund in support of its Smartest Forest Fund and post-Caldor fire restoration efforts. Founder Tom Romero, inspired to start the brand after a profound bear encounter on the shores of Lake Tahoe, is returning the brand to its Tahoe roots in honor of the anniversary.

The Smartest Forest Fund was created to invest in innovative projects that will significantly increase the pace and scale of forest restoration to help prevent catastrophic wildfire.

“We are very grateful for this partnership with BEARPAW that supports our mission to restore our forests,” said Amy Berry, CEO of the Tahoe Fund. “Now, more than ever, the forest needs advocates. Contributions like this help us do the work that is necessary to keep our forests healthy and prevent future catastrophic wildfires.” 

As a brand that creates products for active lifestyles, BEARPAW is committed to environmental stewardship and contributing toward the preservation and restoration of our natural world. This partnership with the Tahoe Fund aligns with the company’s goal to help to ensure that there will be mountains, forests, beaches, and oceans for generations to come.

“Lake Tahoe has been in my life since the 1970’s and was the birthplace of the BEARPAW brand 20 years ago.  Supporting the Tahoe Fund’s Smartest Forest Fund is the ‘pawfect’ partnership, especially after recent fires made their way into the Tahoe Basin,” said Tom Romeo, CEO & Founder of BEARPAW. “This is just one of many programs we look to support and develop with this important organization in my peaceful place, Lake Tahoe.”

About BEARPAW

Tom Romeo founded the BEARPAW brand in 2001 with the intention of redefining casual footwear by utilizing sheepskin, nature’s own technical fabric, to create comfortable and stylish shoes. Sheepskin naturally regulates body temperature so feet stay cooler and drier in the heat and warmer in the cold. From slippers and boots in the winter to sandals and flats in the spring, only the finest materials are used to produce BEARPAW shoes.

Now with an extensive line of footwear that covers multiple categories all year round, BEARPAW is available throughout the United States and in over 45 countries around the world. BEARPAW will continue to offer the utmost in comfort while new products leverage their philosophy of creating stylish designs in premium materials for women, men and children.

Learn more about bearpaw.com.

Vibrant Planet’s new cloud-based system “Land Tender” will help land managers evaluate forest health projects in months instead of years

As the 220,000-acre Caldor Fire still burns, we are excited to announce a grant from our Smartest Forest Fund to a first-of-its-kind digital tool, called Land Tender, that will provide land managers in the Tahoe Basin with the high-resolution data and modeling they need to make more agile and informed decisions. Land Tender has the potential to cut the time it takes to plan and execute projects that protect communities and forests from years to months. 

Land Tender is being developed for the Tahoe Basin in collaboration with the California Tahoe Conservancy, Basin land managers, fire districts, scientists, local NGOs and other stakeholders to update Lake Tahoe’s community wildfire protection and forest health plan for the entirety of the lake’s 500-square-mile watershed basin. This work will include thinning hazardous and overgrown timber, clearing fuels from roadsides, and conducting prescribed burns.

“The Caldor Fire made it into the Lake Tahoe Basin, and we narrowly averted catastrophe in part because of proactive fire prevention and forest health projects,” said Tahoe Fund CEO Amy Berry. “Land Tender is a unique tool that can help communities like ours dramatically speed up the timeline of critical forest management projects—some of which have previously taken up to 10 years to plan and execute. This is exactly the type of project we started our ‘Smartest Forest Fund’ to help accomplish.”

“We are facing concurrent climate, wildfire, biodiversity, water and health crises that cross jurisdictions and affect each and every one of us. Our future depends on how quickly we adapt, cooperate and take action. With Land Tender, we can harness the best science, technology and data to protect and restore forests. We can mitigate risk, quickly and at scale,” said Allison Wolff, CEO of Vibrant Planet, the creator of Land Tender. 

With Land Tender, parties across jurisdictions can collaborate and rapidly assess landscapes and communities to make informed, ready-to-implement decisions in near real-time. This planning is done utilizing LiDAR technology coupled with best-in-class infrastructure data. Remote sensing, machine learning and artificial intelligence also enable land managers to continuously monitor project progress, and then shift priorities and resources based on evolving conditions and threats. 

Land Tender was designed with significant input from land managers, emergency responders, scientists, NGOs, and local and regional policy and decision makers. It was built by a team of seasoned technology, ecology and forest management leaders with decades of collective experience at the U.S. Forest Service, Lyft, Netflix, Guidewire, Facebook, and Omidyar Network. 

About Vibrant Planet
Land Tender is the first product launched by Vibrant Planet, a public benefit corporation and a 501(c)(3) Data Commons focused on adaptive planning and market-based solutions for restoring the biosphere and the climate, with $8 million in initial venture capital and philanthropic support. Vibrant Planet is backed by a broad group of investors and philanthropists including Facebook’s chief product officer; Netflix’s former chief product officer; Earthshot, an early-stage venture firm focused on climate solutions; The Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham Environmental Trust; Halogen Ventures; and several private family foundations. Founder Allison Wolff was an early leader at Netflix and strategic advisor to eBay, Google, Facebook, Drawdown, Conservation International, GlobalGiving and other organizations on vision, strategy, culture change and user experience design over the past two decades. 

It has been an intense few weeks. Since canceling our annual Founders Circle Dinner on August 18th, we’ve seen wildfire come into the Basin and the complete evacuation of South Lake Tahoe. We can not express our gratitude enough for the amazing firefighters who helped keep the Lake Tahoe community safe.

Our board has been discussing how we can help and what happens now. We wanted to share a quick update with you on our thoughts on the post-fire work ahead:

FOREST RESTORATION

The Caldor Fire is still not out, but we have already learned a great deal from the intensive firefight that took place as the fire crested Echo Summit and entered the Tahoe Basin. The fire was unstoppable in its march to the Basin due to areas with unnaturally dense forests and dried-out vegetation. Simply put, we have too much fuel in our forests and we need to find solutions to get it out.

A key learning is how important the forest thinning and fuels treatments around South Lake Tahoe were in helping improve the odds for the firefighters. The treated areas gave the firefighters room to maneuver, dropping 100+ foot flames down to 15 feet. The great defensible space work of individual homeowners is also another important piece of the story. 

Through our Smartest Forest Fund, we are already investing in state-of-the-art technology to help decrease the threat of catastrophic wildfire around the Tahoe Basin. We recently granted funds to Vibrant Planet for Tahoe Basin stakeholders to use a first-of-its-kind land management tool, Land Tender, to help increase the pace and scale of forest restoration work. We are more determined than ever to expand upon this work in partnership with the public agencies. We hope you will support these efforts. 

TRAILS

While the fire was held outside of the community of homes in Tahoe, it scorched many favorite trails in Tahoe. In addition, the dozer lines used to help suppress the fire unfortunately also destroyed many trails. The Tahoe Rim Trail around Echo Summit and many trails built and loved by the Tahoe Area Mountain Bike Association (TAMBA) were heavily damaged. There is going to be a lot of trail restoration work in our future. We have pledged to our trail building partners that we will be ready to help fund this important work with our Caldor Trails Restoration Fund. We hope we can count on your support of this effort.

The Caldor Fire raged through an area containing some of the region’s favorite trails. The fire burned many parts of trails, bridges and trail infrastructure. Between damage from fire itself, as well as from dozers constructing suppression lines, more than 15 miles of trail suffered damage in the Tahoe Basin.

LAKE CLARITY

With weeks on end of heavy smoke and ash falling, we can’t help but wonder what the impact is on the Lake’s famed clarity. We recently pledged funding support in partnership with other Tahoe agencies for a RAPID response science proposal from the Tahoe Science Advisory Council to investigate the influence of the wildfire smoke on the Lake. This will provide important insights into the impacts and help drive future clarity improvement efforts. 

As we await these results, the Clean Up The Lake team is back in the water and continues to make progress in their scuba clean up of the Lake after a delay due to the fire. 

We hope this finds you all safe and breathing a little easier now that blue skies have returned to Tahoe. We are working on a series of post-fire events for our supporters to help better understand what happened and how we can help. We will be in touch shortly with details. 

In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or observations.

In gratitude,

Amy Berry, CEO 

Allen Biaggi, Board Chair