Kings Beach Trail Construction Prompts Nonprofit Organizations To Partner To Increase Youth Accessibility To Cycling

Tahoe Fund, The Specialized Foundation and Boys & Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe Collaborate to Give Children Greater Access to Outdoor Recreation Opportunities

KINGS BEACH, Calif. (Oct. 31, 2018) – At a special unveiling event in Kings Beach, Calif. last night, the nonprofit Tahoe Fund presented 20 new Specialized mountain bikes and helmets, a storage system, extra parts and mountain bike coaching to youth at the Boys & Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe. The bikes will provide kids greater access to a new trail that will be constructed next spring just two blocks from the program center.

“Thanks to our donors and the Truckee Tahoe Airport, the Tahoe Fund will contribute to the construction of a new trail that will be built in Kings Beach next spring by the United States Forest Service and the Tahoe Area Mountain Biking Association (TAMBA),” said Amy Berry, CEO of the Tahoe Fund. “When we realized the trail is just two blocks from the Boys & Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe, we recognized an opportunity to get more kids on bikes so they can enjoy the trails literally in their backyard.”

The Tahoe Fund partnered with The Specialized Foundation because of the nation-wide success the organization has had with its Riding For Focus program. Designed to help children diagnosed with ADHD concentrate at school, the Foundation’s goal is to use cycling as a tool for kids to achieve academic, health, and social successes.

As part of the program sponsored by the Tahoe Fund with support from the Reno-Tahoe Audi Cycling Club, mountain bike instruction will be provided by coach Ryan Solberg and the Truckee North Tahoe Mountain Bike Club. The Boys & Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe also plans to offer week-long summer mountain bike camps starting in 2019.

“We have found it to be a pretty simple formula; kids and bikes equal happier, more attentive students in the classroom. For the past few years, The Specialized Foundation has been helping this happen through 84 Riding for Focus middle school programs deployed across the country,” said Ted Theocheung, CEO of The Specialized Foundation. “We are delighted to partner with the Tahoe Fund who led the development support that enabled this project, and with the team at Village Ski Loft who volunteered to build the bikes. Our vision with this partnership is to expand our programs toward middle schools throughout the Lake Tahoe Basin.”

“As an organization, our priorities include helping the young people who participate in our programs achieve academic success and practice healthy lifestyle choices that include a commitment to their fitness,” said Mindy Carbajal, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe. “This program is well aligned with our goals and has the potential to not only help kids have better focus in school but help them develop a life-long passion for cycling and being outdoors. We’re excited to be piloting the program with the Tahoe Fund.”

The Tahoe Fund was created to be a major source of private funding for environmental projects around the Lake Tahoe Basin with an emphasis on lake clarity, outdoor recreation, stewardship, forest health and transportation. Learn more at www.tahoefund.org.

About Tahoe Fund

The Tahoe Fund was founded in 2010 to work with the private community to support environmental improvement projects that restore lake clarity, enhance outdoor recreation, promote healthier forests, improve transportation and inspire greater stewardship of the region. Through the generous support of private donors, the Tahoe Fund has leveraged more than $2 million in private funds to secure more than $40 million in public funds for more than 25 environmental projects. The projects include new sections of the Lake Tahoe Bikeway, restoration of watersheds, removal of aquatic invasive species, forest health projects, public beach improvements, and stewardship programs. Learn more at www.tahoefund.org.

About Boys & Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe

Boys & Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe has been a cornerstone of the North Lake Tahoe community since opening its doors in 1998. Serving over 1,800 youth annually, the Boys Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe provides a safe, structured and positive environment for young people before and after school, during holidays and summer vacation. Learn more at www.bgcnlt.org.

About Specialized Foundation

The Specialized Foundation uses cycling as a tool for children to achieve academic, health and social success. Through investments in primary scientific medical research and school-based cycling programs, our mission is to increase accessibility to cycling to aid youth in personal development and education, with a focus on supporting students with learning differences like ADHD. Learn more at www.SpecializedFoundation.org

Dollar Creek Shared Use Path Now Open to Bikers, Walkers, Joggers
Community Celebrates an Additional 2.2 of 29 Complete Miles of Pathway Around the Lake

INCLINE VILLAGE, NEV – October 23, 2018 – A 2.2-mile section of path near Dollar Point is now open, further laying the groundwork for the Tahoe Trail, a multi-use paved path that will one day circumnavigate Lake Tahoe.

Placer County opened the new section of path at a ceremony on October 22. The ribbon-cutting of the path celebrated the now 25 complete miles of contiguous Class 1 bike path from Meeks Bay to Carnelian Bay, including a section of path to Squaw Valley. Users can explore and enjoy the natural areas, many shops, restaurants and sites without needing to get in a vehicle.

“For a long time, the Tahoe Fund and many others in the Basin have envisioned a bike path that completely circles the Lake,” said Tahoe Fund Board Chair Katy Simon Holland. “We’re thankful to Placer County, California Tahoe Conservancy, Tahoe Transportation District, the Federal Highway Administration and especially our donors for helping add more miles toward that goal.”

In partnership with Placer County, California Tahoe Conservancy, Federal Highway Administration and Tahoe Transportation District, Tahoe Fund donors contributed $47,000 to enhance the trail experience at the new Dollar Creek Shared Use Path. This includes three new areas to stop and enjoy the scenery, benches, picnic tables, bike racks and interpretive panels that inform users with interesting environmental education tidbits and facts on the trail.

“People who want to see Tahoe now have another option to enjoy it outside of their car along with having a new non-auto path connection to the North Shore neighborhoods Highlands and Cedar Flat,” said Peter Kraatz, Assistant Director of Placer County Public Works. “Thank you to supporters at the Tahoe Fund who have helped bring to life the trail experience, making it a more fun and safe experience for visitors and locals alike.”

The Tahoe Fund has now partnered on five different sections of bike path that will eventually circumnavigate the entire Lake. Next spring, the East Shore Tahoe Trail (formerly named Incline to Sand Harbor Bike Path) will open to the public thanks to a partnership of 12 public agencies and more than $1 million from private donors of the Tahoe Fund.

One Year Later: Sugar Pine Seedlings Are Growing Strong
Healthy Sugar Pines to Be Planted in Tahoe in Spring 2020

Incline Village, NV—October 2, 2018—Thanks to supporters of a 2017 Tahoe Fund Signature Project to restore the Tahoe forest hardest hit by tree mortality, healthy sugar pine seedlings are currently growing at the U.S. Forest Service Placerville Nursery and will be relocated to the University of California, Davis Tahoe City Field Station next year.

Last year, cones were collected from 100 different sugar pine trees in the Tahoe Basin. These seeds were cultivated at the USFS Placerville Nursery and are being maintained there until spring 2019. In the spring of 2020, 10,000 seedlings will be replanted on public and private lands in the Tahoe area.

“It’s exciting to see all these healthy, strong trees,” said Dr. Patricia Maloney, TERC Associate Director and Project Scientist at the University of California, Davis. “Species and genetic diversity matters, and we are hopeful this effort will promote diverse and resilient sugar pine populations in our forests.”

Over the last several years, severe and prolonged drought has resulted in extensive tree mortality in Sierra Nevada forests, resulting in the reporting of more than 100 million dead trees. In the Lake Tahoe Basin, 168,000 trees were reported dead in 2017, more than double 2016 figures, many of which were along Tahoe’s north shore.

“It’s crucial to the Tahoe environment and the human experience of this magnificent natural landscape that we preserve and restore the sugar pines,” said Tahoe Fund Board Chair Katy Simon Holland. “We’re grateful to be able to work with UC Davis and our partners to ensure sugar pines thrive here.”

Last summer, in partnership with the California Tahoe Conservancy, generous Tahoe Fund supporters helped raise $36,000 of the project costs to assist scientists at UC Davis to begin their efforts to repopulate the hardest hit areas. Thanks to the Martis Fund, a collaborative project of Martis Camp landowners, DMB/Highlands Group (the developers of Martis Camp), Mountain Area Preservation (MAP), Sierra Watch, and many other donors, the seeds were collected. Now, watch our trees grow!