TRUCKEE Calif. (Thursday, July 27, 2017) — The Truckee Tahoe Airport board approved an $85,000 funding partnership at last evening’s board meeting for the construction of a multi-feature trail in Kings Beach.  The project aims to transform a current OHV trail with major erosion issues into a multi-feature trail for use by mountain bikes, motorbikes, hikers and equestrians. The US Forest Service will build the new trail with volunteers from the Tahoe Area Mountain Bike Association (TAMBA).  The North Tahoe Public Utility District and the Tahoe Fund are also partners in the project.

The newly designed trail, located off Beaver Street in Kings Beach, will help prevent the flow of sediment from the eroding trail into Griff Creek and Lake Tahoe. The Forest Service and TAMBA will hold a trail design workshop in September to solicit thoughts and ideas from the community for the trail reconstruction.

“The district is dedicated to enhancing our local community,” said Kevin Smith, Truckee Tahoe Airport General Manager. “We are thrilled to partner with these organizations to bring an environmental benefit and a wonderful new recreational opportunity to our constituents in the Basin.”

The Forest Service has been redesigning OHV trails in the Tahoe Basin to help reduce erosion and sediment flow into Lake Tahoe. The Corral Trail in South Lake Tahoe utilizes banked corners and tabletop features to prevent water from eroding straight down the trail. Modeling of the Kings Beach trail by the Forest Service shows that up to a ton of sediment currently flows into Griff Creek.  With similar trail redesigns, they have seen a 90% reduction of erosion.

“The Corral trail in South Lake Tahoe is not only reducing sediment into Lake Tahoe, it is now one of the most popular multi-use trails in the Basin,” said Jacob Quinn, US Forest Service Trail Engineer.  “By creating a highly designed multi-feature trail with more than 100 features, we are also hoping this will reduce the number of illegal trails we have seen in the area.”

“We have put together a really effective partnership with our amazing volunteers working hand-in-hand with the Forest Service trail crew,” said Ben Fish, TAMBA President.  “With this much needed funding from the airport and 500 volunteer hours from TAMBA, we are going to create a unique and fun experience for the North Shore.”

“The Tahoe Fund is all about the power of public-private partnerships to transform the Tahoe environment and improve recreation,” said Amy Berry, Tahoe Fund CEO. “This is a great example of what we can accomplish when we all work together.”

“We are pleased to support all of the project partners that are providing resources to create a great new recreational trail in Kings Beach, said North Tahoe PUD Board President Lane Lewis. “We look forward to supporting this project by helping to engage our local NTPUD mountain bike community in the final design and in trail building days.”

Final alignments and engineering work will be completed later this summer. The majority of trail work is slated for the 2018 season. TAMBA will be looking for local volunteers. To get involved, visit www.tamba.org or email info@tamba.org.

Area Map of Trail Location

Volunteers celebrate the opening of the Corral Trail in South Lake Tahoe, a similar trail will be constructed in Kings Beach thanks to the funding partnership from the Truckee Tahoe Airport

About Truckee Tahoe Airport

The Truckee Tahoe Airport is a regional General Aviation Airport. It is one of nine Special Districts in California operating airports.  It is governed by a Board of 5 publically elected officials and directly employs 26 staff. The bi-county District lies across both Nevada and Placer County lines. In 2016 the airport had 32,524 flight operations.  The airport is funded by: local airport commercial enterprises such as aviation fuel sales, aircraft services and fees, and building and hangar leases, along with local property taxes and grant funding through both the State of California and the FAA.  The airport provides high quality aviation facilities to meet local needs and strives for low impact on our neighbors while enhancing the benefit to the community at large.  One of the strategic missions of the District is to give back to its constituent communities. To achieve this goal, the District has provided major funding for the purchase of the Tahoe City Golf Course to maintain open space, planned a new emergency use helipad for Tahoe City and entered into the Kings Beach Multi Feature Trail funding partnership. Next time you find yourself in the area, please stop by and check out our park, enjoy a lunch at the Red Truck Café and watch the amazing aircraft.  For more information about your Truckee Tahoe Airport, please visit: TruckeeTahoeAirport.com.

About TAMBA

The Tahoe Area Mountain Biking Association is a volunteer-driven nonprofit organization that builds, maintains, and advocates for multi-use trails in Tahoe while providing education to all trail users and hosting fun community events. TAMBA works in partnership with land managers such as the U.S. Forest Service, Nevada State Parks, California State Parks, and the City of South Lake Tahoe. In addition, TAMBA helps maintain more than 100 miles of trail per year.  Currently TAMBA is thriving with successful partnerships with all major agencies and land managers in the Tahoe area. TAMBA has a track record of building projects since 2011 including Corral Trail, Kingsbury Stinger, Bijou Bike Park, Snapdragon Trail, Sunflower Hill Trail, and continued upgrades to popular trails like Tyrolean, Stanford Rock, Sidewinder, Armstrong Connector, Christmas Valley, Mr. Toads, Flume Trail and more.

About US Forest Service

Over 74% of the area around the lake is public land managed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service. Totaling over 154,851 acres, this land includes beaches, hiking and biking trails, wilderness, historic estates and developed recreation areas such as campgrounds and riding stables. The forest is managed to provide access for the public and to protect the natural resources of the area. We hope you will join us in ensuring that the lake and surrounding lands will be even more beautiful and healthy in the future than they are now.

About North Tahoe Public Utility District

The North Tahoe Public Utility District provides sewer and water service to the residents of Kings Beach, Tahoe Vista, Carnelian Bay, Cedar Flat and Agate Bay.  The North Tahoe Regional Park, Tahoe Vista Recreation Area and Boat Launch and North Tahoe Event Center are owned and operated by the District and provide recreation opportunities to residents and visitors.

About Tahoe Fund
The mission of the Tahoe Fund is to restore and enhance the extraordinary natural environment of the Lake Tahoe Basin by building broad support and funding for projects and programs that increase the enjoyment of the region for current and future generations. Since its founding in 2010, the Tahoe Fund has helped complete more than 25 projects, including watershed restorations, new biking and hiking paths, removal of aquatic invasive species, and stewardship programs

INCLINE VILLAGE Nev. (Tuesday, July 18, 2017) — The Tahoe Fund today announced a campaign to raise $36,000 to support a project designed by UC Davis scientists to improve forest health in the Basin.  Despite the record-breaking snowfall in Tahoe this past winter, tree mortality remains a major issue. Due to drought and bark beetle infestations, tree mortality more than doubled from 35,000 in 2015 to 72,000 in 2016. Tahoe Fund is partnering with scientists at UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center to help repopulate the hardest hit areas along the north shore of Tahoe with native sugar pine trees.

“While a lot of attention goes to our beautiful lake, Tahoe would not be the same without our fabulous forests,” says Amy Berry, Tahoe Fund CEO. “It is heartbreaking to see our mountains turning red with dying trees. With the support of donors, we have the opportunity to help by replanting sugar pines to provide diversity and stability to our forests.”

Scientists at UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center plan to collect seeds from more than 100 different sugar pine trees around Tahoe. Over the course of the next year they will grow these seeds into 10,000 seedlings that can be planted in areas with the greatest mortality rates.  The 10,000 seedlings will be distributed to public agencies to be planted along the north shore in both California and Nevada. The program also includes distribution of thousands of seedlings to private homeowners who have experienced tree loss.

“There are over 100 million dead trees in the Sierra,” said UC Davis’s Dr. Patricia Maloney.  “By collecting cones from 100 local and diverse sugar pine trees, we aim to cultivate 10,000 seedlings that will assist in reforestation efforts on the north shore of Lake Tahoe.”

The Sugar Pine Reforestation Project is one of the Tahoe Fund’s Signature Projects for 2017.  The campaign goal for this project is $36,000.  Donations in support of this and other environmental improvement projects around the Lake can be made at tahoefund.org/donate

UV Light Boat to be used in pilot project to kill aquatic invasive plants in and around Lake Tahoe

INCLINE VILLAGE Nev. (Tuesday, July 11, 2017) —An innovative pilot project to test the use of UV light to fight aquatic invasive weeds in Lake Tahoe is now underway.  The UV light boat has been deployed in South Lake Tahoe, CA and will begin analyzing the effects of deep penetrating UV light on aquatic invasive weeds in a marina and open water setting through 2018.  Within the first week of use, half of the weeds in the marina have already been killed. The UV Light Pilot Project is a partnership between Tahoe Resource Conservation District, Inventive Resources, Inc., The California Tahoe Conservancy and the Tahoe Fund.

Research shows that ultraviolet-C (UVC) light could be an effective method to eliminate aquatic invasive plants. UVC light works by damaging the DNA and the cellular structure of invasive plant life that currently threaten the clarity and health of the Lake.  If proven successful, the method can be deployed around infested areas of Tahoe and other clear water lakes around the world.

“It’s really exciting to see that just after a week, the half of the marina that has been treated is weed free.  With more testing, we hope this could be a viable long-term tool,” said Amy Berry, Tahoe Fund CEO. “By providing early-stage funding through our Environmental Venture Trust, we were able to help secure more than $260,000 in public funds to get this project started. Hopefully this is just the first of many innovative environmental improvement projects around the Lake we can help kick-start.”

“From our efforts in Emerald Bay, we know that invasive plant populations can be reduced, and with continued treatments and new tools, we will be better able to manage populations around the lake,” said Nicole Cartwright, aquatic invasive species program manager for the Tahoe Resource Conservation District.

“We are very excited to bring this technology to a new forefront,” said John Paoluccio, President of Inventive Resources, Inc. “A project using UV light to reduce aquatic plant infestations has been very successful in our laboratory and we anticipate it will be a successful tool to control aquatic invasive plants in Tahoe and other waterways.”

CONTACT: Jacob Johnson, Director of Events & Communications
jjohnson@tahoefund.org,
Mobile: 763-276-4840 ‬