Do your forest trails that you frequently use seem like they are under attack recently? Several cases have been brought to our attention this summer and fall that make it seem that the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) of the U.S. Forest Service is letting their contractors ride roughshod over our forests.

Whether it's the contract logging under the guise of thinning along Pioneer Trail in South Shore or the innocuous-sounding Resilience Corridor project that "thins" the forest around NV Energy's power lines, it appears that LTBMU is not adequately overseeing their contractors and allowing thinning to become a defacto clearcut.. Forestry officials have even admitted that the extent of logging was greater than they would have expected when they finally visited the sites.

Another project up in Incline on Third Creek where work has been done to remove a dam has been left with poor to no Best Management Practices (BMPs) to prevent sedimentation in Third Creek. Lack of BMPs appeared in all the cases reviewed. If LTBMU cannot adequately manage these projects with staff to ensure these projects do what they propose and "increase the quality of natural resources and protect their ecological integrity and sustainability," then they should not be awarded the SNPLMA grants to initiate the projects. 

Make your voice heard by calling, emailing, or sending a letter to the LTBMU Forest Supervisor, Erick Walker. Let them know that all LTBMU-authorized projects must have LTBMU staff supervision and BMPs implemented on project sites.

Erick Walker
(530) 543-2640
erick.walker@usda.gov
35 College Drive
South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150