Sierra Club Tahoe Area Group's letter to:

• Erick Walker, LTBMU
• Julie Regan and Kathleen McIntyre, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency
• Mark Regan, NV Energy
• Eric Guevin, Division Chief, and  Scott Lindgren, Tahoe Douglas Fire District

Subject: NV Energy Resilience Corridors Project

Representing the Tahoe Area Group (TAG) of the Sierra Club, the purpose of this letter is to address the oversight failures in the lower Kingsbury area of Lake Tahoe last Fall and to request information and response for future activities regarding the “NV Energy Resilience Corridors Project.” Management of National Forest under the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) is a high priority for our Group, particularly when it comes to preserving the clarity and purity of Lake Tahoe and the natural environment of the lands surrounding it. Tahoe Area Group members in Nevada are members of the Toiyabe Chapter (more than 6,200 members); Group members in California are members of the Mother Lode Chapter (more than 17,400 members). We have over 6,400 members in Nevada and Eastern California. Of those, nearly one-half reside in the western Nevada corridor from Reno/Sparks through Carson City and Minden/Gardnerville, including the Nevada communities that border Lake Tahoe.

The issue was brought to TAG’s attention in October 2022 by several people living in Chimney Rock Road area after heavy machinery and crews impacted stream environment zones and riparian areas during the logging operation west of Chimney Rock Road. I watched the logging operation in late-October 2022, well after the October 15th grading season deadline, and saw several pieces of heavy machinery operating directly behind houses. I went back to the area numerous times over the course of several weeks to observe the operation, which continued even after several feet of snow was on the ground in the work area. The unmitigated impacts from the operation went far beyond what should have been allowed under a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (see Forest Service (usda.gov)) or under the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s (TRPA) Environmental Improvement Program (EIP) (see LT Info | 02.01.02.0016 - NV Energy Resilience Corridors Projecct (laketahoeinfo.org)). This project did nothing to improve the environment or make the forest more resilient and the public safer. In reality, this was and continues to be a commercial logging operation sanctioned as a “forest resiliency” project.

At a time when our forests are critically important for slowing climate change because they remove huge quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store carbon in trees and soils¹, this project is clearly not in the best interests of either the public or the planet (see Scientist: Trees felled in vain in name of fire control - Nevada Current). The long-term safety of our communities relies on reducing climate pollution-- preserving forests to draw down climate pollution and moving away from polluting fuels. From the standpoint of the public’s safety, the best course of action would be to underground these lines instead of continuing to spend the money to maintain them. NV Energy and LTBMU are allowing large trees to be taken out in order to make the project profitable, destroying the high-biomass carbon that is essential to increase carbon storage and slow climate change². The myths about our forests needing to be thinned is well-refuted by scientific investigations. These myths are perpetuated by fears about wildfire. Although these fears are understandable, there are numerous ways people can mitigate the risks of wildfire damage to their homes. The energy companies need to pursue undergrounding the power lines, particularly those that exist around homes in the Basin. Why is this not occurring?

We understand that this project will continue this year and into 2024 and are very concerned about how the LTBMU and NV Energy together will oversee future operations in and around power lines in the Basin considering the unmitigated impacts exhibited during the Chimney Rock operation (see Tahoe Tribune Article). There was a woeful lack of oversight by both LTBMU and NV Energy staff that led to violations of both LTBMU’s Decision Memo and the contract between NV Energy and LTBMU. The contractor was left to their own devices and decisions about what trees could be cut down, their machinery left ruts from their tires, and they denuded riparian areas of vegetation. We witnessed numerous large trees being felled that were not marked for being cut. Wetlands and SEZs were trampled by the heavy machinery and all vegetation removed. 

See photos:

Per LTBMU’s Decision Memo, the work in Zone 2 (the area from 15 to 175 feet from the powerlines) was to include only the following: “Remove trees with structural defects that have the potential to strike utility infrastructure, reduce fuels, and thin to desired conditions.” This scope of work implies the removal of perhaps 2-3% of the trees in Zone 2. In fact, the loggers – operating with complete disregard for the prescribed scope and without effective oversight from USFS – removed approximately 90% of the trees in Zone 2 along Chimney Rock Road. The Memo also states that “the general prescription for thinning treatment would be to remove trees up to 30 inches diameter-at-breast-height (DBH) to meet desired conditions for stand density.” Many of the trees felled were certainly over 30” DBH and several large cedars were felled even though the Memo states “Sugar pine, Jeffrey pine, incense cedar would be favored for retention.”

Regarding riparian areas, the Memo states: “Riparian fuels, including mature aspen trees, will be removed only if they have the potential to grow into the utility infrastructure. Trees showing signs of insect infestation, diseases, or symptoms of poor health will be selected for removal first. ... Buffers will be used near perennial and intermittent streams, lakes, riparian corridors, stream environment zones (SEZs), and federally designated wetlands or waters of the United States to protect riparian vegetation.” The photos show that these specifications were not followed, there were no buffers in place and wholesale destruction of wetland and riparian corridors occurred.

During the first visit, I requested the contract between LTBMU and NV Energy for this work and was told that I needed to request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Only after numerous emails did I receive the contract on March 21, 2023, 103 days after the request date and 83 days over the required time. The contract states (Appendix E, page 32): “Within Zone 1, vegetation that poses a risk to grow into, contact or fall into utility infrastructure will be removed.” The vegetation removed in Zone 1 vastly exceeded these parameters. For Zone 2, the contract states: “Within Zone 2, trees will be thinned to improve forest health and reduce fuels.” This contract gives the contractor entirely too much discretion. There was no proper oversight by LTBMU staff specialists. The only person from the US Forest Service at the work site was Frank Machler, a Law Enforcement Officer with LTBMU, and K’Lynne Weldon, a “Forestry Tech/SA/CORGroup NFFE Union Steward” from White City, Oregon, who was obviously not familiar with the Lake Tahoe Basin. Neither of them was trained in how the operation should have been performed.

The contract further states (page 42) that “NV Energy routinely conducts routine inspection and maintenance of vegetation growing adjacent to utility infrastructure. In many areas located with the Zone 1 and Zone 2 treatments units under the NV Energy Corridor, fuels reduction treatments and forest health thinning has been recently completed (within 10 years), including the National Forest lands located within the built environment (generally referred to as urban lots). These areas are considered to be in post treatment condition, where fuels and forest health objectives are generally in desired conditions.” (Emphasis added) This was confirmed by numerous stumps left at the site from the last time NV Energy worked in the area; no regrowth of trees has occurred after the last felling operation. Why was this operation so extremely heavy-handed after the area had already received treatment?

There appears to be a very worrisome trend in the Tahoe Basin regarding LTBMU’s lack of proper contractor oversight and adherence to environmental safeguards for these types of projects. We believe there is a concerted effort to remove as many trees in the Basin as the LTBMU can get away with out of fear of a devastating wildfire. This is not the answer considering our changing climate. See this TDT article regarding the South Tahoe logging operation: ‘Our trails are decimated’: South Tahoe community concerned with logging operation | TahoeDailyTribune.com.

We are requesting the following:

1. A response to this letter. Please correspond to the address or email below.
2. Notices be mailed to all residents that are within a mile of all future operations under this project. A notice in the paper is woefully inadequate means of informing residents and landowners that the entire forest around their houses could be destroyed.
3. All reports required to be submitted to LTBMU under the contract from the operation at Chimney Rock and all future reports under this project.
4. Increased supervision by LTBMU personnel, including a biologist who is trained to recognize nesting bird habitat.
5. For future work, hire a contractor who better understands the limits of the work needed to be done. Please correspond to the address or email below when a new contractor for future work is hired.
6. Analysis of costs vs benefits to undergrounding the power lines that exist around homes in the Tahoe Basin.

We request a response to the above at your earliest convenience and before any further work begins again on this project. If you would like to discuss this matter, please email me or call my cell phone at (***) ***-****.

Respectfully yours,

Tobi Tyler, Vice Chair
Tahoe Area Group, Sierra Club

¹ Frontiers | Intact Forests in the United States: Proforestation Mitigates Climate Change and Serves the Greatest Good (frontiersin.org) Frontiers in Forests and Global Change 2 (June 2019); William R. Moomaw, Susan A. Masino, and Edward K. Faison

² ScientistLetterOpposingLoggingProvisionsInBBB_BIF4Nov21.pdf (johnmuirproject.org), November 4, 2021, Open Letter to President Biden and Members of Congress from Scientists: It is essential to Remove Climate-Harming Logging and Fossil Fuel Provisions from Reconciliation and Infrastructure Bills. Also, see BREAKING NEWS: Over 200 Top U.S. Climate and Forest Scientists Urge Congress: Protect Forests to Mitigate Climate Crisis | John Muir Project