Located in Incline Village, this 13-acre parcel was acquired through the Santini-Burton Act. The parcel sits in the middle of the community's business core and residential area and is one of 3,500 lots, totaling 11,482 acres in the Lake Tahoe Basin, which the Forest Service manages as a part of its Urban Lot Management Program. It was acquired in 1991 because it contains a stream that bisects the parcel. The site also had a high potential fire risk due to overstocked stands and dead and decaying trees combined with heavy public use from the adjoining high school and adjacent neighborhoods. In situations such as hese the public is demanding that the Forest Service, as an adjacent property owner, manage these lots.
Because Forest Service's highest priorities for fuels treatment and fire hazard reduction were in other areas with more severe problems, opportunities for the Forest Service to treat the lot in the short term were extremely limited. To speed the needed treatment for the lot, last fall the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District (NLTFPD) Fire Marshal initiated a stewardship agreement with the Forest Service to remove hazard trees and reduce potential fire hazards. The work included cutting and removing dead and dying trees, thinning fuel ladders (young trees that carry fire to the larger trees), and brush removal. Crews from the NLTFPD, with the help of volunteers, did the work. The estimated value of the treatment was $5,000. Through this effort and the continued involvement of the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District, Incline Village has one of the lowest potential fire hazard concerns on urban lots around the Basin. In addition to this lot, the Forest Service has entered into other stewardship agreements with other individuals to assist in managing urban lots owned by the agency, and will continue to seek those opportunities as they arise. The collaborative effort for this parcel has become a model partnership for other local fire districts that have potential fire risk concerns on public lands.
About the Santini-Burton Act of 1980
The Santini-Burton
Act of 1980 authorizes and directs land acquisitions and erosion control grants
in the Lake Tahoe Basin. In passing this act, Congress declared that the
environmental quality of the Lake Tahoe Basin was seriously jeopardized by
over-development of sensitive lands. These sensitive lands include stream
environment zones, steep slopes with high erosion potential, and shore zone
areas, which are considered critical to protecting the water quality of the
Lake. The Act contains three general areas: sensitive lands acquisition,
management of the lands acquired and erosion control.
Speakers
Dave Marlow: Forest Service: Overview of Tahoe
Re-Green
Gerald Adams: North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District: Community
Involvement
Gary Walter: California Parks and Recreation: Prescribed
Burning in California