Crews work to restore Waterfall fire area

With the choke of a drill’s carburetor and a whiff of gas, the workers on a south facing slope in Ash Canyon went to work–digging, boring holes and planting.

“Yeah, you know it’s a nice day when you do this for a living and there’s no place you’d rather be,” said Nevada Department of Forestry Fire Captain Joe Fording, who this week and next will help supervise more than two dozen crewmembers slated to plant some 7,500 Jeffrey pine seedlings on 40-plus scarred acres ravaged by the Waterfall fire in July 2004.

Read the complete story at the Nevada Appeal.

Tahoe pier dispute continues (AP)

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. (AP) — Lake Tahoe land use regulators have tentatively endorsed new rules designed to end years of controversy over new pier construction and other shoreline activities.

But property owners and environmentalists said problems remain with proposed shoreline development rules hammered out during February discussions among the lieutenant governors of Nevada and California and other officials.

“What I heard today is everybody really dislikes this plan so we must be getting close,” Allen Biaggi, director of the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and an appointee to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency governing board, said during an agency meeting Wednesday.

Read the complete story at the Nevada Appeal.

Panel seeks emergency declaration in Tahoe Basin (Nevada Appeal)

The commission established to look into June’s Angora fire unanimously agreed on dozens of recommendations Friday and will ask the Bush administration to declare a state of emergency for the Lake Tahoe Basin.

The emergency request move would allow for federal funding to prevent future catastrophic wildlife. A five-year emergency plan has been estimated at $7.8 million.

The commission finalized dozens of recommendations to the governors of California and Nevada this afternoon after monthly and twice monthly meetings since August.

Read the complete story at the Nevada Appeal.

Deadline near for panel’s Tahoe fire report (RGJ)

Eight months after flames roared through a Lake Tahoe community, destroying 254 homes, a special panel established to avoid future disasters is nearing its deadline.

By March 21, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons expect a report on how to avoid a repeat of last June’s Angora Fire. This week, the California-Nevada Tahoe Basin Fire Commission is scheduled to sort through some 120 different recommendations crafted to achieve that goal.

Read the complete story at the Reno Gazette-Journal.