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April 8, 2008

Last summer’s devastating Angora Fire in South Lake Tahoe traumatized the entire community of people who love Lake Tahoe.  The subsequent Washoe fire at Tahoe City heightened anxiety over the issue.  All of us had once hoped that quick reports and quick responses to fire, and the significant investments that have been made in fuels breaks around the Basin, would protect us from the catastrophic fires we have seen in the Berkeley-Oakland Hills and that have become a recurrent phenomenon in Southern California.  

Tahoe has learned the hard way, however, that we must do far more to reduce unacceptable risks to life, property, and the environment.  The League is calling on the public and on government agencies to take the following six key actions: 

SAVING LIVES, HOMES, AND COMMUNITIES FROM WILDFIRE
First, we must find a way to retrofit existing homes and other structures with ignition resistant roofs, windows, siding and decking; otherwise, measures such as defensible space and fuels breaks will probably be inadequate to protect our communities.  Retrofits will be costly for all of us who own property in the Basin, and they won’t happen overnight, but programs must be developed to encourage them over time.  

Second, defensible space must be implemented around structures throughout the Basin.  Although this measure will be less costly in most cases than replacing exterior surfaces, it entails significant expense on the part of both public entities and private landowners.  Tough decisions about enforcement measures will have to be made by local communities.    

Third, fuels breaks around urbanized areas, although they may be of limited value in the absence of ignition resistant building materials and defensible space, are nevertheless an important additional protection for communities that have successfully addressed those issues.  Fuels breaks may also play a critical role in protecting wild forests from fires that begin in and around urban areas (as most fires do in the Lake Tahoe Basin).

KEEPING TAHOE BLUE AND RESTORING ITS DAMAGED ECOSYSTEM
First, we need comprehensive watershed-scale restoration of Stream Environment Zones,  which serve as the “veins and arteries” of the Lake.  Significant public investment will be required, but this is the only way we can Keep Tahoe Blue – and contribute fire risk reduction benefits to supplement the key safety measures outlined above. 

Second, we need a serious forest restoration plan for the rest of the forest.  A model plan is needed that protects the oldest and largest trees, restores wildlife habitat, reintroduces native species and returns fire to the ecosystem through careful prescribed broadcast burns, and protects the delicate forest floor.  Again, such a plan will require significant public investment – true restoration cannot be achieved through commercial logging – but the benefits to the Lake and its surrounding ecosystem will be enormous and will continue to pay off for decades, if not centuries, into the future.   

Third, we need serious alternatives to open-air pile burning.  In a populated area where air quality is so important, “burn days” are necessarily limited, and the available days should be allocated to prescribed broadcast burns, not to slash disposal. 

The six measures outlined above represent a huge commitment on the part of private and public landowners, government agencies, and the general public.  Even so, they are far from exhaustive – an array of other measures, from improved firefighting capability to better regulation of campfires and smoking in the forest, will be required.  And fire risk can never be completely eliminated.  But if these key measures can be accomplished in the years to come, the League believes we can keep Tahoe reasonably safe, as well as Keeping Tahoe Blue. 

Thanks for your support,

Rochelle Nason
Executive Director