Tahoe trees are more than scenery on a hike
TRTA leader Jim Mrazek, in blue, pauses on the dam at Echo Lake to talk about the area. Photos/Kathryn Reed
By Kathryn Reed
ECHO SUMMIT – It was a bit like a scavenger hunt, with everyone looking for pine cones, insects and animal tracks.
Pine cones were in abundance, especially because the snow was lacking. Insects were hiding, which is a good thing because that’s what they should be doing in winter. The tracks were limited to squirrels, but this, too, could have had something to do with the scarcity of snow.
Four leaders (one in training) with the Tahoe Rim Trail Association led a group of 13 on a trek to Echo Lake on Jan. 31.
It was supposed to be a snowshoe, but Mother Nature did not cooperate. Instead, many put Yaktrax on their hiking boots to combat the icy portions of the trail.
It was part hike, part educational experience, part environmental stewardship.
Maria Mircheva with the Sugar Pine Foundation explains the different pine cones.
“When you walk in the forest it just looks like trees, but there is so much than trees,” Maria Mircheva, executive director of the Sugar Pine Foundation, says. “Sometimes when you look at a tree you can see its life story.”
Big gaps between branches can signal a big water year because of the growth spurt. Sometimes when there are no branches on one side it could mean another tree had been standing next to it and prevented the limbs from growing.
On this excursion there are Western white pine, red fir, Jeffery pine (the most popular tree in Lake Tahoe), lodgepole and white bark.
Blister rust is decimating the white pines and could one day wipe out this species of trees.
Views along the ridgeline look out to Lake Tahoe.
The group comes across a huge fir that has been uprooted. Mircheva shares how different diseases are taking hold of pines and firs. This tree was probably weakened by disease and came down in the Dec. 11 storm.
The foundation focuses its efforts on saving the sugar pine. This is done through education as well as plantings. Each year volunteers climb the tall trees, harvest the cones so the seeds may be extracted and then seedlings are planted in the forest. To date, about 10,000 have been planted since 2008. But the survival rate is only 20 to 25 percent.
Mircheva explains how the pitch coming out of trees is their healing mechanism. The difference between pitch and sap is sap is harvested and turned into syrup – and it comes from a different type of tree.
Lower Echo Lake is partially frozen.
Pointing to the moss on the trees, Mircheva says it doesn’t go to the ground because snow should be covering the lower part of the trees. With that not happening this winter, it’s possible the moss will start growing on the lower portion.
The TRTA leaders – Jim Mrazek, Sue Henson, Renee Gorevin and Alan Catron – impart information about poles – safety and stability issues; about the need to make loud noise when a bear is on the trail; how this area of the Tahoe Rim Trail intersects with the Pacific Crest Trail and the role of trail angels.
This particular three-mile hike was free and open to the general public. Other excursions the TRTA does are open only to members. For information about future treks, go online.
Speaking of trees, can anyone comment on exactly who and for what reason trees of all sizes are being removed along Hwy 89 going out towards Camp Richardson and Baldwin Beach – it is certainly changing the character of the roadway from a scenic point of view. Am I the only one that thinks driving down a narrow highway lined by old growth trees is an important aspect of our scenery. And what is also interesting is the Forest Service wants to build extra parking lots to minimize parking along the highway during peak-use days. All the tree removal is doing is going to encourage more and more folks to park all along Hwy 89 rather than use paid parking areas??
There have been a number of plans made for this area. They seem to intersect around tree removal. CalTrans had planned to build 2 bike lanes adjacent to the highway. Also there is the SR-89 CalTrans shoulder and drainage work that started on the west shore and is progressing south. The Forest Service is continuing with more fuels work between the road and the Lake. I heard a comment that the bike lanes, esp through Camp Richarson might have been set back due to opposition by Jameson Beach property owners. I believe the tree removal is the start of the shoulder and drainage work. No doubt, it is being done by CalTrans. The trees are cut high so the stumps can be more easily remove with heavy equipment.
Ljames, When asked about the logging, the typical reply from USFS is, they are “thinning the trees for a healthy forest to increase diversity” or another one is, “fuel reduction to prevent wildfires” but really it’s just logging and selling the trees to the highest out of town bidder. 10,000 acres so far on So. Shore alone have been logged in the last few years.Wait till they get started on No. Shore! They will really cut down alot of trees over there!
The forest service is in place to SELL the trees. They are not here to protect them.
If there is a plan to “re-align” one of our creeks or rivers? The forest service is right on board with that as well, allowing many trees to be cut to make way for heavy equipment to have accses to the meadows and waterways as the streams wind their way to the lake.
Timmmberrr!!! Old Long Skiis
The trees along HWY 89 are not old growth trees. In a couple of years the thinned area will look like the Camp Shelly area.
Look around your home. If the material is not grown it’s mined. Which would you rather have?
thanks for the feedback – as there is already a separate bike path through that area, god knows why CalTrans would construct one on the highway shoulder from the four lane to Baldwin Beach?
Also someone commented about old growth (or lack of it) – specific locations around the Camp Rich area may or may have not been logged and disturbed, so it may not be “old growth forest”, but certainly many of the trees qualify as “old growth trees”, in that they are greater than 30-36 in dia and represent mature trees in the upper ranges of their life span. It is these larger older trees that can give an area a distinctive feel even if the area is or was intensively managed – in terms of managing visuals along a forest road, this is what this area is losing – this used to be an important element of landscape preservation, especially on scenic highways – I guess now its how to get from A to B as quick as possible, “up to Emerald Bay for a quick photo and back to the clubs!” – and we wonder why Tahoe has lost much of its appeal as an outdoor recreation destination?