Letter: In defense of Tahoe’s trees
To the community,
The chain saw is coming yet again to my neighborhood. The first time it was cleanup following the Angora Fire. Then it was fuel reduction by the fire department of assorted parcels and residences. Then it was fuel reduction by the USFS of national forest land. Some trees that had survived the fire did not survive the USFS. More recently the California Tahoe Conservancy cut trees on scattered lots they own. Now Liberty Utilities is unmercifully removing out what they call hazardous trees out of front yards that are cherished aspens and conifers.
Fallen Leaf Lake after work by the U.S. Forest Service. Photo/Liana Zambresky
It seems standards have changed. Trees that were tolerated in the past are not tolerated anymore. If a tree leans a little, it is cut. If it is damaged a little, that’s the end of it. If it is beautiful and healthy, but a little too close to the power line, it’s history. I know plenty of people who are damaged and lean a little, but they are tolerated. Do we have to be so unforgiving with trees?
I moved to Tahoe years ago because I was attracted to the ruggedness of the area, the deep forests, the diverse wildlife, the howling winters, the roaring mountain streams, the sparkling lakes and the magnificent, snowy mountains. I liked the bumpy, narrow roads and the closeness of the community.
It’s not the same anymore. Big money has moved in. The Tahoe area is feeling the heavy hand of man like never before. A walk in unspoiled woods can hardly be found. I used to walk several times each week in the meadows and woods at Fallen Leaf Lake. I would delight in seeing a pileated woodpecker, a western tanager or a bear with cubs. However, it breaks my heart to go there now and see the forest decimated by USFS thinning. I don’t want our forests ruined beyond recognition just because they might someday burn. Nor do I want the beauty of our neighborhoods diminished by excessive standards set by Liberty Utilities.
In the years that I have been here, there have been very few power outages. One was caused by a car driving into a power pole and breaking it. Another by a problem at a power station in Carson City. I can’t even recall one that was caused by a falling tree.
We have become a society that looks over its shoulder for every little thing that could go wrong. We have homeowners insurance because something might happen to our house. We have auto insurance because we might get into an accident. We have life insurance because we might die suddenly. We have health insurance because we might get sick. We have an umbrella policy because these other insurances might not be enough. We might get an earthquake. We might get a flood. A meteor might fall out of the sky…. We have become such a fearful society.
This fear, frenzied in my opinion, has led to uncompromising removal of trees at Tahoe. We need to get a grip on our attitudes, stand back and take a look at the big picture. Life is hazardous. There’s no question about it. We can’t cover every contingency. I recently flew to Minnesota. What really struck me on the flight is that once away from the Sierra, there were no more trees for thousands of miles. This helped me to see that Lake Tahoe trees are special. They are to be cherished and protected. There should be a place for good judgement. Rules should allow for flexibility and tolerance of special situations without the threat of a lawsuit. Our forests and urban trees need to be managed wisely with care. Once cut, a tree is gone. It takes 100 years to replace a 100 year old tree. What will the world be like by then?
Liana Zambresky, South Lake Tahoe
Shame on you. Don’t you know that all these agencies spending your money are more all knowing than you and every other citizen when it comes to telling you what to do with our national resources as well as those on your private property.
Much of the trees in tahoe are 2nd growth from the comstock era. What you are describing as healthy forests is not the historical norm for this area. I personally see the lands in the basin as unhealthy and chainsaws as a tool to manage these forests along with pile and broadcast burning. Indians managed these lands long before Europeans arrived. It will take much work, time and money to reverse the effect of the past century of fire suppression and restore these lands. I applaud the work of the forest service and the convervansy. Forests are incredibly dynamic. Go back to fallen leaf lake in 10 years and look at the change in the area. Or ask a forester to show you areas that have been treated. You are right, it takes a 100 years to grow a 100 year old tree. Extend your timeframe and think long term versus being upset that there is logging slash that will be visible for a couple years.
I think the forest service manages the resource with a long term view 50-100 years while Tahoe Advocates perspective is much shorter. I think I’ll assume the USFS has the experience, resources and knowledge and expertise throughout the country to manage the resource for the long term.
It’s hard to imagine what changes have occurred to our forests due to the comstock era followed by 100 years of fire suppression. Fire naturally burned through our forests in Tahoe on a very regular basis. We are looking at a forest that for the first time in thousands of years does not have the benefit of fire as a natural mechanism to thin trees and keep our forests healthy. I applaud the agencies that are working to reintroduce fire into the ecosystem and are completing forest health projects. As to liberty energy and their powerline clearance- I believe PG&E said the 70,000 acre Butte fire was started when a live tree contacted one of their powerlines. I would like to avoid that scenario!
Paraphrasing Wiki* The Tahoe Keys, 1,500 homes and canals built in the early 1960’s is described as “the MOST environmentally damaging intrusion on Lake shore in HUMAN HISTORY!
You didn’t mention that!
Robin, Wiki allows anybody to add anything to a definition on their page. It ain’t experts writing that stuff up.
Low info . . . If it’s posted on the Internet, it MUST be true! !!!
Dogula!
Are you defending the building of the Tahoe Keys? This publication does not have the space to tell the entire REALLY FILTHY story of that development.
The REAL STORY of the Keys development is one of corruption and invovles some of Tahoe’s so called finest!!!
P.S. Dogula…don’t blame the messenger! when someone brings this history up…lotsa people want to know and I think that soon lotsa people are going to know:)
Thinning forest for a healthier- yes. Reasonable defensible space removal yes. Unnecessary tree removal for bike paths, more parking at Camp Rich, view enhancement NO
“I think I’ll assume the USFS has the experience, resources and knowledge and expertise throughout the country to manage the resource for the long term.”
interesting, whatever our forests look like in 2015 is the result of 100 years of Forest Service management. Exactly what is it that makes you think they suddenly got it right?
The issue isn’t just about temporary slash piles, it’s about what those trees provided(in the areas we are talking about, often times a particular individual tree)
What I see with all the recent cutting referred to above is cutting prescriptions appropriate for commercial forest, not for highly used recreation areas which should have additional management goals such as maintaining scenic attributes and a “roaded natural setting”, visual and sound screening from roadways, and preventing people from driving vehicles off road. Unfortunetalty, to a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise that we have gone from one extreme to another in terms of vegetation management.
A look at the Camp Rich project presents a similar issue – it suggests it was designed mostly on paper first and then imposed on the site rather than designed around the site’s existing attributes. My guess is the Forest Service has lost the skills of the many Landscape Architects they once had that knew how to design with a careful hand. Or maybe they are now just out of the planning loop when it comes to anything related to fire reduction and even recreation development. It’s sad, there are ways to reduce fire danger w/o leaving 10-20 years of unaesthetic landscape.
P.P.S. Dogula…NOT WIKI
fact: The Tahoe Keys DESTROYED 50% of the Upper Truckee Marsh, the primary filter for water entering Lake Tahoe
ljames…assume…a third grade teacher put this on the chalk board for my class…ASS U ME
Forests are Dynamic which means they change over time. The forests of today are not necessarily the forests of tomorrow. Humans have changed the integrity of forests and untill the humans are not messing with the forest, they will change to fit humans needs, not necessarily to fit the description of a wild, nonmanaged forest. Sad but true…
Get over it Liana-
You fell in love with a man-caused unstable situation.
Wild unmanaged forests are to A significant degree self cleaning. They take care of themselves.
Tahoe forests were like this before the comstock mining days when Tahoe was largely clear cut.
Before then fires initiated by nature (mostly lightning), kept the brushy low growing easily burned vegetation under control. This limited the intensity, speed of fire propagation and area of natural fires, leaving forests with wider spaces between trees, and only occasional low, flammable vegetation among the trees. Fires were frequent but small and burned themselves out for lack of fuel.
Only when man came in and started putting out the forest fires did the natural system get upset and voila, we got what we have now. Very intense fires that are almost impossible to control, until they have consumed all the available fuel.
The Forest Service and other knowledgeable agencies are indeed trying to manage forests back to a more open, less volatile situation.
And yes, it may take decades and errors will happen and (to paraphrase the Rolling Stones) everybody is not going to get what they want. But if they try, they will eventually get what they need.
Liana, Tahoe trees are part of the reason why we live here along with the beauty of the mountains and the lake itself.
My out of town guests and vacation homeowners are really tackein by the towering pines and aspen groves.
I do believe a little” thinning” in some residential neighbords would’nt hurt. Save the trees, OLS
Please no more Tahoe Keys bashing I am sick of hearing about it. It is here and it is not going any place. Talk bout a dead horse.
Ljames I could be way off and I’ll stand corrected if I am but I have to believe an agency that has more expertise, experience and knowledge dealing with the resource has some clue as to what they are doing. Maybe you have a background and experience and are knowledgable about their policy and you would be the exception. But I would tend to support their expertise over those on this site.
I quite frankly question the expertise of the USFS. I walked one day a few years ago with the USFS person in charge of Desolation Wilderness. I pointed out to her the white pines, mountain hemlocks and red firs. She didn’t know how to identify them. How pathetic is that?
I used to work at a facility where 18 countries sent only their best people. I found I had to be careful what I said about things. Do you know why? Because they actually listened! Intelligent people listen to what others say. They may even act upon it. I have met and made comments to USFS personnel. Without exception I have encountered attitudes of superiority and arrogance. They think they know all and are not open to suggestions. So, how do you think I feel about them?
I think our national forests are managed very poorly. In many spots they are over doing the cutting. Places like Fallen Leaf Lake and Camp Rich should be treated more like parks than generic national forests. I have many friends who cannot bear to see and do not go anymore to the meadows and former forests of Fallen Leaf Lake. The USFS should have preserved and worked more with the larger trees at Camp Rich, to give people a richer forest experience, instead of turning it into a parking lot.
Tahoe forests recovered from the Comstock era and they will recover again in 100 years from what the USFS is doing, but we should know better now and it doesn’t have to be this way.