Comments sought on final phase of Blackwood Canyon
The public comment period on the Blackwood Canyon project along the West Shore has been extended to May 10.
The Lahontan Water Quality Control Board is considering a mitigated negative declaration to comply with CEQA requirements.
Work on this Placer County project has been going on for a number of years. The last phase by the U.S. Forest Service is expected to reduce excessive bank erosion and channel incision, improve floodplain connectivity, enhance wildlife habitat and restore degraded riparian plant communities.
The Forest Service through its NEPA process found no significant impacts for the project. However, the water board staff determined additional mitigation measures and information are needed to comply with California environmental regulations.
Copies of the documents may be obtained by calling (530) 542.5400 or going to the water board office at 2501 Lake Tahoe Blvd., South Lake Tahoe.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
Bureauracracy at work. The Forest Service says it’s OK but the water board says it isn’t. How about asking the taxpayers before you start not as you are close to finishing.
You should visit the site for yourself before you make an opinion on Lahontan’s requirement for additional mitigation measures. Numerous residents of Tahoe Pines/Homewood have seen a dramatic increase in the amount of sediment being discharged once the F.S. began their project. It is very evident that the F.S. did not do it’s due diligence to protect the creek and Lake Tahoe. I applaud the water board for the actions it has taken to protect Lake Tahoe (for once).
So, what do you say to the Forest Services’ OK of the project now??? Can they be trusted with protecting our national treasure???
If that was a residential or commercial development it would have been a civil liability. The dirt was sloppy and there was no reveg. What on earth are they doing out there? The thousands of yards of fill just negated just about every bmp installed on the west shore. And it’s called “restoration”. What the heck..! These river projects are getting out of control…
Blackwood Creek has been pumping sediment into the lake for the last 150 years, ever since a rock mine was installed in the stream channel. The Forest Service is trying to “undo” 200 years of human abuse, no easy task. Stream restoration is a complex science that almost always includes moving a lot of material (dirt, rocks, logs) and moving dirt usually results in short term impacts to water quality. I think the short term investments are tiny compared with the long term benefits.
These river projects aren’t out of control, they’re finally making progress!
Environut your name is very appropriate. You have a very strong opinion about something you know absolutley nothing about. Read what Ecotone wrote. Then go read the forest service’s analysis of the stream restoration in the EA. You dont have to choose to remain ignorant.
Leave it alone… Mother nature was already undoing the 150 years of abuse. Are you god.? Your science is a guess of what you think you know. That project is a joke. You have data for that claim? Temporary impacts are huge. Guess we’ ll see how the clarity responds to your efforts and all that nasty fill… These river projects ARE out of control. Ignorance is bliss, John you should know..