Kokanee Trail Runs canceled
The 2013 Kokanee Trail Runs hosted by the Tahoe Mountain Milers Running Club has been canceled this year.
The U.S. Forest Service requested this because of the extensive forest thinning operations in the area where the running events occur, specifically between Taylor Creek, Fallen Leaf Lake dam and Cathedral Road.
The Forest Service’s Fall Fish Festival and Camp Richardson Oktoberfest are still going on Oct. 5-6.
The next Tahoe Mountain Milers Race is Oct. 26 in Carson City for the Nevada Day 2 mile and 8K Run. Go online for more info.
Too bad the run is cancelled because I think a lot of the runners might like to observe the thinning as it is moving forward. We all hope the FS is being more careful with this part of the work than they were on the lake shore near the campground!
Hiker, the Forest Service has been plenty careful. Most people recognize that fixing a history of clear cutting and 75 years of effective fire suppression is going to make a bit of a mess. Most reasonable people can wait a couple years for the forest to recover.
Maybe you have a mouse in your pocket for the “we” in your statement.
Most everyone with knowledge of the trails the Kokanee run follows have been concerned about the Forest Service marching in and arbitrarily re-routing or simply eliminating the well established trails that the Kokanee follows, as do many of us who enjoy hiking the area.
Their efforts will, of course, be in the name of proper forest management, but does anyone doubt that Camp Richardson, their commercial interests, and their rocky, dusty, horse paths will get first priority? After all, commercial use is always the first objective of the Forest Service, however reluctantly they admit it.
‘rocky, dusty horse paths’ seems to be the new model for the forest service. coupled with the elimination of the traditional semi-hidden traditional paths locals have enjoyed for decades, this new norm certainly degrades the tranquility and magical nature of this area. the seemingly unchecked expansion of ‘horse territory’ has destroyed some of the last pristine single track walking paths and become a serious erosion problem that makes me wonder why the rest of us are required to install bmp’s. this is not to mention the piles of —- and accompanying fly squadrons…
Horses are roto-tillers.
Beautiful, gentle roto beasts that pulverize trails and powderize soil. It takes about 1 day of horse use to make firm trails turn to sand. Remarkable the double standard.
well they can hide this for a while, but folks should take a look at what is marked between the bike path from the 4 lane to Camp Rich and the highway – this was not a prescription for fuels treatment – it looks more like a thinning to release larger trees for subsequent harvest, like you would in a general forest environment managed for timber. Whoever marked those trees either never uses the bike path or has no concept of the importance of visual or sound screening of the highway for people on bikes…this is a heavily used recreation area (as is the area around Fallen Leaf) and this requires a gentle hand – clearly that has not been the approach. And just because you haven’t done anything for 75 years (which someone said above, but actually isn’t true) doesn’t justify a hatchet job now.