U.S. Forest Service fuels management crews will begin prescribed fire operations Sept. 30 near the west end of Ward Canyon on Lake Tahoe’s West Shore.

Operations may continue through the week, weather and staff permitting. The project area is approximately 2 acres.

Residents and visitors can expect to see smoke from prescribed fire project areas. Smoke management is part of every prescribed fire burn plan, and efforts will be taken to reduce actual or potential smoke impacts on community areas.

This and other prescribed fire projects are designed to reduce wildfire risks to communities and critical resources.

State and local fire management agencies may also be conducting prescribed fire work during this period.

• South Lake Tahoe Mayor Hal Cole’s state of the city address has been moved to Oct. 18 at 6pm at Lake Tahoe Airport.

• Julia Mancuso left Chile for her home at Squaw Valley to shoot a profile piece last week for NBC that will air this winter during the Aspen Winternational World Cup.

• Sugar Pine Foundation is partnering with Heavenly for a planting in the Van Sickle Bi-State Park on Oct. 1 from 9am-1pm. The foundation has a series of fall plantings.

• The search continues for Marie Hanson of South Lake Tahoe who went missing this summer while attending a festival in Washington.

• The seventh annual Passport to Dining is Oct. 6 from 6-9pm at the North Tahoe Event Center in Kings Beach. For more info, call (530) 546.9000.

Bob Dog Pizza at Meyers Station is hosting a fundraiser for Tahoe Valley Elementary School PTA annual Walk-A-Thon on Sept. 29 from 11am-9pm.

Mention Tahoe Valley when ordering for 25 percent of the profits to be donated back to TV PTA to fund field trips.

Bob Dog Pizza is located at 3141 Highway 50 in Meyers.

Call (530) 577.2364 to info, to order for pick up or for delivery.

The Family Caregiver Support Program in collaboration with the Active Aging Program is putting on a six-week caregiver series starting Oct. 24.

The classes will take place at Embassy Suites in South Lake Tahoe.

For more information, click on the flyer.

• Oct. 3 is a blood drive sponsored by Barton Health at the South Lake Tahoe branch libray from 11am-6pm.

• InnerbalancePR (IBPR), a public relations service devoted to promoting responsible companies, has moved its corporate offices to Incline Village.

• Bloomberg/Businessweek ranked Reno took No. 44 on the list of “America’s 50 Best Cities.”

• Although no snow has fallen in Lake Tahoe in September – for a change – Heavenly Mountain Resort says it will open Nov. 18 for the 2011-12 season.

• Todd Kelly is Squaw Valley’s ski and snowboard team program director.

Eighteen Realtors recently earned the South Tahoe Association of Realtors Area Specialist Certification.

The course and exams are necessary to earn the certification were developed to highlight the importance that all real estate professionals selling real estate in South Lake Tahoe have sufficient knowledge about the area.

The class features speakers from public agencies such as South Tahoe Public Utilities District, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, U.S. Forest Service, and South Lake Tahoe and El Dorado Count building departments. Course content focuses on what real estate agents must tell clients when buying and selling homes in South Lake Tahoe, such as Best Management Practices, and which wood burning stoves are compliant per TRPA code.

Eighty percent is considering passing.

Those completing the recent test are:

Vince Barker

Michelle Benedict

Veronique Borges

Doug Carroll

Ken Daley

Diane Dickert

Judith Hanson

Brooke Hernandez

Sylvia Leutz

Laura Lyle

Cynthia Maclean

Teri McKinney

Davey Paiva

Theresa Souers

Jill Stanton-Bricker

Russ Starkey

Jim Wire

Erin Yohnka.

Fairway Avenue between Fairway Drive and Highway 50 in South Lake Tahoe will be closed for several days starting early next week.

Utility work is being done for the Caltrans Highway 50 project and the Bijou erosion control project.

South Lake Tahoe Optimist Club’s semi-annual pancake breakfast is Oct. 1 at the senior center.

Breakfast will be served from 8:30-11:30am.

The $5 tickets are available from various youth clubs raising money or can be purchased at the event. All money is donated back to the youth of the community.

Contact Sandy Herback for more information — (530) 544.6500.

• Camp Richardson is looking for votes to be named The Most Awesome Family Resort.

• The 9-hole Tahoe City Golf Course is about to be sold to the Tahoe City Public Utility District for $5 million by the Bechdolt family.

• Joy Doyle, who most recently was ad manager for Northstar-at-Tahoe, is now executive director of the North Tahoe Business Association.

• Foam Fest – the event with more than 40 microbreweries that raises money for the Disabled Sports USA Far West – is Oct. 15 from 7-10:30pm in Truckee. More information is online.

• Michael DeGroff is Squaw Valley’s vice president of resort services. Most recently he worked at Steamboat Ski Resort.

The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit will begin fuels reduction and forest health thinning work near two East Shore beaches the week of Sept. 26.

The project areas are located on National Forest lands on approximately 15 acres near the Chimney Beach parking lot and 18 acres near Secret Harbor Beach on Lake Tahoe’s East Shore.

Work could take up to a month to complete. The beaches will remain open and work will not take place during the weekend. However, log removal will affect access to parking lots. For public safety, Forest Supervisor Nancy Gibson has issued a Forest Order temporarily closing the parking lots at each beach while the contractor conducts thinning activities. The order is effective Monday through Friday from 7am-6pm Sept. 26-Oct. 25.

Fuel reduction work will consist of mechanical removal of conifer trees up to 29 inches in diameter. A few large slash piles could remain. The Forest Service will burn the piles once the fuels are dry and weather conditions permit.

The Forest Order and maps of the project areas are available at the Forest Supervisor’s Office, 35 College Drive, South Lake Tahoe or online.