In response to the Shine On Having a Roof Over Your Head Can Mean Different Things in the July print edition
The Rich Get Richer
Half the country keeps voting for the rich getting richer and everyone else to get poorer. The Republican Supreme Court made homelessness a crime and Trump is authorizing millions in FEMA disaster money for homeless concentration camps because “no one wants to see that.” That’s the direction we’re heading.
~ Rick Cooper, Reno, via Facebook
In response to Senator Padilla’s Logging Bill Would Increase Threats to Communities in the July print edition
Forest Thinning Saves Communities
When anyone on social media says “many studies” without actually citing those studies, whatever they say is meaningless. Anyone who claims to be a wildfire scientist with no background or CV should not be taken seriously until they document their education and experience.
Secondly, fire is nuanced. There are no natural forests in Truckee/Tahoe. Practically everything was clear-cut for logging and mining. To say that forest thinning accelerates fire risk without the appropriate nuance is nothing more than clickbait. Many regions of Truckee/Tahoe are severely overgrown and unhealthy secondary to previous land use practices, e.g., Comstock era clear-cutting. There is nothing healthy or natural about 100 to 300 white fir or lodgepole per acre. There are vast swaths of overcrowded white fir-dominant forests that are ripe for high intensity crown fires. There is nothing natural or healthy about 20 to 30 white firs on a 5,000-square foot residential lot.
The 10 years of fuels management (thinning) after the Angora fire in South Lake Tahoe allowed the defense of SLT during the Caldor Fire. Don’t forget that the fire spotted over Echo Summit to Christmas Valley. Because of the thinning work immediately adjacent to the neighborhoods, firefighters were able to do direct structure defense and had no structure loss in SLT or Meyers. For comparison, look at the results of the high intensity burn near Armstrong Pass where the fuel load of white fir was severe. That area had near 100% vegetation mortality and now will be nothing but brush for decades. Look at the intensity of the burns around Kirkwood. Those forests were primed for high intensity crown fires and were dangerously overcrowded and unhealthy. Fuels thinning around communities and infrastructure works.
~ Sandor Legnyel, Tahoma, via Facebook
In response to Finding True North for Kings Beach in the July print edition
Don’t Turn KB into South Lake
No SLT in NLT.
~ Tim Snyder, Carnelian Bay, via Facebook
Downtown KB Not Appropriate Location
There are plenty of run-down hotels — Cal Neva, Biltmore, the motel next to it — for a large-scale building. Placing something of this size in downtown Kings Beach is not necessary. An improvement would be ok, but it needs to be in proportion and keeping with the mountain vibe. The value of Kings Beach is in its originality and local feeling.
~ Dana Kellyo via Instagram
Recipe for Disaster
With the same old crap two-lane roads and pathetic transit, what could go wrong?
~ Keith Parker, Tahoe Vista, via Facebook
In response to Tahoe/Truckee’s Forest Service Fire Service Drill in the July print edition
Safe Evacuation Would Be Impossible
With wildfire driven by Sierra winds, there would be no way out from the Tahoe Basin once the main highways leading to I-80 or over Mt. Rose or to Highway 50 gridlock. Gridlock happens frequently on a busy weekend and weekdays now with development all over. Too many people in one place. Head to Zuckerberg’s, he might be able to save you.
~ Teri Lindsay, Big River, via Facebook
Kiley Votes Against Wildfire Mitigation
Excellent article by Alex Hoeft, but why does it quote Congressman Kevin Kiley but fails to show us exactly how he has consistently voted against the environment and funding for fires in the state assembly and in Congress? Kiley has a 6% voting record on the environment in 2024, according to the League of Conservation Voters. Kiley co-sponsored the Fix Our Forests Act that stifles public input and diminishes our right to judicial protection from greedy, short-sighted developers, in addition to the increased wildfire threats to our communities, as Chad Hanson explained [in his opinion piece in the July print edition].
~ Wendy Walker-Moffat, Truckee, via website
