County Press Releases

South Lake Tahoe, CA: The second annual Lake Tahoe Basin Wildfire Wildfire Summit will be held June 24th, 2011 from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm at Granlibakken Resort in Tahoe City. The goal of the summit is to provide information and tools to assist residents to reduce wildfire risks to their homes and communities in the Tahoe Basin and to develop recommendations for each Tahoe Basin fire district on reducing wildfire risk in those communities.

The event will include several overview presentations on wildfire history in Tahoe and informational sessions on reducing the vulnerability of the built environment, wildfire behavior and effectiveness of fuels treatments at reducing wildfire severity in the Tahoe Basin. Participants will choose between available fieldtrips including a walking tour of nearby community to view home construction, a walking tour of thinning project at Granlibakken resort, or a driving tour to the Washoe fire. The event will conclude with an interactive session for partipants to identify reasons that members of their communities do not implement defensible space and brainstorming with their fire district staff on how to overcome these barriers. An optional “ask an expert” session and no-host bar will be held at the end of the day.

Anyone interested in learning about wildfire issues in the Tahoe Basin including residents and homeowners, staff and decision makers with state, local, federal and tribal agencies concerned with defensible space, emergency preparedness and forest management is invited to attend. free to attend, but registration is required. Registration is free but required and limited to the first 150 people http://ucanr.org/2011wildfiresummit. For more information, contact Susie Kocher, 530-542-2571, sdkocher@ucdavis.edu or learn more at www.livingwithfire.info/tahoe.