In February 2025, Washoe County Emergency Management received a private donation of $185,000 to conduct a countywide evacuation study to identify hazards and hurdles to emergency evacuations and determine the best procedures to increase safety and efficiency in evacuations.
While third-party data vendors are conducting modeling and analysis of traffic, fire movement, and other evacuation factors, the public is invited to provide insight on their own neighborhoods, such as traffic chokepoints or wildfire hazards.
The Swift Exit community portal offers residents a place to read more about the evacuation study and preparedness information, as well to provide feedback or ask questions. The feedback survey is open until March 30, 2026.
Through surveys, interactive tools like community maps, and public meetings, residents can highlight areas of concern, so these insights can shape decisions and guide solutions.
“Nobody is more familiar with your neighborhood than you,” Washoe County Emergency Manager Kelly Echeverria said. “We need your input now more than ever so we can put the best systems in place to keep you safe when threats arise.”
Your participation here helps ensure evacuation planning is informed by real-world experience. You can:
Share your lived experiences with fire evacuations
Identify challenges in your neighborhood or daily routes
Ask questions and help neighbors prepare
Suggest practical ideas that improve readiness
Every comment, idea, and story helps shape the Swift Exit Evacuation Study and strengthens community safety. The study is a collaboration with numerous public partners, fire districts, community groups, and residents. Visit the Swift Exit Community Portal here.
Mountain Roots, Modern Real Estate with Sunbear Realty
January 14, 2026 | Member Submitted
Originally Published by Tahoe.com, By Kathryn Reed, Wednesday, December 10, 2025
Real estate – be it selling, buying or managing rentals – is more than a business for Blane Johnson. It’s a way of life. It’s about community. It’s about bringing people together.
Johnson moved to Incline Village in 1979. For the first 20-plus years, he was in the ski industry – teaching, running ski schools and race departments, and putting on events. Today when he is on the slopes, it’s all about being outside and has nothing to do with work. He gets in at least 50 days a year of vertical fun – mostly at Diamond Peak and Mount Rose ski resorts.
That’s the thing about Incline, he says. No matter the season, a slew of outdoor activities are mere steps from everyone’s front door.
Johnson wanted to figure out a way to keep living the Tahoe life, which meant he needed to find a line of work that paid more money.
For 25 years he has owned Sun Bear Realty and Management. For much of that time, Meredith Mall has been running the office. Together, they make a formidable team.
Johnson has traveled plenty of places, but something about Tahoe keeps him rooted here.
“There’s no place better than Tahoe,” he says. “When I travel, I always compare it to home. There are other places that are very, very nice, but there is nothing that beats Lake Tahoe.”
Vacation Rentals and Property Management Services in Incline Village
While the company represents sellers and buyers in the real estate world, the primary focus is on rentals.
“We have rentals for every budget, from small condos to six-bedroom, six-bath homes with a theater and wine storage,” Johnson says.
As a longtime local, Johnson understands what renters and owners have to deal with living in a tourist destination, what happens when a big snowstorm rolls through town and how to handle living in bear country.
Johnson and his team are definite insiders, which makes managing rentals easy for them and takes away much of the stress for owners living outside of the area. They are up-to-date on all the vacation home rental rules issued by government officials. Washoe County, where Incline Village is located, mandates short-term rental properties have someone available who is within an hour’s drive. Sun Bear can be “that person” even if they are not doing the overall management of the property.
The company also works closely with homeowners’ associations to help them adhere to regulations.
A unique aspect of Sun Bear is providing snowbirds walk-throughs of their homes while they winter elsewhere. This is to make sure the heat is on, pipes have not frozen, a limb has not crashed through a window and animals have not taken up residence.
Sun Bear Realty’s Growth: One-Stop Shop for Rentals, Cleaning, and Maintenance
Through acquisitions and hard work over the last handful of years, Sun Bear has grown to be the largest rental management firm in the area. The company handles long-term and short-term rentals for owners and vacation rentals account for about 25% of their workload.
“We are a one-stop shop because we handle the rental, cleaning and maintenance,” Johnson says. “We have a lot of vendors we work with, from handymen to contractors. We make sure we are sending the right person for the right job.”
That reliability and attention to getting repairs done correctly the first time is something Sun Bear prides itself on.
Marketing through Sun Bear’s website and third-party entities is another aspect of the company’s services. They also send out a newsletter twice a month to keep in touch with their clients.
One of Sun Bear’s priorities is to make the process as easy as possible for owners and renters. This is accomplished through online portals that allow bills to be paid, maintenance requests to be submitted and communication to happen with ease.
Johnson says too many agencies still rely on paper to keep track of things, which slows down the process and can make it easy for requests to fall through the cracks. At Sun Bear, it’s about efficiency, transparency, accountability and making sure all parties are satisfied.
Sun Bear’s purchase of another rental company in 2025 came with a separate cleaning company, an aspect of the business Johnson looks forward to growing. This allows for Sun Bear to have the cleaning operation under the same roof as the rentals.
Johnson expects the cleaning side of the business to grow by 100% within the year.
One does not have to be part of the Sun Bear rental family to tap into its house-cleaning services. They also work with other real estate firms to do cleans before a house is listed and before a new owner moves in.
Serving the Lake Tahoe Community with Expertise and Care
Sun Bear operates solely in Nevada – from each of the state lines in the Lake Tahoe Basin – and also handles some properties in the Reno area.
In a place defined by its beauty and community spirit, Johnson and his Sun Bear team make sure everyone who comes to Tahoe can feel right at home.
(775) 831-9000 811 Tahoe Boulevard, Incline Village sunbearrealty.com
Got crutches, a walker, or an old wheelchair collecting dust?
January 12, 2026 | Member Submitted
Along with the Interact Club and Rotary Club of Incline Village, we are teaming up to collect mobility equipment for Crutches 4 Africa, helping people in underserved African communities regain mobility and independence.
This is a simple way to:
Support our local youth leaders
Change a life across the world
Keep medical equipment out of landfills
Through March, we’re collecting:
Crutches, wheelchairs, walkers, rollators, leg braces, prosthetics, aircast boots, and ski poles.
In The News – Forest Services to give e-bike access to more than 100 miles of Tahoe trails
January 12, 2026 | Member Submitted
Originally published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, 1/12/2026, Staff Report
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service issued the final decision for the Basin-Wide Trails Analysis Project. The project will expand e-bike use and trail system access and connectivity on the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit.
“This is a highly anticipated project,” said Forest Supervisor Erick Walker. “During the planning process, interested community members submitted feedback that was instrumental in shaping the final decision.”
Planning for this large-scale trail connectivity project included analysis of the current road and trail system map, potential environmental impacts, and needs for e-bike access while ensuring public safety. Project work is expected to start in June 2026. Activities will include:
In The News – ‘First Amendment auditors’ may visit Truckee; Officials warn businesses to know their rights
January 12, 2026 | Member Submitted
Originally Published in the Sierra Sun, 1/12/2026, Written by Petra Molina
It can start with a camera quietly aimed at a storefront or a phone recording from the sidewalk. Business owners in downtown Truckee may see an increase in visits from ‘First Amendment auditors.’ Here’s what to expect.
The Truckee Chamber of Commerce has alerted local businesses that First Amendment auditors may be in the area this week. According to the chamber, First Amendment auditors are individuals who film in public or publicly accessible spaces, sometimes entering businesses that are open to the public. Their goal is often to document how people respond to being recorded and to post those interactions online.
I’ve never liked numbers, probably because they remind me of how random my life has been. As an example, by the time I was thirty I had attended three different colleges and held thirty different jobs. By the time I was seventy I had been married five times, and coincidentally they all had the same first name…Plaintiff.
As a morning radio announcer on Maui I was invited to occasional one-year-old birthday parties, and at one of those parties I delivered a particularly long-winded celebratory speech before asking, “So where is our birthday boy?!” Whereupon a toothless octogenarian walked up to me, gave me a hug, and accepted my gift of diapers. I was at the wrong party, and not the first time either…
In my twenty years in radio I wrote and produced over one thousand commercials, most of them bad. I remember the owner of the first Mexican restaurant on Maui coming to me with his concern, “I’m worried the locals might wrongly assume that our food is too spicy.” I assured the gentleman I would assuage that fear, and I did, with one fateful line, “Our food is not too hot!” They were out of business in a week, and my advertising agency, “McAvoy Layne and Associates” was right behind them. (We never had any associates.)
In my 1,000 cruises into Emerald Bay on the Tahoe Queen and the Dixie, there was one I would like to forget. I wasn’t actually onboard when it happened, but the crew could not wait to tell me all about it…
I used to keep a can of Frosty White Hair Spray up in the wheelhouse in case I had another engagement as Mark Twain when I disembarked. We used to marry people on those paddle-wheelers, usually on a Saturday, my day off. Well on this particularly windy Saturday the bride to be went up into the wheelhouse to make last minute adjustments and happened to spy, “Hair Spray” but failed to read the fine print, “Frosty White.” So she grabbed that fateful can, closed her eyes, and battened down the hatches.
Well, there were no mirrors up there in the wheelhouse, so having no idea what she had done, out she went. The crew told me they had to stuff napkins in their mouths to keep the laughter down, for the groom thought she turned into her mother up there in the wheelhouse. Furthermore, the crew took great delight in advising me, “And she’s looking for YOU!”
So you see why I don’t like numbers? In a thousand cruises into Emerald Bay, the one where the bride turned into her mother is the one I remember most, and I wasn’t even onboard when it happened. No, I’m done with numbers. Did I ever tell you about the time Loni Anderson came up to me on the poop deck and…oh but I see I’m running out of space…another time.
In The News – Echoes in the Storm: Inside the World of Tahoe’s Search and Rescue
January 10, 2026 | Member Submitted
Originally published in the Sierra Sun, written by Petra Molina, 1/10/2026
The terrain was steep and unforgiving. Exposed rocks forced them to clip in and out of their skis every few yards. The wind howled so loud they couldn’t hear each other’s voices, and the whiteout made even their headlamps fade into the storm.
Sarah Krammen, president of Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue, stared into the blur of snow.
In The News – Homeless in paradise: unhoused populations in Tahoe and the services that help them (part 2)
January 9, 2026 | Member Submitted
Originally published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, 1/9/2026, Written by Eli Ramos
Winter is usually the time when people in the basin think about homelessness—it’s when the risks are highest for those who are unhoused and when operations like warming centers are the most critical. But year-round, organizations like Sierra Community House and the Tahoe Coalition for the Homeless as well as others provide critical services to those in most need.
Part 1 of this feature covered what homelessness looks like in the Tahoe Basin and how homelessness services collect data. Now, we’ll cover what services are available to unhoused people and what changes are on the horizon for them.
Most analysts, including myself, began the year with trepidation. Stocks were pricey, tariffs would rise by a lot, immigration would be halted, and DC would be even more chaotic than normal. Economists were on recession watch. Surely stocks would fall. Wrong!
Despite all that, the economy grew about three percent in 2025 and corporate profits rose 13 percent. Long-term interest rates were little changed but short-term rates fell. Rising profits and falling interest rates explain the strength in stocks. The S&P 500 rose 2.3 percent in the fourth quarter and jumped 16.7 percent on the year. Corporate America successfully handled Obamacare, the move to green energy from the Inflation Reduction Act, and Tariffs.
Much of the economic growth came from consumer spending, mostly from higher-income Americans, and the Artificial Intelligence (AI) boom. Those accounted for 70 percent of GDP. The five largest hyperscalers are spending more than $400 billion in AI capital expenditures. That’s nearly as much as the 2008 bank and auto bailout!
Tech companies including Nvidia, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, and Alphabet drove the S&P 500 higher for most of the year. They are such a large component of the S&P 500 that the index is becoming a reflection of the promises and doubts about AI’s future.
Fortunately, in the fourth quarter there was a rotation to other sectors that were previously ignored. Financials, transportation, health care, and energy became leaders. Tech stocks retreated. Having more stocks participate in advances makes for a healthier stock market.
As always, there are worries. Inflation remains well above the Fed’s 2 percent target. If the Fed cuts rates too much then investors will expect more inflation. Is AI in a bubble that will pop? Will there be another government shutdown? Will tariff inflation arrive in 2026? And the one I’m most concerned about is will bond vigilantes panic over debt and deficits? There are always things to worry about.
That said, I’m more optimistic than a year ago. S&P 500 earnings estimates for 2026 are for 14 percent growth. Add in a Fed that is cutting interest rates into a growing economy and you have a tailwind for higher stock prices. Because of its tech exposure, a solid year might not be reflected in the S&P 500’s 2026 return, but the broadening trade to sectors that aren’t nearly as expensive would be good news for portfolio returns.
— David Vomund is an Incline Village-based fee-only money manager. Information is found at www.VomundInvestments.com or by calling 775-832-8555. Clients hold the positions mentioned in this article. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Consult your financial advisor before purchasing any security.
Iron & Wood—A Way to Keep Your Golf Game Up in The Worst Weather
January 7, 2026 | Kayla Anderson
Originally Published in the Holiday Issue of IVCBA’s Seasonal Magazine LIVE.WORK.PLAY, Written by Kayla Anderson
Incline Village is known for its changing wintry weather, and not everyone is a skier or snowboarder. Fortunately, Tahoe natives Will and Ashley Wolford manage a place behind The Paddle Wheel on 120 Country Club Drive #15 that invites locals and visitors to come in anytime, relax, and play some golf…no matter what Mother Nature orchestrates outside.
With a single bay facing Trackman iO golf simulator screens, golf aficionados can practice their swing year-round at Iron & Wood while using state-of-the-art technology that provides relatable data, which in turn helps improve their game.
“The ball flies higher and farther up here, so it’s helpful to come practice before playing a Tahoe course,” Will says.
Will and Ashley are both from North Lake Tahoe but connected years later after they moved back and met on a blind date at the Tahoe City Golf Course. Ashley is from Incline Village and has been a golf instructor with IVGID for the past few years. After having their first child (now almost 2 years old), the couple wanted to start their own business.
“We wanted to live in Tahoe and knew golf would somehow be a part of that,” Ashley says about how they came up with the Iron & Wood concept. She explains that Iron & Wood is a multi-use venue that caters to locals, visitors looking for something to do, and those who want to take lessons with Ashley.
“People saw the benefit in practicing consistently beforehand and faster improvement in their game. And we use real golf balls,” Ashley says.
Will adds that, along with being in a nice indoor environment, people can actually talk to each other while playing instead of being away from their friends searching for their ball, plus it’s good for beginners because you can move along the course at your own speed instead of having to worry about the pace of play. Iron & Wood gets a mix of non-golfers, golfers, kids, and people who even rent out the space for their weddings, bachelor parties, and birthday parties, although the couple’s ultimate goal is to feed golfers to the course.
“Our goal is to build better golfers,” Will says.
Iron & Wood is rented by the hour, and there are around 400 courses loaded onto the Trackman golf simulator.
Incline Village resident Chris Feroli has been a familiar face at Iron & Wood since day one. After moving to Incline five years ago, he started taking lessons with Ashley about three years ago.
“I’ve been coming here since Iron & Wood opened, I think I signed up right when it started,” Chris says with a grin. “In the winter, I’m usually here twice a week.”
He plays once a week at the Championship Golf Course in the summertime and says his game has improved immensely since he started frequenting Iron & Wood.
“I have way more confidence out on the course. And these two are great; they’re friendly and welcoming. It’s fun to watch their business grow and nice to play year-round,” Feroli adds.For more information about Iron & Wood or to book a reservation, visit https://www.ironandwoodgolf.com/.
Support our local youth leaders
