Originally published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune on 12/22/22. View the original article here.

Written by Staff Report.

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — A few projects at Lake Tahoe received a boost on Wednesday from the 2023 omnibus appropriations package that will distribute $167.62 million in community project funding to 85 programs across Nevada.

The money will fund a variety of projects, including the expansion of mental and physical health outreach programs across the state, and critical upgrades to rural water infrastructure. The funding will also expand nurse training programs at several colleges and universities, provide additional housing for service members, update transportation infrastructure and invest in education services. 

U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Jackie Rosen (D-Nev.) announced the funding on Wednesday. Both senators submitted these project funding requests in the summer of 2022 and ensured they were included in the bipartisan omnibus funding bill expected to pass the Senate and House of Representatives and be signed into law.

The Incline Village General Improvement District is receiving $1.6 million for its effluent pipeline project. The money will be used to help replace five miles of the original pipeline that services Incline and Crystal Bay.

Douglas County is receiving $1.385 million for the Kahle Drive street project. The funds will help re-construction of Kahle Drive, including improving stormwater drainage and treatment; upgrading an outdated water main and hydrants; repairing wastewater infrastructure; adding sidewalks, bike lanes, crosswalks, and intersection safety improvements; and undergrounding overhead utilities.

The Tahoe Transportation District will receive $2 million to help construct a new maintenance and administrative facility to replace the existing, inadequate, and outdated transit yard in order to provide ongoing fleet maintenance, allow for efficient bus-related administrative activities, and afford adequate storage for the existing fleet.

Washoe County School District is receiving $1.535 million to add 11 mental health professionals to the district to provide greater therapeutic support to students, giving them immediate help during a crisis.

The district is also receiving $1.024 million to battle chronic absenteeism by expanding school-based student support staff and increase the number of family resource centers available

“The community project funding I secured this year for Nevada will help support families, save lives, expand economic opportunity, and foster growth across the Silver State,” said Cortez Masto in a news release. “I’ll keep working to make sure these dollars get out into our communities as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

“With more than $167 million in funding for much-needed local projects included, this bipartisan package will invest in our communities, create good-paying jobs, and improve quality of life across our state,” said Rosen. “The funding I secured for these projects will support local law enforcement, deliver clean drinking water, expand mental health services, improve our transportation infrastructure, and more. I will always fight to ensure Nevada receives our fair share of federal dollars.”

A full list of projects in Nevada receiving community project funding can be found here.

Originally published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune on 12/26/22. View the original article here.

Written by Madison Schultz. Photos provided by Katie Senft from the Tahoe Environmental Research Center.

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — The 72-mile circumference of Lake Tahoe is home to a variety of native plants and wildlife and endures a full, four seasons each calendar year. With Lake Tahoe hosting mild summers, frigid, snowy winters, and even natural disasters such as wildfire — the largest freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada region has undergone substantial environmental change.

UC Davis’ Tahoe Environmental Research Center, also known as TERC, is one of the local pillars in the Lake Tahoe Basin that supports, promotes, and avidly works towards gaining insight and knowledge on Tahoe’s ever-changing environment, external forces, and how the local community can better mitigate the negative environmental factors that have occurred in the Lake Tahoe Basin. TERC has a core staff of over 20 scientists and researchers that each individually follow their specified area of study and consistently work towards new findings in the Tahoe area. Here is a preview on some of the scientists avidly working towards a sustainable Lake Tahoe.

Katie Senft has been with TERC for over 10 years as a staff research associate studying various projects including water quality monitoring, invasive species studies, and microplastics. As a multi-faceted scientist, Senft initially went to school for aquatic ecology, which in turn translates to her field work for TERC.

“My typical day-to-day is when we meet out at the field station in Tahoe City around 8:30 a.m. and load up all our gear for the day, which can be instrumentation for water quality monitoring, scuba gear if we plan to go diving, or sometimes the Secchi disk for water clarity,” Senft said.

While Senft studies various elements of Tahoe aquatics, her main area of focus as of recent is in microplastics. After preliminary work done in 2018, it is definitive that there are microplastics in Lake Tahoe, and Senft has been working towards finding what those plastic sources are.

“We ultimately want to know where the plastics are going once, they’re in the lake,” Senft said. “We’ve collected all the samples from the field and we’re working with the lab to analyze the plastics that we pull out. Every piece will be singularly looked at to identify what type of plastic each piece specifically is.”

Senft urges the local community to keep the lake clean by disposing of any garbage.

“Just clean up, make sure your trash is in a trash can where it belongs,” Senft said. “Any trash that’s on the landscape will most likely end up in the lake with spring runoff, so just throw your garbage away and clean up any trash you find.”

Geoff Schladow, Water Resources & Environmental Engineering, TERC director and professor

Dr. Geoff Schladow has been the founding director of TERC since 2004. Holding his doctoral degree in civil engineering, Schladow’s specified area of study is in environmental fluid mechanics, water quality modeling, and the dynamics of inland waters. As an expert on the movement and mechanics of water, Schladow has spent an impressive amount of time and effort studying the environmental factors to Lake Tahoe.

“It’s not just the highs and lows that influence the lake to change, it’s a lot of factors,” Schladow said. “Water quality, warmer and colder temperatures year-round, and even natural disasters that the Tahoe community has witnessed all play an extremely vital role in how Tahoe changes.”

With Schladow serving as a TERC scientist for decades, his findings have been impressive.

“Everything was predicated on the idea that everything is just nutrients and if we can control nutrients, we can bring back [lake] clarity,” Schladow said. “What we found 20-25 years ago is that it actually is very fine particles that control Tahoe’s water clarity; not the nutrients.”

While nutrients aren’t directly linked back to the lake’s water clarity, they still play a vital role in Lake Tahoe’s ecosystem, being the main source for algae growth, and according to Schladow, this can pose an ‘existential threat’ to Lake Tahoe’s ecosystem.

“Because of increasing algae and the effects of climate change, we talk about the potential for Lake Tahoe to lose its oxygen at the bottom of the lake,” Schladow said. “When you talk about climate change in Lake Tahoe, most people don’t consider this – but it’s a really pressing issue that TERC has been prioritizing and working towards solving.”

While the TERC team is actively working towards problem-solving this concern for a better Lake Tahoe in the decades to come, Schladow notes that there are ways that the community work towards achieving a better, sustainable Lake Tahoe such as decreasing your drive time around the lake, avoiding lawn fertilizer, and avoiding single-use plastic.

“Once you mention climate change everyone rolls their eyes and silently says ‘well it’s not me,’ but there are lots of little things that we can do,” Schladow said. “Adding nutrients to the lake is something we’re all guilty of for our daily conveniences, so being aware of those day-to-day habits is a great way to limit adding negative impacts to the lake.”

Patricia Maloney, Plant Pathology, associate director and project scientist

As a forest and conservation biologist for over 25 years, Patricia Maloney has served as TERC scientist for over 10 years. Joining the team in 2007 and with a background in forest health and botany, Maloney is consistently working towards seeking better climate-resilient forest restoration strategies for the Lake Tahoe area.

“Local adaptation is more important than people think and one of my big pushes is sustainable management of forest genetic resources,” Maloney said.

In fact, when sustainable management of forests is practiced, in her studies, Maloney has witnessed significant local adaptation when testing local stressors such as water drought or bark beetle outbreaks in the Lake Tahoe Basin, which has led her towards actively pushing against the ideas of implementing assisted migration into the area, the act of moving plants or animals to a different habitat.

“There’s a lot of push for assisted migration, and I’m not a supporter of that for the Tahoe area, at all,” Maloney said. “From our research, we see local adaptation at the scale of the Tahoe Basin. When you do [forest] restoration, use local and diverse seed sources, because they are actively adapting. We are seeing adaptation happen in real-time throughout the region.”

Sourcing and studying native plants and animals to continue the longevity of the Lake Tahoe Basin’s ecosystem is vital to the long-term growth of Tahoe’s forests. Maloney notes that while the forest will be ever-changing, the timeline to see the change in real-time is long, and the longevity of Tahoe forests shouldn’t rely on a short-term plan such as assisted migration.

“With climate and environmental changes, we will see changes and shifts in species composition and structure, there is no doubt; but it won’t be this dramatic change overnight, it will play out over decades,” Maloney said. “One of the things that people don’t think about are the shifts and changes in genetic structure and architecture. People can’t see it and they don’t think about it, but myself and the other forest geneticists, we see it, and we think about it.”

While each of these TERC scientists are in a different field of study, they all share the same suggestions when working towards a better Lake Tahoe — to actively be mindful, understanding, and respectful of Tahoe’s environment is vital for a sustainable future for the lake and the surrounding region. Making small changes in daily habits is advocating for a better Lake Tahoe.

Editor’s Note: While these three TERC scientists are actively working towards a sustainable, healthy environment for the Lake Tahoe Basin, there is a full staff of other scientists at the Tahoe Environmental Research Center that are doing the same and proactively working towards scientific findings and sustainable measures throughout the Tahoe Basin in all environmental areas.

Originally Published in Lake Tahoe This Week (from Tahoe.com) on 12/20/22. View the original article here.

Written by Shanie Matthews. Photography courtesy of Chris Talbot.

With the beauty that Lake Tahoe offers, it is no wonder that our community is blessed with many great photographers who capture her splendor with impressive expertise.

One of these awe-inspiring photographic artists, who shows a keen eye for the stunning visuals that can arise both in this special landscape and abroad, is Chris Talbot. Chris not only has impressive talents behind the lens, but also is a beloved part of the community. From running one of the most popular galleries in the basin to being a sought-after wedding photographer, from providing one of the more entertaining tours in the area to offering custom photographic courses to help people learn technical and practical aspects of photography so that they can create their own beautiful imagery, Chris is a glowing example of the positive entrepreneurial mindset that is a backbone of the area.

I was so excited when Chris offered his time to partake in our Get to Know the Locals series. This is a man who makes all of our lives more appealing through his art, and his responses give us a chance to know him a little better. Keep reading to learn the how, what and why behind the man who brings sparkle to life via his camera.

How long have you lived on Lake Tahoe? I’ve lived in Incline Village since 1977.

Where did you grow up and live before you came here? I grew up in Malibu, California, until I was 11 years old, and then I was dragged here to Incline Village with my skateboard in hand.

What inspired you to create a local business? I needed money and my only skill at the time was bartending and photography. Plus, I realized I could talk to people really well. With that Talbot Photography was born. That was 1992. In 2015 my brother and I saw the need for a tour company, and we started Around Tahoe Tours.

What’s your favorite Lake Tahoe town or village? My favorite Lake Tahoe town is Incline village, but I also like Kings Beach and Tahoe City where it all began. For example, in 1868 there were only 28 year-round residents in Tahoe City.

What’s your favorite season in Tahoe? Everybody likes the summer for sure. I do like the spring a lot as well as the fall. Pretty much for me, any time of year when things are quieter and there are fewer people.

What’s your favorite Lake Tahoe beach access? My favorite beach access is hard to get to nowadays. I usually go to the Incline beaches because I have quick access, but if I had it my way, I would be able to be dropped off at Hidden Beach for a good day of fun and swimming. My good friend Carole Buck just passed away. I used to love going to her house because she has the best beach.

Do you have a favorite trail or area to access the mountains? Anywhere where we can get above and look down is a fantastic place to hike and enjoy the view.

What do you do for fun? What do I do for fun? I enjoy my life always. I like to travel out of the country. I also like to go to my family’s ranch, Pesky Ranch.

Describe your perfect day off. My perfect day off would include being at the beach, swimming with my brother and friends. Spending time with my daughter also ranks up there as a perfect day. A good dinner somewhere in town would be the cherry on top.

Do you see more sunsets or sunrises? I have seen more sunsets, for sure. Nobody likes to get up in the morning. LOL.

What’s one thing you wish more Lake Tahoe visitors knew? I wish that Lake Tahoe visitors knew that they did not have to use their car. The amount of traffic in the basin is sadly ruining our beloved Lake Tahoe.

Where do you go on vacation? My vacations are in Southeast Asia, primarily Vietnam. I’m doing a book about 25 journeys through Vietnam that I’m very excited about. I’m almost finished and look forward to seeing the final product.

For a celebratory dinner, would you rather order take-out, go out to eat or cook something at home? I like going out to dinner. My favorite places to frequent include the Old Range Steakhouse or The Soule Domain.

What’s your favorite meal of the day, and where in Lake Tahoe would you get it? I’d have to say lunch. I really like chicken salad, and the best one is at Tahoe Central Market in Kings Beach. It is so yummy with cashews. All it needs to finish it off perfectly, in my opinion, is just a couple of crackers.

What’s your favorite thing about your job? My favorite thing about my job is that I can make my own schedule, always. Before Facebook photography was very different and used to be something that I took a lot of pride in because there were very few people who did what I did. Travel photography is special. You either can do it or you can’t do it. I can do it. Not to toot my own horn, but I’m probably the best travel photographer on earth. I’m more proud of that than anything else. It’s not for everybody.

Do you have any side hustles? Of course I have side hustles. Unless you are filthy rich, you need some money to stick around Lake Tahoe.

What’s your favorite way to unwind after a busy day? For me, a cold beer and a short tequila paired with enjoying the company of good friends can’t be beat.

What’s one item on your bucket list? I have a few locations I want to go to around the world with my daughter, including the South Pacific and the North Island of Japan.

Be sure to check out Talbot Fine Images to see Chris’s stunning photography.

Originally published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune on 12/28/22.

Written by Miranda Jacobson.

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — The Incline Village Crystal Bay Community and Business Association has made an impact on Lake Tahoe’s North Shore and Executive Director Linda Offerdahl is grateful to lead the growing organization.

“My husband and I have lived here for 34 years and it has given me great pleasure to bring the community together and start organizing our community in ways that could lead to advocacy and some issues that we often get neglected,” Offerdahl said.

IVCBA has added more than 300 members in less than two years that include three levels of business members and community supporters. In addition, they’ve been able to produce their own magazine and a newsletter that comes out weekly.

Read the rest of the article here >

Yes, everybody has a funny bone, and it’s the only bone in our body that gives us a longer life. Levity is a healer, and an essential melody of human conversation. In fact, if conversation is music, humor is its jazz. Imagine the musical score that is the Looney Tunes bed for Wile E. Coyote chasing the Road Runner, “Beep Beep!” By the way, Chuck Jones got his idea for that comic series from Mark Twain’s description of the Coyote and the Jackass Rabbit in his book, Roughing It.

To get the full value of levity one must take a step-up from maintaining a sense of humor, and embrace a humorous outlook on life. We must constantly be on the lookout for justifications to be elated. Levity is the grease that keeps the wheels of relaxation rolling, while diminishing depression and anxiety that left unattended, might deliver an early grave.

In this year’s happiest place on Earth, Finland, half the Finns are taking anti-depressants. But thanks to anti-depressants, conversation with friends, religion, and yes, humor, we shall survive, and live to help others survive.

Sometimes painting a humorous picture will elicit a smile. Mark Twain tells us, “I remember the day I was born. Everybody came around to look me over, and I shouldn’t have minded if somebody had paid me a compliment, but nobody did…might have been the mustache.”

As a caution, there are only seven jokes. The rest are variations of those seven jokes. So if your friend is 40 years of age or older, she has probably heard your joke twice before, maybe more. A personal anecdote is always preferable to a moldy old joke, ‘positivity’ being the key to an uplifting anecdote.
As to age, my friends in their 90’s who are active, engaged, and in possession of a sense of humor, are vigorous, productive and healthy. If anything, our sense of humor furnishes us with a felicity to see things in a sunny light.

Mark Twain tells us a little about humor, “Genuine humor is replete with wisdom; and it must do two things to live forever. It must teach and it must preach. If it does those two things effectively, that piece of humor will last forever -which is thirty years.”

Twain’s humor is subtle. He’s not looking so much for a laugh as he is for the hint of a smile, or a nod of acknowledgment. Quote, “I intend to live within my means this year, even if I have to borrow money to do it.”

Is there humor in the Bible? Yes. There is a street in Damascus called, “Straight!” But you really need to see the street to appreciate the humor. So in closing, Pura Vida! Live Joyfully! Vivez Joyeux! And yes, Happy New Year…

Listen to the audio here.

Originally published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune on 12/21/22. View the original article here.

Written by Miranda Jacobson. Photos provided Pet Network.

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — Pet Network has been able to offer sponsored adoptions for the month of December and has seen 44 adoptions since the sponsorship has begun.

The sponsored adoptions will continue for the rest of the month, and staff are hoping to surpass their adoptions numbers from last year.

“We did 60 adoptions in the month of December last year, which was really great,” said Pet Network Marketing Manager Sybile Moser. “To see that many animals go home in one month was pretty incredible.”

The homing of so many animals was made possible by the generous donation of The Gately Family Foundation. This year, they are not only sponsoring the adoption fees for each animal, but providing a years worth of vet care at the Pet Network Community Hospital.

“It just really reduces the barriers to adoptions and helps animals get into loving homes that much quicker,” said Moser.

Even though the shelter has seen a high number of adoptions this month, there are still plenty of animals still waiting to find their forever homes due to overcrowding at other shelters.

“We are just doing our part as a small, rural shelter to kind of help alleviate the pressure on those overcrowded shelters and get some animals exposure in communities that they wouldn’t have necessarily been in before,” said Moser. “So that’s a huge part of it for us. We’re constantly taking in and transferring in animals from overcrowded shelters in Nevada and California.”

With the holiday season in full swing in the basin, Moser pointed out that research from the ASPCA shows giving an animal as a gift does not increase the likelihood of the animal being returned to the shelter, or re-homed in the future.

“It actually decreases the likelihood of that happening,” said Moser. “So we certainly don’t discourage giving animals as gifts based on that research. There are always factors to consider when bringing a pet into your home, but as an adopter welcome shelter, we believe in giving our adopters the benefit of the doubt. We trust that if you’re coming into our shelter to adopt an animal, whether that be for yourself or for someone else, you know what you’re getting into and you’ve done your due diligence to know that is what you truly want because it is a big commitment.”

We are pleased to announced the winners of the 2022 Deck the Halls Community Lighting Contest! You can find the full list of participants here. Thank you to our esteemed panel of judges: Mary Danahey Shelia Leijon, and Kathy Slocum for selecting the winners this year.

Drumroll please……

THE GRISWOLD BUSINESS AWARD – BRIGHTEST BUSINESS DISPLAY

Lakeshore Realty – 954 Lakeshore Blvd.

THE GRISWOLD RESIDENTIAL AWARD – BRIGHTEST RESIDENTIAL DISPLAY

CalliBacci Acres – 170 Mayhew Circle

MOST CREATIVE – BEST THEMED MERCHANT/BUSINESS WINDOW DISPLAY

Village Interiors – 868 Tahoe Blvd., Suite 9

HONORABLE MENTION

Incline Middle School Robotics

HONORABLE MENTION

Bowl Incline – 920 Southwood Blvd.

We appreciate everyone who participated in decorating to help our Village look festive!

A big THANK YOU to our lighting sponsors:

IVCBA • Travel North Tahoe Nevada • UNR at Lake Tahoe • Washoe County Sheriff Office • Lake Tahoe School • Anonymous Donor • Rejuventation Massage • Barton Tahoe Realty • Sierra Lawyers • Tahoe Speech, Language & Learning Center • Incline Village Community Hospital • Horn Family • Tanya Soule, Realtor • Lake Tahoe School

Written by Alison Ganong, MD and Presented by Barton Health

Every year, 17,500 skiers experience an MCL or ACL injury, cutting their season short.

Before the season, get your legs in ski shape.

Our desk-job lifestyles leave our lower bodies a little misshapen. We sit in chairs all day, and that tightens up our hips while weakening our rear leg muscles.

Squats and lunges, in addition to hip stretches and deadlifts, are examples of exercises that strengthen the quad muscles in front of your leges and the hamstring muscles behind them. Skiers should also practice single-leg balancing and gluteal strengthening exercises. Simply stand on one foot for 30
seconds at a time. Even better: Try single-leg squats. The leg strength you build will improve your stability. That’s great for your knees.

During Your Runs

Know your skill level.

Don’t let your pride get you hurt. Stay off tough courses or runs if you don’t have the experience to handle them. One sign that you’re out of your comfort zones: Your form
starts to suffer. You should be able to comfortably maintain an aggressive, forward-leaning posture. If the grade intimidates you, you’ll unconsciously hang back a little. Sit back too far, you’ll tumble backward, and that’s how you may tear your ACL.

Listen to your body.

Many skiers get hurt when their energy levels drop. So observe how you feel. Stay fed. Stay hydrated. Recognize when you need to rest.

Know how to fall.

You can’t avoid every fall. If you feel one coming, and you can’t stop it, don’t resist. Learn to fall into your momentum. It’s our instinct to lean away, or twist ourselves sideways to slow down. But herky-jerky movements like that put too much tension on our knee ligaments- and then, sometimes they snap.

When to See Us

In spite of all your preparation, you may still get hurt. MCL and ACL injuries come with similar symptoms: pain, swelling, and a feeling of instability around the knee. A torn MCL will usually get better with therapy or possible regenerative medicine. An ACL injury often requires surgery, but in certain cases, therapy or regenerative medicine can help. The two injuries can happen together, and an MRI or ultrasound can help tell them apart. So it’s important to call your doctor for a diagnosis.

Alison Ganong, MD, is a Tahoe Orthopedics & Sports Medicine physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) physician who specializes in non-operative sports medicine and spine care. For more information about sports medicine treatment options, call Tahoe Orthopedics & Sports Medicine in Incline Village, Carson City, South Lake Tahoe or Zephyr Cove at 530.543.5554.