Environment, Recreation and Animal Welfare

Educate local youth on the eco-system of our region and increase their awareness of environmental issues

• Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships worked with 270 6th graders as a component of their science curriculum monitoring three fuels reduction projects to provide land managers with data on the environmental impacts of fuels treatments to forest ecosystems

Protect and restore the local environment

• Truckee River Watershed Council continued their work on watershed protection and restoration, including two critical projects at Prosser Creek to create wetland and floodplain area and Negro Canyon for slope restoration

• Sugar Pine Foundation planted over 25,000 blister rust resistant seedlings in fire scars, old logging landings and on eroded slopes in the Lake Tahoe basin

• Truckee Donner Land Trust has protected 16,296 acres with acquisitions such as Waddle Ranch, Independence Lake, and Perazzo Meadows

Protect native wildlife and improve the lives of domestic pets

• The BEAR League rescued several orphaned cubs as well as plowed through deep snow to obtain access to hibernating bears under homes with grant funded equipment

• The Humane Society of Truckee Tahoe continued rescues and adoptions, humane education, pet assisted therapy and spay/neuter services, including spay/neuter vouchers for 112 cats and 251 dogs in 2009

Increase access to recreational activities while safeguarding against negative impact on the environment

• Truckee Trails Foundation received a marketing grant resulting in 57 new members (an 88% increase) and in the summer of 2009, TTF also released a new and updated town-wide bike routes map to the public

• Turning Point Tahoe created access to the outdoors for disabled people and with new sit-ski equipment, they experienced a 300% increase in the number of people learning to cross country ski from the previous year.

• Tahoe City Downtown Association kicked off their “Pedal There Thursdays” campaign to encourage, support, foster and implement bicycling as an alternative mode of transportation – they installed 9 new bike racks and collected 321 commitments in their first year