TRUCKEE, Calif. – Forest Futures, a Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation initiative, is pleased to announce the implementation of the Truckee North Tahoe Forest Management Program. Established in 2022, the TNTFMP pilot program was created to assist private, forested property owners with wildfire resilience efforts. It has been made possible by a $1.9 million grant through the CAL FIRE Wildfire Resilience Block Grant Program.... read more. 

Long recognized as a tourist destination, Truckee faces unique challenges in wildfire prevention and mitigation efforts,  including those posed by seasonal population fluctuations and heavy recreational use. On the heels of Measure T, Truckee Fire Protection District’s successful tax measure to dedicate local funding for wildfire prevention, several efforts are currently underway to ensure that projects and programs align with community priorities and needs.... read more.

The Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation marshals an array of resources to confront unique challenges in one of California’s most beautiful places. While it is a global destination, Tahoe Truckee is also a rural region with no central governmental infrastructure. TTCF essentially functions as a regional hub focused on solving big problems via its three key initiatives—Family Strengthening, Forest Futures and Housing Solutions. Since the summer of 2022, California Local has helped TTCF communicate with stakeholders and expand its reach with a series of Quarterly Impact Reports. Stacy Caldwell has served as CEO of TTCF since 2012. In 2021, she was invited by the Aspen Institute and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to participate in a rural futurists cohort. This is an edited transcript of our conversation... read more.

Mountain Housing Council and TTCF CEO, Stacy Caldwell were featured on KTVU discussing Tahoe/Truckee's ongoing, complex housing crisis.  

Truckee residents Ryan and Kaleigh O’Rear moved to the Lake Tahoe area in 2017, and soon decided to make it their permanent home. They focused on their ultimate goal of buying a house, deciding to live in a mobile home park to save money and working hard to get jobs that gave them disposable income. Kaleigh paid off her student loans; Ryan gave up the dream job in ski patrolling that first brought them to Tahoe, taking instead a municipal job with a pension. They raised their annual income to be well into the six-figure range.

Placer County has been awarded $2 million in grant funding made possible by CAL FIRE to develop the Cabin Creek biomass facility in North Lake Tahoe. “Thank you, CAL FIRE. Keeping our Tahoe forest safe and healthy is paramount,” said Placer County Board of Supervisors Chair and District 5 Supervisor Cindy Gustafson. “This funding gets us closer to our goal, which can’t happen soon enough.”

The Katz Amsterdam Charitable Trust and Foundation on Wednesday announced $2.46 million in mental and behavioral health grants to be awarded to community-based organizations in nine mountain communities across North America, including Lake Tahoe and Truckee. This is the fifth year grants were awarded, with aggregate funding of over $13.5 million, to help increase overall access to mental health care, reduce behavioral health stigma and improve community-developed services for communities of color and indigenous populations.  This year’s grants will benefit over 40 organizations.

The Community Collaborative of Tahoe Truckee, a program of the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation, announced the recipients of its annual awards in its monthly partner meeting. The awards recognize the hard work and important contributions of dedicated partners, who work to address the fundamental needs of families in the North Tahoe Truckee region.

Give Back Tahoe, the end-of-year giving campaign hosted by the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation, kicks off on Giving Tuesday and lasts through through Dec. 13. When donating during this time, you can increase the chances of your favorite nonprofit winning a challenge grant from the $50,000 in awards raised by TTCF.

I feel fortunate that I’m able to make a living doing work that I love. The best part is that every so often, I get to do something that helps make a real change in the real world. Most journalists will tell you the same thing: we do the work in order to have an impact. When I spoke with Stacy Caldwell, CEO of the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation, about helping them with a report to their members and donors, the first thing she talked about was impact. In her introductory letter in the TTCF Impact Quarterly report, she defines what the term means for her organization.

With the Mosquito Fire and Tamarack Fire burning close to Lake Tahoe, and the Caldor Fire entering the Tahoe Basin, the Tahoe Fund and Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation announced the deployment of Land Tender™. This is a powerful new software tool developed by Vibrant Planet, that will allow land managers to collaboratively address wildfire threats and plan forest health and restoration treatments. Land Tender will be used in the Tahoe Basin and surrounding critical watersheds covering 1.5 million acres, making this the largest deployment to date of this new system.

The Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation has appointed four new volunteers to its Board of Directors with legal, business, sales, operations and nonprofit experience. With the addition of Cheryl Schrady, Lynn Madonna, Mike Rayfield and Rob Darby, TTCF’s Board now consists of 15 multifaceted professionals and community advocates.

In partnership with local fire districts and organizations, the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation was awarded $1.9 million from the Cal Fire Wildfire Resilience Block Grant Program. With these committed funds, this pilot program assists private forested property owners with wildfire resilience efforts by providing technical and financial assistance for forest resilience projects. The program focuses on providing resources to private properties that are three acres or larger in size.

Lake Tahoe Community College’s new forestry program will launch this fall quarter with generous scholarships in place for participating students, thanks to a grant from the Tahoe Fund. The Lake Tahoe Basin Fire Academy at LTCC is also receiving grant funding from the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation for required gear and equipment purchases, allowing even more students to be able to participate in the program.