Tahoe Donner is Proud to Be a Firewise Community

By Derek Moore

Tahoe Donner is proud to be a leader in its commitment to wildfire safety. In 2017, Tahoe Donner was awarded Firewise Community® of the Year by the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County for its dedication to making our community safer from wildfire. 

Earning Firewise Community of the Year would not have been possible without the support of our members who have participated in the homeowner defensible space program over the years, as well as the annual budget’s operating fund allocation for the Forestry department. 

Tahoe Donner’s Forestry Department is dedicated to maintaining the health of the forest within the association’s approximate 7,600-plus acres while minimizing the threat of forest fires. Forester Bill Houdyschell and his team are nationally regarded as leaders in their field. The department manages 544 acres of deforested land and fuel breaks, 637 acres of fuel reduction zones and 1,338 acres of common area that maintains two thirds for fuel reduction. 

The Forestry Department’s programs fall into two categories: fire hazard reduction and forest health. These programs include forest management, defensible space, chipping, vegetation management, firewood and timber sales and noxious weed abatement.

DEFENSIBLE SPACE 

Practicing good defensible space is an important part of being a property owner in Tahoe Donner. One of the goals of the forestry department is to help homeowners bring their properties into compliance with state, local and association fIre safety standards. Work completed by individual property owners is key to keeping Tahoe Donner safe from wildfIres. Defensible space is an important part of that work and is an ongoing project that requires maintenance on a yearly basis for properties to remain in compliance. 

Tahoe Donner assesses every TD property every six years for compliance. With guidance from the Forestry Department, 1,696 property owners have completed their defensible space work and brought their properties into compliance with local ordinances over the past two seasons. 

In 2020, additional properties will be assessed, including all of Bernese Lane, Davos Drive, Baden Road, Zermatt Drive, Innsbruck Avenue, Bolzano Drive, Christie Lane, Ramshorn Street and Heidi Lane, as well as portions of Northwoods Boulevard, Rhineland Avenue, Skislope Way, Swiss Lane and Weisshorn Avenue.

PROTECTING OUR FOREST 

In addition to protecting your home, defensible space is also about improving the health of the forest to reduce the overall threat of fIre. The forestry department works to create a healthy forest throughout the common areas of Tahoe Donner. This is done by: 

• Creating and maintaining fuel reduction zones in strategic areas 
• Removing brush and planting trees to establish a forest on the landscape 
• Masticating (mowing) brush from around trees to increase the growth of the forest, changing the arrangement of fuels and removing ladder fuels (fuels which provide vertical continuity, allowing fIre to spread up into tree crowns) 
• Creating a mosaic of practices to lessen the impacts to the human eye and encourage different wildlife species 
• Thinning dense forest stands through commercial logging operations or by hand crews 
• Maintaining the seasonal road system in the western portion of Tahoe Donner to lessen erosion and allow access by fIrefIghting crews

BEFORE 

AFTER

FOREST HEALTH MANAGEMENT 

Forest health management activities span the approximate 7,600-plus acres of Tahoe Donner’s association-owned property and individual private properties. This includes both wildland/residential zones as well as open space forests that include areas like Euer Valley, Bucknam areas and the western ride behind Ski Slope. Forest health objectives in Tahoe Donner include:

GRANTS AWARDED 

The department operational budget has also been augmented over the years by successful grant applications and awards totaling $815,686 since 1991. These awards help fund management efforts of Tahoe Donner’s forested common areas for community protection, and additionally, forest health. 

WHAT’S NEW 

Over the past couple of years, Tahoe Donner’s Forestry department has remained busy, completing ongoing projects necessary for the overall forest health of our community. The department has achieved the following:

• 5,284 Chipped piles of material for property owners 
• 3,834 Dead trees removed from association property 
• 2,150 Burned piles of debris created by fuel reduction projects 
• 247 Acres of completed fuel reduction work on fuel breaks 
• 168 Acres of completed fuel reduction work on common areas 
• 14,440 Seedlings planted

This year, the department will focus efforts on fuel reduction and forest health projects within this year’s defensible space program. These will take place on common area parcels and areas adjacent to private properties near the golf course. Plans also include maintenance of selected fuel reduction zones (fuel breaks) and continued dead tree removal from association lands. 

Tahoe Donner is also one of the landowners where fuel reduction projects will occur under a CALFIRE California Climate Investments (CCI) Fire Prevention Grant. This grant, titled Truckee Fuel Reduction, is sponsored by Truckee Fire Protection District and totals $1,500,000. Tahoe Donner will prepare and supervise these projects, hiring contractors to complete the work starting in 2021.

TAHOE DONNER CAN HELP 

There is a direct relationship between education and managing forest health issues, including drought, insect invasions and diseases that can spread through forests. Tahoe Donner’s Forestry Department offers forest health consultations and evaluations to the membership for their own properties. For more information on forest health and fIre hazard reduction or to schedule a forestry consultation, contact the Forestry Department at (530) 587-9432 or email forestry@tahoedonner.com.

INSTALLATION OF NEW ALERTAHOE FIRE CAMERA 

New this summer, Tahoe Donner will install a new fre camera after the snow melts. The AlertTahoe fre camera combines innovative technology with ground frefghting efforts to protect Lake Tahoe communities. The camera in Tahoe Donner will complement the network of cameras already protecting the Tahoe Basin from devastating fres. To date, the AlertTahoe network has helped frefghters stop 57 fres in the Lake Tahoe region from getting out of control.