What’s at Stake:
The Forest Service’s Lake Tahoe West Restoration Project could authorize more than 17,000 acres of mechanical thinning (logging) and prescribed burning across the west shore of Lake Tahoe — along with over 96 miles of new and reopened roads and cut through some of the area’s most beloved public lands. While the project aims to reduce wildfire risk—an important goal—the current plan includes unnecessary road construction and habitat disruption in areas cherished by hikers, mountain bikers, and backcountry skiers.
History:
Much of the Lake Tahoe Basin was clear cut in the 1800s to supply timber to Nevada’s silver mines and the transcontinental railroad. The largely even-aged forest that replaced the basin’s natural multi-aged stands has created a huge fire hazard – a danger exacerbated by the Basin’s extensive urban development and a seasonal influx of millions of visitors. For example, an illegal campfire started the 2007 Angora fire in the southern portion of the Lake Tahoe Basin, which burned 3,100 acres and destroyed 242 residences and 67 commercial structures.
We need to thin Lake Tahoe’s even-aged forests and restore its degraded watersheds. The Lake Tahoe West Project includes much-needed thinning in the wildland urban interface and restoration of several streams. But the project also proposes logging and roadbuilding in higher elevation roadless and backcountry recreation areas adjacent to existing wilderness. This contravenes the project’s own “resilience assessment”, which noted that “Higher elevations and wilderness are more resilient to most disturbances, whereas canyons and lower elevations are especially vulnerable to impacts associated with fire, drought, and climate change.” The assessment concluded that “Restoration activities focused in these (lower elevation) areas may maximize landscape resilience.”
The Stanford Rock Backcountry Management Area (BMA), adjacent to the existing Granite Chief Wilderness, is at risk. This backcountry area encompasses a ridge between Blackwood and Ward Creeks and includes Stanford Rock and the 8,878 foot-high Twin Peaks on the Sierra Nevada crest. A popular destination for backcountry skiing, mountain biking, and hiking, this area is also home to some remnant old growth forests and several sensitive wildlife species, including California spotted owl, pine marten, and northern goshawk. The project proposes to build one mile of new permanent road and several miles of “temporary” roads in the BMA and “thin” thousands of acres mechanically and by hand. Blackwood and Ward Creeks, which drain the BMA, are already the second and third largest sources of sediment into Lake Tahoe, posing a direct threat to the lakes fabled clarity.
Another popular backcountry recreation area threatened is the Pyramid Inventoried Roadless Area (IRA). Adjacent to the west boundary of the heavily visited Desolation Wilderness BMA/IRA, mechanical thinning and road building in the Lake Tahoe West project would impact Pyramid Roadless Areas adjacent to the eastern boundary of the Desolation Wilderness. The entire area provides a dramatic scenic backdrop to Lake Tahoe. The proposed logging/road building would occur along several streams that drain the Desolation Wilderness, including Cascade Creek, the headwaters of Rubicon Creek, Meeks Creek, and General Creek.
The project would adversely impact the Meeks Bay-Genevieve Lake Trail, which is heavily trafficked by backpackers entering the Desolation Wilderness and day hikers visiting scenic Meeks Creek Falls. Fortunately, the project proposes no road building in the IRA and forest thinning will be limited largely to hand clearing.
CalWild proposed most of the Stanford Rock BMA as an addition to the Granite Chief Wilderness during the development of the Lake Tahoe Basin Forest Plan in 2012. But the 2017 final plan recommended not one acre of wilderness. Instead, the Forest Service established BMAs, which, according to Regional Forester Randy Moore’s decision approving the Lake Tahoe Basin Plan, would “perpetuate the long term roadless character of these lands.” When CalWild objected to the final plan, the Forest Service rejected our concern that administrative protection of roadless areas provided by BMAs may result irrevocable loss of future consideration for Wilderness. Now the Lake Tahoe West project is proposing logging and the construction of permanent roads in roadless and backcountry lands directly adjacent to the Granite Chief and Desolation Wilderness areas.
Other concerns about the Lake Tahoe West Project include:
- Impacts on Lake Tahoe Clarity – Except for the Truckee River corridor, the entire project area encompass watersheds functioning at risk. Miles of road construction and forest thinning in the Blackwood Creek and Ward Creek watersheds will increase the already deleterious input of sediment from these creeks into Lake Tahoe. These watersheds already produce substantial sediment that contributes to the loss of clarity of Lake Tahoe, which is one of only two Outstanding National Resource Waters (ONRW) designated in California. Degradation of water quality in ONRWs is prohibited by the Clean Water Act.
- Impacts to Sensitive Species & Habitat – The northern portion of the Lake Tahoe West Project (including the Stanford Rock BMA) includes rare stands of “late seral” (old growth) forests. This provides habitat for a number of sensitive species, including California spotted owl, northern goshawk, and pine marten.
- Impacts to Backcountry Recreation – The BMAs/IRAs in the project area provide outstanding backcountry recreation opportunities, including backcountry skiing, mountain biking, hiking, and backpacking. The project area includes segments of the Pacific Crest Trail, Tahoe Rim Trail, Stanford Rock Mountain Bike Trail, Meeks Bay-Genivieve Lake Trail, and others. Due to the popularity of the Lake Tahoe area as a recreation destination, opportunities for backcountry recreation in a remote setting are becoming more rare. The project will degrade the natural settings and semi-primitive recreation opportunities.
- EIS Required – The project proponents analyzed the impacts of their project with a simple Environmental Assessment (EA) But a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is required when development is proposed in a roadless areas and when that development requires a “significant” amendment to the existing Forest Plan (such as allowing mechanized logging and new roads in BMAs). In addition, possible adverse impacts to Lake Tahoe’s water quality, backcountry recreation, and sensitive species and their habitat also warrant an EIS. Further, the existing draft EA has presents several conflicting numbers for the road miles and thinning acres proposed in the project.
Alternative 2: A Lighter Touch – The draft EA presents Alternative 1 as the Forest Service’s preferred project Fortunately, Alternative 2 offers a lighter touch on the land, particularly in sensitive BMAs and IRAs. Instead of the more than 96 miles of roads proposed in the Forest Service’s preferred project, Alternative 2 proposes only 7.4 miles of reopened roads and 11, 542 acres of thinning, mostly by hand in the BMAs and IRA. Both alternatives propose the same level of aquatic and meadow restoration, which is good.
The deadline for the public to comment on the Lake Tahoe West Project draft EA is Monday, June 30, 2025 at 11:59PM. This is your opportunity to support protection of the Stanford Rock Backcountry Area and the Pyramid Roadless Area, as well as insist that the Forest Service and its partner agencies assess the impacts on watersheds and Lake Tahoe clarity, sensitive species and habitat, backcountry recreation, and alternative treatments in a full EIS.
The draft EA and accompanying resource reports are available for public review here.
For more information concerning this alert, contact Steve Evans at CalWild, email: sevans@calwild.org, phone: (916) 708-3155.
