Tenth-annual Truckee River Clean-up Day Sept. 29

Join volunteers in kayaks and on land to pick up trash and give back to river

August 23, 2007
From www.reno.com

The long hours of summer soon will begin to fade; sadly the days of fun and friends on the river are becoming few and far between. Although the Truckee River community has seen better seasons for kayaking, the paddlers in Reno have reached an all-time high.

While the water-flows in the Truckee were not quite ideal for kayaking this year, the low water does provide a great opportunity to give back to the river. At 8 a.m. Sept. 29, Nevada EcoNet, along with other organizers,will be hosting the annual Truckee River Clean-Up Day.This presents the perfect opportunity for one last hoorah on the hometown court before the season ends.

Although most of the volunteers in this event work on shore, the organizers are also looking for kayakers to man both inflatable kayaks and rafts to float the river and pick up trash. There might also be opportunity for some hard shell kayaks as well. The day will begin at 8 a.m. for on-water participants.

One if by land
On-shore volunteers, visit www.ktmb.org or call (775) 851-5185.

Bring work gloves. Day begins at 9 a.m. to noon for land volunteers.

After the Clean-up, meet at Rock Park for lunch and drinks. Rock Park is on Rock Boulevard between Rock and Greg streets.

Two if by sea
Those interested in volunteering for the on-water clean-up, please contact Kelsey at kelsey@nevadaeconet.org or call (775) 323-3433.

Two wells dry: Truckee utility holds hearing

Prosser residents blame irrigation

By Andrew Cristancho
Sierra Sun, acristancho@sierrasun.com
July 31, 2007

Their wells drying up or water levels dropping to worrisome depths, a handful of angry Truckee residents plan to seek answers tonight at a meeting of the Truckee Donner Public Utility District board of directors.

The wells of two residences on tree-lined Prosser Dam Road off Highway 89 North have dried up, and four others are rumored to have stopped producing drinking water, said longtime Truckee resident Maribess Johnson.

“Prosser Dam Road is running dry,” Johnson said.

Blaming the dry wells on drought or a dry climate is not a sufficient explanation to Johnson or a few of her neighbors.

In a phone interview, an upset Robert Davis attributed dropping well levels to the 1 million gallons of well water that the nearby Grey’s Crossing development pumps daily to use for irrigation.

“It’s obvious that the golf course is taking my water,” Davis said. “I had the strongest well on the block. I’m so mad I don’t know what to do.”

Davis’ well was at least the second well to dry up in the Prosser area; the first belonged to his neighbor, 23-year Prosser resident Bob Yoder.

Yoder’s first well was 125 feet deep and went dry five weeks ago. He re-drilled a new well to 275 feet, which now produces plenty of water. The Truckee real estate agent said he thinks the golf course watering takes away from other area wells.

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Homewood plans GREEN RESORT

Homewood hires Sierra Business Council to guide sustainable plan

By Joanna Hartman
Sierra Sun
May 7, 2007

The West Shore ski resort most known for its family-friendly slopes is working with local agencies to ensure environmental and community issues remain at the forefront of its business plan.

Homewood Mountain Resort has hired the Sierra Business Council — a nonprofit working to secure the social, environmental and financial health of the Sierra Nevada — to develop a program to make the resort a leader in sustainable development.

“Our bigger task that we’ve been assigned is really to organize and put together their sustainability program,” said Program Director Nikki Riley of the Sierra Business Council. “... We’ve been asked by JMA to make Homewood the greenest ski resort in the Western states.”

Homewood to stay home-y
JMA Ventures purchased Homewood Mountain Resort last June and, while plans for the development are still vague, the resort will initially build a modest development at the foot of the hill, said Rick Brown, the company’s vice president.

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Northstar is Killing it on the Sustainability Front

Region gets support for green building initiatives

By David Bunker
Sierra Sun, dbunker@sierrasun.com
July 13, 2006

The Truckee, Tahoe and Northern Nevada area was one of eight regions nationwide to be awarded expert assistance in promoting and encouraging sustainable building.
On Wednesday, experts in green building and sustainable development met in Kings Beach to gauge the issues that effect the community. In September a national panel will return and help local and regional officials craft policies to increase environmentally-sensitive building.
Recently, the Nevada Legislature passed a bill that will give tax breaks to certified green building projects. Sustainable and green building includes techniques such as using solar energy, water-conserving appliances and renewable materials.
“We’re looking at plans and policies that are in place, but we’re also looking at making recommendations for new plans and policies with a sustainable approach,” said Ric Licata, president of the Northern Nevada chapter of the American Institute of Architects, which won the grant.
The grant will aid local green building advocates develop a strategy for increasing the use of environmental design in a region, irrespective of governmental boundaries, said Licata.
“I think that was the beauty of the grant, that we could span state lines and county lines and look at the area as a region,” Licata said.

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Skiers not picking resorts for enviro-friendliness

By Kara Fox
Sierra Sun
December 1, 2006

Environmental groups and other organizations push to make sure ski resorts are doing their part for the environment, but skiers and snowboarders say other concerns top their lists when looking to buy season passes.

“I don’t pick my ski area based on whether it is environmentally friendly,” said Tahoe Pines resident Nancy Spina. “I live near Homewood and Homewood is family-friendly. We have two 11-year-olds who love Homewood and I go to Homewood because it is not commercialized.”

Carnelian Bay resident Julie Bernyk, who skis at Squaw Valley USA, said it is all about the terrain when she is looking for a place to ski, but adds that she does her part for the environment in other areas of her life, like recycling, buying energy-saving light bulbs and buying organic food.

Visitors who call the North Lake Tahoe Chamber of Commerce visitor’s center ask which ski resorts are open, what the terrain is like, how much lift tickets are and what is the best resort, said Kym Fabel, program manager for the chamber. She said callers never ask which resorts are stewards of the environment.

“I still think it’s all about the terrain,” Fabel said. “But I believe they feel better about going to ski resorts that are environmentally friendly.”

Ski resorts also say they don’t hear from their customers that the environment is the number one concern for them when it comes to their mountain.

“We don’t get anything about the environment. We hear about why isn’t Broken Arrow [lift] running,” said Savannah Cowley, spokesperson for Squaw Valley Ski Corp. “People would rather have redundant lifts running than hike. They don’t like the green excuse or that we are conserving energy. It is the opposite, if anything.”

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My Turn: Go big green

By Katy Zirbel
Sierra Sun
December 4, 2006

I have attended both recent TDPUD board meetings and think the dilemma of providing power to the Truckee area, both now and in the future, can be solved with some serious, creative, original thought.
All of us, consumers, PUD staff and board members, need to stop focusing on what we can’t do, how restricted our options are, how green we think we already are — and start to embrace possibilities.
I would hope that if there is anything we agree on, it’s this: How do we provide energy to this community — now and in the future — and NOT pollute the planet?
I think we can find a way to provide our base power source with a whole lot more green than anyone is talking about. I actually think that if we worked on the solution creatively, compassionately and blew out all of our preconceived notions of what it might “look” like, Truckee could be 100 percent green.
The only thing stopping us is that we just don’t know how. And that’s where the creative thinking comes in. Form a Creative Energy Committee. Get people involved. Think outside the proverbial box. We have enough talented, knowledgeable, dedicated people living right here to start to make a good, solid green plan for Truckee.

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Let there be light

January 18, 2007
Sierra Sun


Lighting is almost as essential to our daily lives as shelter, food and water. Yet most of us are relatively unaware of lighting and how it affects the spaces in which we live and work. Whether building a new house or remodeling, lighting is a key factor in creating a wonderful living space, and while the following tips definitely won’t earn anyone a degree in the subject, the new knowledge will “illuminate” the decision-making process, whether you are simply working with your electrician or have hired a lighting designer.

The right light
No single light fixture can give you everything you need to illuminate a room properly. The trick is to use a variety of light sources to create an inviting and functional space.

Light performs four basic functions: Decorative, Task, Accent, and Ambient.

Decorative refers to fixtures such as chandeliers, candlestick-style wall sconces and exterior lanterns that add visual sparkle to a room. Decorative lighting fixtures are the “supermodels’ of lighting. Their main purpose is to be pretty and not too bright.

Task is work-related lighting, such as lighting under the cabinets in the kitchen, or a light for reading next to a chair or working at a desk.

Accent is light used to highlight objects in a room to create depth and dimension.

Recessed adjustable fixtures, track lights and up-lights fall in this category.

Ambient is the gentle light that softens shadows on people’s faces and fills the space with a warm glow, creating the feeling of a glowing fire. Ambient light comes from illumination from such fixtures as opaque wall sconces that is “bounced” off the ceiling. Very often, however, ambient lighting is overlooked. But to quote Carson Kressley, from “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”: “Trust me ... lighting is everything, and cheaper than Botox.”

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Indeed, an effective lighting design layers these four functions together to create a cohesive result.

Real estate heads in a ‘green’ direction

Click to Enlarge The roof on this eco-friendly Donner Lake home houses two types of solar panels. Emma Garrard/ Sierra Sun Browse and Buy Sierra Sun Photos

By Joanna Hartman
Sierra Sun
February 1, 2007

Buying and selling an environmentally-friendly home in the North Tahoe and Truckee region just got easier.

Tahoe Sierra Realtors can now search their database of homes for sale according to a checklist of “green” characteristics such as recycled carpet, energy-efficient appliances or special wall insulation, thanks to new technology championed by a local real estate agent.

“I’m very interested in promoting anything green. The more exposure we can get, the more people understand what’s available and how they can help the environment,” said Tamara Perlman, the Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage sales associate that proposed the addition of “green features” to the Tahoe Sierra Multiple Listing Service, the local real estate database.

Potential home buyers can not only indicate to their agent preferences for size, style and location of a home, but can now specify certain energy-efficient features as well. Consumers cannot access this technology yet, just real estate agents, Perlman said.

“We wanted our agents and our customers to search based on energy-efficient criteria,” said Al Colhoun, board president of Tahoe Sierra Multiple Listing Service. “We are trying to address these issues as they come and trying to stay at the forefront of technology and information.”

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Our View: Enegry’s future and foresight

February 14, 2007
Sierra Sun

It's been called a “lemon” by the general manager of the Truckee Donner Public Utility District, and probably worse by those who had to keep it running, but the experimental biomass energy project that will be decommissioned in a few weeks is exactly that — experimental.
It isn't a failure or a waste of money. It was an educational tool, albeit an expensive one.
But developing knowledge doesn’t always come cheap.
In the pre- and post-coal contract debate, the Truckee Donner PUD was roundly criticized for not being more progressive in its efforts to go green. We're sure there are many people in the community who would, and could, argue that point. But the fact that the district went out of its way more than four years ago to bring the small-scale, 15 Kilowatt biomass generation plant to Truckee suggests otherwise.
The $540,000 funding for the biomass project came in the form of grants from the California Energy Commission, $500,000; the U.S. Forest Service, $30,000 and $10,000 from the Truckee Donner Recreation and Park District.

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Homes blend eco-friendliness, unique design

Click to Enlarge Mike Darrow has seen his share of mundane design, but he’s also had his hands in some eye-catching concepts — one of which is his own Donner Lake residence featuring boulder. Ryan Salm/Sierra Sun Browse and Buy Sierra Sun Photos

By Christine Stanley
Sierra Sun
February 15, 2007

There’s been quite a buzz around town lately about energy and water conservation practices, and for years so-called green building has been a hit.
However a few homes in Truckee were built eco-friendly, not just to save heat and money, but because they’re just plain interesting.

One with the Earth
Sue and Jeff Cauhape have been living in their Tahoe Donner, earth berm home for 12 years. The couple maintains that, despite being for-the-most-part covered in dirt, their home is very bright and inviting.
“It’s not dark inside at all; we were surprised by how much light there was,” Sue Cauhape said. “We tried to sell it for two years, but I don’t think a lot of people get the concept. It’s odd, but we’ve been very comfortable here.”
Comfort inside the home can be attributed to its thermal mass — the walls absorb and retain heat, so the house requires neither heater nor air conditioner.
“We use only three or four cords of wood in the winter,” Sue Cauhape said. “And the winter sun comes deep into the house and heats the wood and tile flooring, creating passive radiant heating.”
The couple said they bought the house simply because they liked the concept.
The home originally had a living roof, but there were weaknesses in the construction and it eventually began to leak. Living roofs, those built with soils, grasses and other plant life, reduce storm-water runoff and keep summer temperatures in check. The couple said they will attempt to construct a new one this summer.

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This power plant builds on positive thinking

By Christine Stanley
Sierra Sun
March 2, 2007

The details have yet to be worked out, but new energy conservation options are continuing to arise within the Truckee Donner Public Utility District.

Just added to the list is the concept of a conservation power plant. It’s not a physical structure, explained planning director Scott Terrell: It’s the absence of one.

Rather than purchasing power from or building a power plant to serve the community’s need, the community can sustain a low level of power consumption through a variety of comprehensive conservation measures that minimize the amount of energy required by users.

“Reducing usage is the equivalent of producing usage,” Terrell said. “I am throwing it out as an option. I think it needs to be studied thoroughly. There are pros and cons, but I think it is going to be in the view of a conservation committee through the [utility district].”

In a presentation to the board, Terrell and local environmental engineer Robert Mowris pitched a plan they said could substantially reduce Truckee’s power consumption and diminish the difficulties of getting so much energy up the summit.

“We are proposing as many conservation programs as necessary,” Mowris said.
The so-called conservation power plant is an umbrella term for the large-scale conservation overhaul Terrell and other green-minded stake holders are pushing.

Programming could include such measures as converting traffic lights to light-emitting diodes (LEDs), bettering refrigeration systems in local supermarkets, auditing the energy use of top consumers and adding passive solar systems to new construction.

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Paying for impacts

By Greyson Howard
Sierra Sun, ghoward@sierrasun.com
March 19, 2007

As Truckee grows, so must its traffic system, but figuring out who pays for new streets and roads is proving to be a challenge.
The Truckee Town Council last week considered an increase in traffic-impact fees charged to new development that help pay for road projects needed to keep up with growth. The Council is considering optio2ns that could more than double the fee, drawing vocal opinions from area contractors, the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District and local developers.
Key issues in the debate so far include possible exemptions for government development and affordable-housing projects.

The school district
Facilities Director John Britto of the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District presented reasons why school districts should be exempt from paying a traffic impact fee when constructing new schools.
According to Britto at Thursday’s council hearing:
• Fees assigned to the school district would be paid by the entire community, not just by developers, because school construction is funded by bonds paid by the entire community.
• Schools are a response to growth, not the cause of it.
• The school district already reduces traffic impact through its own transportation system. Britto said by busing students, the district eliminates the equivalent of 663 vehicle trips every day.
• Projects supported by the fee do not benefit the schools.
• School traffic doesn’t contribute to town peak-traffic times.
• Other communities waive traffic fees for school districts.
Additionally, Britto contended that exempting school projects on a case-by-case basis would create uncertainty, so a flat-out exemption would be more appropriate.

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Going green: Design imitates Mother Nature

By Sierra Countis
Sierra Sun
April 10, 2007

Targeting new residential development in town, advocates for the protection of the Truckee River are hoping to promote innovative green building techniques to improve water quality.

The Truckee River Watershed Council received a $50,000 grant awarded to the nonprofit by the California State Water Resources Control Board to initiate the use of low-impact design as a strategy for stormwater management practices.

In Truckee, no building mandates currently exist that would require homeowners to incorporate low impact design; however, several locations in the Tahoe Basin are required by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency to install stormwater drainage ditches on their home sites, said Stefan Schuster, a civil engineer with CDM Inc.

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Students go solar

Youth build projects to benefit humanity and environment

Click to Enlarge Daniel Vandewiele, 12, Emily Levy, 11, Tilen Lane, 11, and Jackson Wood, 11, look over their solar-powered race car at North Tahoe Middle School Monday afternoon. The cars were built by students during science class for the Truckee Watershed Alliance youth symposium. Emma Garrard/Sierra Sun

By Julie Brown
Sierra Sun, jbrown@sierrasun.com
May 10, 2007

Seventh-grade students at North Tahoe Middle School recently built a solar-powered race car to demonstrate the potential of alternative fuels.

The students in Lindee Eckert’s class will race their cars against those built by students from Alder Creek Middle School at a student forum later this month that asks schoolchildren to study ways to preserve communities and the environment in the face of global climate change.

The Sierra Watershed Education Partnership is hosting the symposium where students will present projects ranging from an energy-efficient light bulb exchange to a food drive that promotes awareness of world hunger and health.

“This is something to value students’ work and to give them the opportunity to take ownership of what they’re learning,” said Christine McMarrow, the partnership’s executive director.

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Evergreen Energy

A biomass power plant could be in Tahoe's future

By David Bunker
Sierra Sun, dbunker@sierrasun.com
June 15, 2007


LOYALTON—The fire box spews orange embers as David Kelley pushes and pulls wood chips across the superheated grates of the Loyalton co-generation plant.

Kelley’s face, a mask of soot, is steeled into a mild grimace. His short mustache is barely visible beneath the dark ash. The smooth rowing motion of his work has a rhythm governed by the inhale and exhale of the 850-degree fire box that generates enough electricity to power approximately 7,000 homes.

Every several seconds orange sparks shoot from the square hole, showering around Kelley. The roar of the burning woodchips and the glow of the airborne embers give Kelley’s otherwise dark workplace a subterranean feel, like he’s working in the belly of the beast.

“I know the boiler pretty good,” says Kelley. “I know when it’s going to spit. It’s kind of like a dragon, you know when it’s going to puff.”

Kelley is one cog in a team of workers that turns hundreds of tons of wood chips into roughly enough energy to power half of the Town of Truckee each day in this small town of 860 people on the northern edge of the Sierra Valley.

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County misses recycling goal

By Laura Brown
Sun News Service
July 23, 2007

Each year, 63,000 tons of garbage get trucked from western Nevada County to a landfill in Yuba County — an average of 178 tons every day.

Despite several free programs designed to make recycling easier, many residents continue to throw everything away, said Tracey Harper, recycling coordinator for the county.

Half of western county residents who use Waste Management Inc.’s curbside service choose to recycle, Harper said Wednesday.

In 2005, 36 percent of all the household refuse, yard trimmings, construction waste and other discards created in western Nevada County was diverted from landfills, falling behind a state deadline of achieving 50-percent diversion by 2000, Harper said.

That goal was set in 1989 by the California Integrated Waste Management Board.
An extension to meet those levels expired in 2005, and state reviews of 2006 levels won’t be available until March of 2008, Harper said. Indicators show recycling rates in 2006 could improve because overall disposal went down slightly. Local recycling could reach into the range of 40 percent, Harper speculated.

Meanwhile, California legislators are considering raising the required recycling rate to 60 percent by 2012 and 75 percent by 2020.

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Jeff Bender, Truckee planning commissioner

Decisionmakers

By David Bunker
Sierra Sun, dbunker@sierrasun.com
July 16, 2007

Jeff Bender calls himself the “Energy Dude.”

A mechanical engineer by trade, Bender has immersed himself in energy conservation and green building in Truckee and North Tahoe. That passion for environmentally sound design spills over to his position on the planning commission.

“Green building is really common sense,” said Bender.

The planning commission is now working to update Truckee’s development code, the guidelines for planning project design. And Bender has promised to push for as much Green Building emphasis as possible in the document.

“The development code is the big nut we have to crack,” said Bender.

Bender is focusing on the development code, since conflicts of interest will force him to sit out decisions on important projects such as Joerger Ranch, Hilltop and the Railyard.

Bender is also the youngest planning commissioner, a business owner and a father of two children.

Bender said he might be interested in serving on the Truckee Donner Public Utility District board at a later date since it matches up well with his passion for energy conservation.

Forum explores 'bottom line' of water economics

By Christina Nelson
Sierra Sun
November 28, 2002

With only 750,000 of California's 33 million people, the Sierra region often feels the sting that comes with a lack of political clout.

The region - an area that covers 20 counties in California and includes a small portion of Nevada - provides 60 percent of California's water supply, which provides an essential resource to the state's $32 billion agriculture industry.

"California agriculture is highly dependent on Sierra water," said Jim Sayer, president of the Sierra Business Council.

And yet, the region receives a fraction of the money generated by the resource, and an even smaller portion of conservation related bond funding.

"One to one-and-a-half percent of all state conservation investments go into 20 counties," said Steve Frisch, director of natural resources at the Sierra Business Council.

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Pathway still needs forum volunteers

— Sun staff reports
August 11, 2006
Sierra Sun

Lake Tahoe public agencies are seeking volunteers to serve on the Pathway 2007 Forum, a group of 43 individuals representing various interests in the Lake Tahoe region.

Pathway 2007 is the collaborative process local agencies have embarked upon to chart a 20-year vision for the Lake Tahoe Basin.

The Pathway agencies are seeking nominations to fill vacant seats on the forum — a citizen’s committee. The five available seats are: a South Shore at-large seat, a North Shore at-large seat, a representative of regional non-governmental social services, a representative for regional community sustainability and a regional at-large seat.

Although there are only five seats of 43 currently open, applications will be accepted in all categories, given the likelihood that some forum members will leave their positions over the next two years.

Pathway 2007 is a collaborative process to include public input and community vision in the next 20-year regional plan of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, the Forest Plan for the U.S. Forest Service, as well as plan amendments for the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, and Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board.

The TRPA’s regional plan sets the pace and amount of development within the Tahoe Basin.

Potential nominees should visit www.pathway2007.org for additional information, or call (775) 588-4547, ext. 235.

Planning for People

By Joanna Hartman
Sierra Sun
November 2, 2006

At the office water cooler, at children’s soccer games and at fitness centers around the Tahoe Basin, community members talk about not only water and air quality, but employment opportunities, transit reliability, workforce housing and public gathering spaces.

“[It’s important for us] to sustain the community, as opposed to sustaining just the environment,” said Steve Teshara, executive director of the North Lake Tahoe Resort Association.

The Lake Tahoe Basin chambers of commerce hosted two socioeconomic workshops in September in an effort to determine characteristics of a sustainable community, as well as a means to measure the features. Results from the workshop have been compiled and will be used to design a socioeconomic research plan to parallel Pathway 2007, the 20-year regional plan being developed by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

Teshara said the chambers were pleased with the workshops held in both South Lake Tahoe and on the North Shore in mid-September. With results in hand, the chambers will sit with the Tahoe Science Consortium to develop a research and tracking program for socioeconomic indicators and measurements determined from the meetings.

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Coal contract is a problem, not a solution

Neal Mock
My Turn
November 29, 2006
Sierra Sun

I am getting dizzy from the spin emanating from Truckee Donner Public Utility District. Let’s identify the spin and do a reality check.

Spin: Our power content label has no relationship to reality and we can’t know where our power comes from. Yet we do know that 90 percent of our power already comes from coal. Further spin: We get 16 percent of our power from renewables.

Reality check: if we can’t know our power content we can make no claims about it. If we choose to make unsubstantiated claims they should add up to 100 percent.

The spin around the 50-year contract to buy into IPP3 follows:

• Spin — Construction costs are $1 billion.

• Reality — the town of Rupert, Idaho, just voted down IPP3 and their published info claimed $2.1 billion construction and financing costs.

• Spin — IPP3 will be a state-of-the art facility and therefore less polluting.

• Reality — If IPP3 is built, CO2 emissions from the IPP plant will make it the second largest CO2 emitter in the nation.

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Truckee prepares for first cohousing development

By Greyson Howard
Sierra Sun, ghoward@sierrasun.com
December 1, 2006

Planners and future residents of Truckee’s potential cohousing development are focusing on environmental sustainability and community.

The area’s first cohousing project planned for the Hilltop development in Truckee continues to move forward — solidifying a core group of households, attracting new members, and refining the cooperatively-planned neighborhood’s design.

CoHousing Partners of Nevada City is working with a core group of about 10 households to meet those goals through a series of meetings and workshops, said Rick Mockler, vice president of CoHousing Partners.

“We will be checking in and getting the group organized,” Mockler said. “We will start talking about membership and thinking about a name for the project.”

One way both CoHousing Partners and prospective members are preparing to create the new community is by looking to other cohousing groups.

“California has 22 complete cohousing communities, mostly in Northern California between the Bay Area and Sacramento,” Mockler said. “I’ve been to most of them and there is a real diversity in architectural style, but the commonalties are greater than the differences.”

He said that most of the communities were similar in size, layout, and use of common facilities.

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Old school planning

'New urbanism' could be the ticket to community design decisions

By Christine Stanley
Sierra Sun
January 3, 2007

From Tahoe to Truckee, conversations about development touch on similar themes: Housing mix, pedestrian friendliness, less dependence on cars and a greater sense of community.

While projects are in varying stages of completion, all seek to create diverse, walkable, compact, mixed-use communities that can serve the needs of inhabitants in ways that are sustainable, affordable and economically viable.

Such is the idea behind New Urbanism, a planning concept for clustered, integrated communities in which families can work, shop and play within walking distance of their homes and friends.

Think Nevada City or Telluride or even Truckee of the past, when residents could still buy hardware and produce downtown.

It’s a lot to consider, but some regional planners say it’s not out of reach for the area.

New Urbanism isn’t so new
“Ironically, this is the historic development pattern of the Sierra Nevada,” said Steve Frisch, vice president of programming for the Sierra Business Council.

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Did you know... that Tahoe Basin’s East Shore lakes are artificial?

By Greyson Howard
Sierra Sun, ghoward@sierrasun.com
September 13, 2007

The mountains above Tahoe’s eastern shore were riddled with flumes, pipelines, and logging during the Nevada mining boom of the late 19th century.

With the Comstock Lode gold and silver boom beginning in 1860 in Virginia City and Gold Hill, demand for timber and water exploded, turning the focus of entrepreneurs to the Carson Range to the west.

Marlette Lake, Hobart Reservoir and Spooner Lake were created or dammed to supply a network of flumes and pipelines known as the Marlette-Hobart Water System.

A box flume that carried water from Marlette Lake to Tunnel Creek Station is now the site of, and lends its name to, the popular Marlette Flume Trail.

Both this and another flume were built through a 4,000-foot tunnel that emptied onto the east side of the Carson Range, joining the key pipeline of the Comstock, which brought 10 million gallons of water per day to Virginia City.

As the Comstock declined, livestock grazing replaced timber harvest in the early 20th century, and the forest slowly returned. But the lakes remained as a new public resource.

— Information from Nevada State Parks

SiGBA Speaker Series: Energy Analysis of Commercial and Residential Structures

Tuesday, Sept. 18
September 14, 2007
Sierra Sun

The Sierra Green Building Association (SiGBA) continues its “Live Green – Build Green” speaker series on Tuesday, Sept. 18 with an event featuring Stephen Witek from Sustainable Environment Engineered Design. This free event will be held at the Cedar House Sport Hotel, 10918 Brockway Road, Truckee, starting at 6 p.m. with no host food and drinks. The presentation begins at 6:30 p.m.

Stephen Witek received his bachelor of science degree in architectural engineering with an emphasis in mechanical engineering at Penn State University in 1997, and interned with the Smith Group in Detroit, Mich. Stephen went on to be the secretary of ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers) and received his LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Accredited Professional certification in 2001. Stephen participated in the first LEED Platinum Building in Anapolis, Maryland, and is currently a member of AIA, the American Institute of Architects and is an Energy Star Partner.

Stephen Witek will be presenting an overview of the National Energy Codes, including ASHRAE 90.1, the Model Energy Code, and California Title 24. The discussion will cover how these codes apply to all buildings, and the calculations procedures involved in verification of these codes. The discussion will include an introduction to building energy use calculations; and a further introduction to the energy analysis software (i.e. DOE2, BLAST, EnergyPlus, Energy Pro, Energy 10, Equest, HAP, and Trace).

The discussion also will introduce the techniques used to site locate a building, to determine proper glazing amounts, analyze insulation levels, and passive solar analysis. There will be a further discussion about how LEED points are affected by this analysis.

SiGBA is a local non-profit group of like-minded individuals and businesses committed to promoting a “Live Green –Build Green” philosophy. As the Sierra’s leading green building resource and community education organization, SiGBA’s mission is to promote effective environmental design and sustainable practices in our community. For more information, visit www.sigba.org or call (877) 744-2248.

My Turn: The economy, environment, community ‘triad’

By Ed Miller
Sierra Sun
March 26, 2007

The economic viability of any community can be based on many contributing factors such as tourism, manufacturing, industry, etc. Our economy at Lake Tahoe, for the most part is tourist based. The writer of the guest column “Economics vs. the environment” in the March 21 Sierra Sun suggests that this is a mistake. Our efforts should be to find some other basis to sustain our economy that would have less impact on our environment, and therefore deny all development.
The writer’s assumption is that a viable tourism industry, a healthy environment, and economic development cannot coexist to mutual benefit. Our reality is we live here now with an economy that is deeply rooted in tourism, and our visitors are drawn by what our natural environment has to offer.
TRPA’s Pathways 2007 study and the neighborhood-driven Place-Based Planning workshops have determined through overwhelming response form all sectors of the area that what will best serve our Lake Tahoe communities is a well-balanced “triad” of a healthy sustainable environment, a vibrant and successful economy, and a happy, energetic and supportive social center. Without these three facets working closely together and supporting one another, our communities will not thrive.

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Sunset Idea House showcases Lake Tahoe

Tours will feature innovative techniques

By Kelly Ruane
Sierra Sun
June 14, 2007

Overlooking the Golf Club at Gray’s Crossing, the Sunset Lake Tahoe Idea House is meant to stand as a beacon of architectural innovation in the Truckee community.

The Sunset House is scheduled to open Aug. 24.

So what is an Idea House?

“Sunset Magazine has a series of what they call idea houses,” said Senior Director of Marketing Sue Hyde at Tahoe Mountain Resorts, a partner with Sunset Magazine in the project. “The idea behind them is for people to come through and get great ideas in the latest in technology and design.”

Out of Sunset’s 12 idea homes, Truckee’s is the first with a “high country” theme.
“We wanted to do a house in the area. High-country living has a huge readership,” said Home Programs Manager Shannon Thompson of Sunset Magazine.

Sunset Magazine, the glossy, high-end publication that caters to readers in 13 western states, builds two demonstration homes a year. This year Sunset is building homes in San Francisco and Lake Tahoe.

“In Truckee, the goal was to have a lot of green building features in this project,” Thompson said. “We wanted to show a year-round house, a house that is a summer home and a winter home.”

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Environmental conference this weekend

August 2, 2007
From www.sierrasun.com

Sustainability will be the theme of the Sierra Nevada Alliance’s 14th annual conference in Kings Beach this weekend.

“The goal of this years conference is to explore what sustainability means for Sierra conservation,” according to the Alliance’s Web site. “More importantly, what must we do to ensure the Sierra qualities we all love are here for generations.”

The conference will be held Friday through Sunday at the North Tahoe Conference Center.

The Sierra Nevada Alliance is a group of 60 grassroots environmental groups dedicated to the protecting and restoring the environment of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range.

For more information and online registration, visit www.sierranevadaalliance.org or call (530) 542-4546.