It is very sad—and extremely costly to the victims—when public administrators need a great tragedy to remind them of their public responsibility, and how best to fulfill it.
Keeping Tahoe safe
Harold Singer lost his home in the Angora fire. Now, the head of the water district dedicated to keeping Tahoe blue is taking a new look at his agency's rules.
By Chris Bowman - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Monday, July 9, 2007
California's top water quality enforcer at Lake Tahoe, the sapphire of the Sierra, said the recent wildfire that ripped through hundreds of south shore homes should "re-open the book" on environmental rules that call for preserving the lake's clarity above all else.
For decades, "Keep Tahoe Blue" has defined the overarching mission for this region that Congress declared a "national treasure."
Sport-utility vehicles, hybrids and skateboards alike sport the motto on decals. Former President Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore embraced the goal at a lakeside summit that raised nearly $1 billion to halt urban runoff into the lake.
But the destruction from last month's Angora fire has the California official most directly responsible for guarding the holy waters rethinking that priority.
"The biggest tragedy of all of this will be if we don't learn from what happened," said Harold Singer, executive officer of the state Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board.
"I am willing to open up the book on this. If there is something that tells us there is a better way to protect water quality and still allow fire agencies to reduce the fire threat, we will work with them."
To that end, Singer has already opened discussions with federal and state land managers and the Lake Valley Fire Protection District, which includes the devastated Upper Truckee subdivision at the south end of the lake.
Foremost on their minds are the regulations protecting the 64 "stream environment zones" around the lake. Many of these creeks are cluttered with deadwood and flanked with dense stands of white fir and lodge pole pines.
The stream zones, however, are off-limits to conventional logging operations that fire officials say are needed to efficiently reduce fire hazard throughout the heavily forested, 500-square-mile Tahoe basin.
