North Bowl Trees Saved
Guest Column by Rochelle Nason, League to Save Lake Tahoe, and Michael Donahoe, Tahoe Area Sierra Club
The Tahoe Area Sierra Club and the League to Save Lake Tahoe are delighted that Heavenly Mountain Resort has joined Sierra-at-Tahoe and Alpine Meadows as being among the most environmentally friendly ski resorts in the West. (Hopefully Alpine's participation in this elite group will continue under their new ownership.)
We urge all our skier/boarder members to show their appreciation by purchasing season passes for next year.
Please make sure next year's plans include a visit to Heavenly's North Bowl. Come see what all the fuss is about. On April 25, after much heated debate, Heavenly changed its proposed new Master Plan in ways that will save a majestic stand of red fir, Western white pine, white bark pine and lodgepole pine. Heavenly's ski lifts will now go around the old-growth trees rather than through them. This stand survived the clear-cutting that devastated 95 percent of Tahoe forests during the Comstock era. Some of the trees even predate Columbus' first visit to America.
Most of Tahoe's expert skiers consider this stand some of the best tree- skiing in the world. Come see for yourself.
And please spread the word. We have not yet turned the corner on saving Tahoe's fragile ecosystem and restoring its famed clarity. We need eco-tourists and eco-businesses to come here and provide the base for an economy that truly values the natural environment and understands that sustainability is impossible without it.
Thanks to all of you who wrote letters, made phone calls, sent money, analyzed documents, attended meetings, talked with decision makers, or sent your prayers and energy. The number of people who truly want what's best for Tahoe is amazing. If we build on that, we can create the future we want for ourselves, for our children, and for future generations.
Our thanks also to the Sierra Nevada Alliance, the TRPA Governing Board and staff, the USFS, Heavenly executives and staff, and members of the Washo Tribe for all the hard work and willingness to compromise that was so critical in saving this truly unique stand of trees.
Many years ago, Sierra Club founder John Muir said, "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul."
One of those places has just been preserved.
Happy Earth Day!
