Tahoe National Forest

Tahoe National Forest
IUCN category VI (protected area with sustainable use of natural resources)

Thick snow still lies on the ground in April
Map showing the location of Tahoe National Forest

Map of the United States

Location Northwest of Lake Tahoe, California US
Nearest city Truckee, California
Coordinates 39°33′45″N 120°33′45″W / 39.56250°N 120.56250°W / 39.56250; -120.56250Coordinates: 39°33′45″N 120°33′45″W / 39.56250°N 120.56250°W / 39.56250; -120.56250
Area 871,495 acres (352,682 ha)
Established 1905
Governing body U.S. Forest Service
Website Tahoe National Forest

Tahoe National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in the state of California, northwest of Lake Tahoe. It includes the 8,587-foot (2,617 m) peak of Sierra Buttes, near Sierra City, which has views of Mount Lassen and Mount Shasta. It is located in parts of six counties. In descending order of forestland area they are Sierra, Placer, Nevada, Yuba, Plumas, and El Dorado counties. (The Plumas County and El Dorado County portions are very small; the extent of the forest in El Dorado County is only four acres.) [1] The forest has a total area of 871,495 acres (1,361.71 sq mi, or 3,526.82 km2). Its headquarters is in Nevada City, California. There are local ranger district offices in Camptonville, Foresthill, Sierraville, and Truckee.[2]

Tahoe National Forest has many natural and man-made resources for the enjoyment of its visitors, including hundreds of lakes and reservoirs, river canyons carved through granite bedrock, and many miles of trails including a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail. Also within its borders is the National Wilderness Preservation System's Granite Chief Wilderness.

The forest also serves as the water supply headwaters for the towns of Lincoln, Auburn, Rocklin, California, and Reno and Sparks, Nevada, which receive the water through elaborate canal systems that largely originated during the California Gold Rush and Comstock Lode eras.

Overview

The Forest Reserves were established in 1893 to halt uncontrolled exploitation. In California the Sierra Forest Reserve consisted of over 4,000,000 acres (1,600,000 ha).[3]

President Theodore Roosevelt supported the transfer of forest reserves from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service in 1905, with Gifford Pinchot as Chief Forester. Thus began the United States National Forest System.

In 1908, the Sierra National Forest was divided into five units and as time went on, more divisions, additions, and combinations were worked out so that presently, Tahoe is one of eight national forests along the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. (They are, from north to south, Plumas, Tahoe, Eldorado, Toiyabe, Stanislaus, Inyo, Sierra, and Sequoia.)

Southwest of Boca Reservoir on a Spring evening
Boca Reservoir viewed from the same location

The charter given by James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture states: The National Forests are for the purpose of preserving a perpetual supply of timber for home industries, preventing a destruction of forest cover which regulates the flow of streams, and protecting local residents from unfair competition in the use of forest and range. The timber, water, pasture and mineral resources of the national forests are for the use of the people.[4]+

Tahoe was originally established as the Lake Tahoe Forest Reserve on April 13, 1899. The name was changed to Tahoe on October 3, 1905.[5]

Vegetation

A 2002 report estimated nearly 84,000 acres (340 km2) of old growth in the Forest. The old growth includes Coast Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii), Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa), White Fir (Abies concolor), Sugar Pine (Pinus lambertiana), California Incense Cedar (Calocedrus decurrens), California Black Oak (Quercus kelloggii), Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta), and Red Fir (Abies magnifica).[6] A number of species of invasive weeds have been recorded in the Forest, including thistles, knapweeds, mustards, toadflaxes, daisies, brooms, and aquatic.[7]

Groves

Placer County "Big Trees" Grove is a giant sequoia grove located in the American River watershed of Tahoe National Forest. It is known as a "tiny" giant sequoia grove, and is the northern most grove. The grove contains six old growth giant sequoias, two of which are considered "giant" size.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Table 6 - NFS Acreage by State, Congressional District and County - United States Forest Service - September 30, 2007
  2. ↑ USFS Ranger Districts by State
  3. ↑ History of the Sierra Nevada by Francis Farquhar University of California Press, 1965 p. 213
  4. ↑ History of the Sierra Nevadaby Francis Farquhar University of California Press, 1965 p. 214
  5. ↑ Davis, Richard C. (September 29, 2005), National Forests of the United States (pdf), The Forest History Society
  6. ↑ Warbington, Ralph; Beardsley, Debby (2002), 2002 Estimates of Old Growth Forests on the 18 National Forests of the Pacific Southwest Region, United States Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region
  7. ↑ Invasive Weeds of the Tahoe National Forest: A Comparison Guide to Non-native Invasive Plants and Common Look-alikes. Neavda City, CA: United States Forest Service, Tahoe National Forest, 2013.
  8. ↑ Schaffer, Jeffrey P. 1998. The Tahoe Sierra: a natural history guide to 112 hikes in the northern Sierra. Berkeley, California: Wilderness Press, pp. 138-142.
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