News
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — The Sugar Pine Foundation is a local nonprofit that is working to save the sugar pines and other white pines from the threat of a non-native, incurable fungus called white pine blister rust.
The foundation is working to maintain Tahoe's environmental health and scenic beauty by finding sugar pine trees that are resistant to the blister rust fungus, collecting their cones and planting their progeny.
In October and November, the foundation will be conducting planting events throughout the Tahoe region. The group hopes to plant more than 5,000 sugar pine seedlings that will add to Tahoe's healthy forests of the future and is seeking volunteers to help with the project.
Community planting events are planned for Saturday, Nov. 6, in the Angora burn area in South Lake Tahoe and Saturday, Nov. 13, in Zephyr Cove.
At 10 a.m. volunteers will receive instructions and materials for the planting, which will last until noon. Some seedlings will also be available for people to take home.
The Nov. 6 planting will be dedicated to the memory of Susie Kaiser. Kaiser served on the nonprofit's board of directors and was killed in a kayaking accident in late August. Kaiser's friends and family have helped sponsor a community planting in her name on a lot in the Angora burn area that Kaiser herself identified for sugar pine restoration.
The planting on Nov. 13 will take place at Whittell High School in Zephyr Cove. The purpose of this planting is to enhance forest health by adding sugar pines in an area where the Jeffrey pines are heavily infected with mistletoe.
The events welcome all ages.
“Kids especially love to come back and visit their trees,” said executive director Maria Mircheva.
Mircheva conducts plantings in conjunction with teachers and students throughout the Tahoe region.
This fall, the foundation will plant trees with Glenshire Elementary School fourth-graders, Whittell High School students and the sixth-grade class at North Tahoe Middle School.
Support for these projects has been obtained primarily from local sources: The Foresight Fund at the Parasol Tahoe Community Foundation and the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation are funding the Whittell High School and Glenshire Elementary school plantings, respectively.
Historically, sugar pines accounted for 25 percent of Tahoe's mixed-conifer forest composition at lake level. Today, due to heavy selective logging during the Comstock era of the late 1800s, and the more recent introduction of the blister rust fungus, sugar pines account for only 5 percent of the trees in Tahoe's forests.
Please bring a shovel or trowel to the events, if possible.
For information, visit www.sugarpinefoundation.org or call Maria Mircheva at 650-814-9565.
The foundation is working to maintain Tahoe's environmental health and scenic beauty by finding sugar pine trees that are resistant to the blister rust fungus, collecting their cones and planting their progeny.
In October and November, the foundation will be conducting planting events throughout the Tahoe region. The group hopes to plant more than 5,000 sugar pine seedlings that will add to Tahoe's healthy forests of the future and is seeking volunteers to help with the project.
Community planting events are planned for Saturday, Nov. 6, in the Angora burn area in South Lake Tahoe and Saturday, Nov. 13, in Zephyr Cove.
At 10 a.m. volunteers will receive instructions and materials for the planting, which will last until noon. Some seedlings will also be available for people to take home.
The Nov. 6 planting will be dedicated to the memory of Susie Kaiser. Kaiser served on the nonprofit's board of directors and was killed in a kayaking accident in late August. Kaiser's friends and family have helped sponsor a community planting in her name on a lot in the Angora burn area that Kaiser herself identified for sugar pine restoration.
The planting on Nov. 13 will take place at Whittell High School in Zephyr Cove. The purpose of this planting is to enhance forest health by adding sugar pines in an area where the Jeffrey pines are heavily infected with mistletoe.
The events welcome all ages.
“Kids especially love to come back and visit their trees,” said executive director Maria Mircheva.
Mircheva conducts plantings in conjunction with teachers and students throughout the Tahoe region.
This fall, the foundation will plant trees with Glenshire Elementary School fourth-graders, Whittell High School students and the sixth-grade class at North Tahoe Middle School.
Support for these projects has been obtained primarily from local sources: The Foresight Fund at the Parasol Tahoe Community Foundation and the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation are funding the Whittell High School and Glenshire Elementary school plantings, respectively.
Historically, sugar pines accounted for 25 percent of Tahoe's mixed-conifer forest composition at lake level. Today, due to heavy selective logging during the Comstock era of the late 1800s, and the more recent introduction of the blister rust fungus, sugar pines account for only 5 percent of the trees in Tahoe's forests.
Please bring a shovel or trowel to the events, if possible.
For information, visit www.sugarpinefoundation.org or call Maria Mircheva at 650-814-9565.
