September might be the best month in the Tahoe Basin. The air holds a familiar crispness, the aspens are hinting at their pending golden journey, and we’re getting pumped for snow.

This month can also be daunting. After long summer days on the lake or trails, to-do lists resurface and pine needles form a sepia carpet across yards and rooftops. Without recent thundershowers, prolonged dryness sets in. And with it, an anxious edge.

The recent smoky days brought back unease for the community, especially in my Christmas Valley neighborhood where the Caldor Fire entered the Tahoe Basin in 2021. We are fortunate to have the Caldor Fire in rearview, and foresight is the gift we carry forward. Fire is not a distant possibility. It is part of our landscape. And wildfire is inevitable.

Caldor wasn’t the first to test us. The 2007 Angora Fire resulted in the loss of 254 homes and structures. And the scar from the 2002 Gondola Fire is another highly visible reminder that a community intertwined with nature is delicate. Fire doesn’t respect boundaries or property lines, so it has taught us to work together. Since 2008, after the Angora Fire, the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team (TFFT) has led that charge, uniting Tahoe’s seven fire districts, emergency response teams, and more than 20 federal, tribal, state, and local agencies. Their coordination during the Caldor Fire was the reason no lives or property were lost in the basin. The strength of collaboration is also found in actions. The Lake Tahoe West Restoration Partnership is a 59,000-acre effort to strengthen the West Shore’s resilience to wildfire and climate threats. Forests here are overly dense and uniform in size, making them vulnerable to drought, climate change, and extreme fire. With the West Shore’s patchwork of federal, state, local, and private ownership, the Lake Tahoe West partnership erases boundaries to restore forests to better withstand threats.

At the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA), we are proud stewards of these partnerships. While we are not first responders or evacuation officials, our policies and facilitation strengthen the work of those who are. Forest health is also central to the broader restoration goal of the Tahoe Region. Under the Lake Tahoe Environmental Improvement Program (EIP), TRPA is helping accelerate forest management as well as revitalization and redevelopment that support a Tahoe more prepared for wildfire. In total, since the EIP was formed in 1997, partners have treated nearly 100,000 acres of forest to reduce wildfire risk. September is National Preparedness Month, and on September 27, FireFest in South Lake Tahoe invites families to join local fire districts and other TFFT partners for interactive, hands-on lessons in safety and conservation. Fittingly, National Public Lands Day this year falls on the same day as FireFest. The coincidence reminds us that nearly 90 percent of the Tahoe Basin is public land, protected and cared for through decades of coordinated effort. Maintaining these lands is essential to keeping our forests healthy and communities safe. The best evacuation plan is readiness. Prepare a go-bag. Create defensible space. Sign up for emergency alerts. Visit TahoeLivingWithFire.org for resources.

We cannot control when the next wildfire will spark, but we can control how prepared we are. Preparedness is partnership, and when each of us does our part, we create a safer, more resilient Lake Tahoe.

Julie W. Regan is Executive Director of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency