US Forest Service - Lake Tahoe Basin Mgmt Unit (CA/NV)

US Forests in California:
Angeles	Inyo	Lassen	Modoc	Sequoia	Six Rivers
Cleveland	Klamath	Los Padres	Plumas	Shasta-Trinity	Stanislaus
Eldorado	Lake Tahoe BMU	Mendocino	San Bernardino	Sierra	Tahoe

Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (TMU - Forest #19) "Camino" KMB 6-6-0

The establishment of Forest Reserves began with the passage of the Forest Reserve Act of 1891, allowing Presidents to establish Forest Reserves by proclamation. In 1899 President William McKinley created the Lake Tahoe Forest Reserve, including the core of the National Forest land in the Tahoe Basin, an area of about 37,000 acres, following the decades of logging for the Comstock mining boom. None of this acreage included any of the shoreline. About 8 years later three separate forests were developed out of the reserve, the Tahoe, Eldorado and Toiyabe National Forests. Each of these forests extended into the basin and managed separate sections.

By the mid 1960s nearly 70 years of National Forest management resulted in the acquisition of a significant amount of land added to the public ownership. Acquisition of environmentally sensitive lands is one important way to protect the lake. By the early 1970s the acreage of publically owned land in the basin had increased from 37,000 acres to 154,000 acres, some of which is located on the lake's shoreline. This additional land was acquired through land exchanges and purchases funded by the Land and Water Conservation Act of 1965.

In 1973, this most unique area of America's National Forest System was established. The establishment of the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) was not really the creation of a "new" National Forest, but rather an administrative re-organization of National Forest lands that had already existed in the Tahoe Basin since 1899. Up until the unit was created, the management of National Forest land was split up between 3 ranger districts, the Lake Valley (Eldorado), Truckee (Tahoe) and the Carson (Toiyabe) Ranger Districts, on 3 National Forests, the Eldorado, Tahoe and Toiyabe National Forests, in 2 different Forest Service regions, the Pacific Southwest Region (R5) headquartered in Vallejo and the Intermountain Region (R4) headquartered in Ogden, Utah. The pressures of growth, increased recreation use and water quality degradation in the basin created significant issues that made coordination between the 3 units difficult, if not impossible, and at the least inefficient. The National Forest land in the basin needed one voice. A decision was made by the Forest Service to administratively place the basin portion of these 3 units under a one Forest Supervisor and call this consolidated organization the "Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit." The name "Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit" was originally a temporary one, but after 4 decades, the name remains. Several attempts have been made since to establish the "Lake Tahoe National Forest," but a bill doing such has never passed. The boundaries of this unit follow the watershed boundaries of the upper Truckee River and Lake Tahoe, which is the crest of the ridge around the lake, with a short gap where the Truckee River flows down canyon from the lake.

The LTBMU is responsible for the conservation, preservation and restoration of the Lake Tahoe watershed ecosystem on National Forest lands. Projects and programs also include habitat, fire management, and urban lot management. Additionally the LTBMU provides and maintains high quality recreational opportunities for millions of visitors and residents annually.

Compared to other National Forests the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit is small, yet it is the Tahoe Basin's largest land manager, responsible for 78% of basin lands. As such the Forest Service has the largest single role in ecosystem and watershed management and protection. The LTBMU is a part of the National Forest System, yet is managed somewhat differently than other National Forests. Many common forest activities such as mining, grazing or timber harvesting are either not a part of LTBMU management or play a very small role. Since the lake is so dependent on all that happens around it, LTBMU programs manage the whole of the basin as a complete inter-dependent system. The LTBMU is a unique inter-mix of forest and urban communities, presenting challenges and complexities few other National Forests experience. Since its establishment in 1973, the LTBMU has become a pioneer and leader in the science of forest and ecosystem management. The work of the Forest Service supports and is supported by many partners. Other federal, state and local agencies are working together in the effort to face challenges, conserve and restore natural and cultural resources, and enhance the recreational values of the Lake Tahoe Basin.

The purchase of sensitive parcels of private land for public ownership is more important than ever. In December of 1980 the Santini-Burton Act passed, which places the revenue from the sale of federal land in the Las Vegas Valley into a fund for land purchases and watershed restoration in the Lake Tahoe basin. Land in individual urban lots began to be purchased and to date, over 3,500 parcels (or Urban Lots) totaling 13,000 acres valued at $105 million have been acquired. As of 2014 National Forest land ownership has increased to 160,000 acres with 18% of the 72 miles of shoreline now part of the LTBMU.

Old growth forest in the Lake Tahoe Basin is rare due to extensive logging that supplied the Comstock mines with bracing for shafts, fuel and building material. About 5,400 acres are left, less than 3% of the land in the basin, consisting of Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi), White Fir (Abies concolor), Red Fir (Abies magnifica), Sugar pine (P. lambertiana) and California incense cedar (Calocedrus decurrens).

There are no ranger districts dividing this "forest," the LTBMU is headed by a Forest Supervisor, with the Forest Supervisor's Office in South Lake Tahoe.

There are 4 fire stations on the LTBMU. The Meyers Fire station houses Engines 41 and 42. The Meyers Work Center (nearby) houses the "Tallac Interagency Hotshot Crew" (Crew 19), the Meeks Bay Fire Station houses Engine 43 and the Spooner Fire Station houses Engine 44.

RADIO SYSTEM

The LTBMU has a Fire Net and Admin Net. There are channels provided enabling direct or simplex communication on each net. Camino ECC dispatches the LTBMU by utilizing Radio Over IP (RoIP). Utilizing the Forest Service Internet, Camino transmits from a Control Station at the LTBMU Supervisor's Office in South Lake Tahoe. There are three mountaintop repeaters around the LTBMU (Snow Valley Peak, East Peak and Scout Peak). Camino has a back-up control station at their facilities in Camino when the other system is down.

Other

The unit identifiers follow the function name, the number 4 followed by the position number system. Common function names include resources, timber, recreation, wilderness, OHV (Off Highway Vehicle management) lands, special uses, range, wildlife, watershed, soils, fisheries, engineer, engineering, roads, O & M (Operations and Maintenance), ecology and possible additional. Not every forest uses all of these and some ID the same unit with a different name, example some forests call their O & M and roads units "engineering." As there are not any ranger districts on this "forest" the numerical portion of the identifier, always begins with the number 4. It is believed that this has to do with the old Lake Valley Ranger District on the Eldorado National Forest most likely being Ranger District 4 as it lies between the Georgetown Ranger District being district being #3 and the Pacific Ranger District being district #5 in a system that numbers its district alphabetically. Since the Lake Valley Ranger District had the most land in the basin under its jurisdiction, had quite a bit of fire apparatus already given the number 4, the number was probably forwarded to the new management unit. There are 3 fire stations on the LTBMU; Meyers, Meeks Bay and the Spooner Summit junction. In the last 20 years the the LTBMU has been dispatched by the interagency dispatch center in Minden and the Tahoe National Forest-Cal Fire Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit Emergency Command Center at Grass Valley. The LTBMU is now dispatched by the Cal Fire - Eldorado NF co-located communications center in Camino, just east of Placerville. The center's identifier is "Camino."

Channel Plan

Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit Channel Lineup

Channel	Tone(s)	Rx	Tx	Alpha Tag	Description
1	1-3	172.3750	164.9625	TMU Basin Net	*Basin Fire Net
2	1-3	171.5750	165.4125	TMU Basin Admin	*Basin Admin Net
3		168.6625	168.6625	R5 Project	R5 Project Net
4	6	154.2650	154.2650	VFire22	V Fire 22 (RX/TX Tone 6 - 156.7)
5	6	154.2950	154.2950	VFire23	V Fire 23 (RX/TX Tone 6 - 156.7)
6	6	154.3025	154.3025	VFire26	V Fire 26 (RX/TX Tone 6 - 156.7)
7	8	153.9500	154.4450	S.Lake TahoeFD	South Lake Tahoe FD (Use Tone 8 - 103.5)
8	9	154.3400	153.8900	Lk ValleyFD	Lake Valley FD Command (Echo Rpt.) (Use Tone 9 - 100.0)
9	10	155.3625	159.0825	Lk ValleyFD	Lake Valley FD Command (Angora Rpt.) (Use Tone 10 - 107.2)
10	8,9,11-13	154.1300	159.4950	NEU East	Cal Fire Nevada/Yuba/Placer East Local
11	16	151.1900	159.2250	AEU East	Cal Fire Amador-El Dorado East Local
12	13, 14	155.0250	158.7750	Tahoe DougFD	Tahoe Douglas FD (RX Tone 14 - 151.4, TX Tone 13 - 141.3)
13		167.5000	167.5000	R5 A/G14 P	R5 Air to Ground 14 Primary
14		169.1125	169.1125	R5 A/G59 S	R5 Air to Ground 59 Secondary
15	6	156.0750	156.0750	CALCORD	Calif. Coordination - CALCORD (RX/TX Tone 6 - 156.7)
16	6	154.2725	154.2725	VFire24	VFire 24 (RX/TX Tone 6 - 156.7) Secondary South Shore
^	6	154.2875	154.2875	VFire25	VFire 25 (RX/TX Tone 6 - 156.7) Secondary North Shore
^	6	154.2800	154.2800	VFire21	VFire 21 (RX/TX Tone 6 - 156.7) Secondary East Shore

*See the lists below for repeater tones.

Revised 6-9-24

Tones

TMU Repeaters

Tone	Location - Nets	CTCSS Tone
1	Snow Valley - Forest/Admin	110.9
2	East Peak - Forest/Admin	123.0
3	Scout Peak - Forest/Admin	131.8

The input tone is transmitted on the output frequency on both of the Basin's Nets.

Cal Fire NEU East Repeaters

Tone	Location	CTCSS Tone
8	Mt. Rose	103.5
9	Snow Valley	100.0
11	Mt. Pluto	114.8
12	Squaw Peak	127.3
13	Northstar	141.3

Related Links

• National Incident Radio Support Cache - These frequencies are used for large incidents, usually when a Type I or Type II Incident Management Team is assigned. This cache is used for fires, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, visits of high ranking officials, such the U.S. President and the presidents of other countries, large law enforcement incidents, special events and other incidents where the federal government is utilizing the Incident Command System.

Return to DB page: United States Forest Service (CA)

US Forests in California:
Angeles	Inyo	Lassen	Modoc	Sequoia	Six Rivers
Cleveland	Klamath	Los Padres	Plumas	Shasta-Trinity	Stanislaus
Eldorado	Lake Tahoe BMU	Mendocino	San Bernardino	Sierra	Tahoe