Local officials plead for funds for defensible space

By Kyle Magin
Bonanza Staff Writer
May 7, 2008

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Local officials are going to bat for the U.S. Forest Service on behalf of the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District for badly-needed Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act funds.

About $1 million from SNPLMA, according to the Forest Service, would go to pay for an environmental study on 9,000 acres of land around Incline Village. The study would determine a fuels reduction plan for the forest, allowing the NLTFPD to treat the area for wildfire prevention.

Multiple agencies are vying for a smaller pool of SNPLMA funds than past years, though, as slow real estate sales in Southern Nevada have decreased the amount of money available for state projects.

Without this money the fire district could be set back several years in its defensible space effort to create a protective halo of treated forests around Incline Village and Crystal Bay, said Greg McKay, assistant chief for the fire district.

Area officials, including Incline Village General Improvement District General Manager Bill Horn, Incline Village/Crystal Bay Citizen Advisory Board Chair Gene Brockman and Washoe County Commissioner Jim Galloway are writing letters to representatives of the Bureau of Land Management, who oversees the funds, on behalf of the district.

Galloway said the importance of the project is the reason he chose to lobby for the funding.

“I agreed to write the letter because the project is so important, it just really shouldn’t be delayed,” Galloway said.

Horn agreed, saying defensible space is a must-have priority.

“The more we can do to increase our defensible space to protect our residents, businesses, and IVGID assets in Incline and Crystal Bay, the better,” Horn said.
Brockman confirmed the CAB is also sending a letter in favor of the project.

McKay said the support is appreciated and said the office of Gov. Jim Gibbons, Rep. Dean Heller and a variety of fire organizations have agreed to support a call for funding.

Public officials and private citizens interested in supporting the funding application should send their letters by Friday, because public comment on the SNPLMA Round Nine funding closes at that point.