STATELINE, Nev. – Golf play paused, noisy crowds went silent, hats covered hearts, and everyone looked to the sky as jets thundered above at the close of the national anthem.
Jets fly over the Douglas County Sheriff’s honor guard at the 17th tee during the ACC on Saturday. Katelyn Welsh / Tahoe Daily Tribune
As part of the American Century Championship’s celebration of the nation’s 250th, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office honor guard presided over the 17th tee while two United States Air Force T-38’s soared above holes 17 and 18.
At the close of the ceremony, crowds clapped, cheered, and a particularly loud group chanted “USA, USA, USA!”
Three members of that group were Courtney from Reno, Michael O’Brien from Atlanta, and Seung, from Truckee, who goes by his nickname “Bruce Lee.”
Courtney, Michael O’Brien and Seung among a group chanting “USA, USA, USA” after the flyover ceremony.Katelyn Welsh / Tahoe Daily Tribune
The group was surprised and moved by the flyover, with the setting adding to the magic.
“It is so amazing to be able to celebrate America in this way in one of the most beautiful places,” Courtney said, “and it just makes me feel a level of pride for being able to live in this incredible country.”
O’Brien also expressed pride and how the golf tournament is a microcosm of what the USA represents.
“To be able to come to yet another corner of our country,” he said, “and just be able to experience the graciousness from everybody out on the boats, to in the streets, to on the golf course—that is America. That’s why we love the country so much.”
It was Seung’s first time at the tournament, and he was celebrating his 51st birthday on Saturday.
“This is one of the most beautiful places on the planet and at the end of the day, people come from all over the world to experience the lake and the beauty and the majesty of this area,” he said. “There’s nothing better than having all these beautiful Americans celebrating the 250th and,” he added, “go USA!”
This incited another chant from the group, “USA, USA, USA!”
“We are loud, we are boisterous, and we are proud to be Americans,” O’Brien said.
The pilots who conducted the flyover will be on the ground to visit the tournament on Sunday as guests of American Century Investments.
Jets fly over the Douglas County Sheriff’s honor guard at the 17th tee during the ACC on Saturday. Katelyn Welsh / Tahoe Daily Tribune
The USAF jets flying over hole 17. Katelyn Welsh / Tahoe Daily Tribune
Courtney, Michael O’Brien and Seung among a group chanting “USA, USA, USA” after the flyover ceremony. Katelyn Welsh / Tahoe Daily Tribune
Two USAF T-38 aircrafts soaring over the 17th tee to honor 250 years of America Victoria Mastrocola / Tahoe Daily Tribune
A sheriff salutes the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office honor guard during the National Anthem Victoria Mastrocola / Tahoe Daily Tribune
The crowd removes their hats during the National Anthem from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office honor guard. Victoria Mastrocola / Tahoe Daily Tribune
Annika Sörenstam at a press conference after knocking Stephen Curry out of the leadership group.Katelyn Welsh / Tahoe Daily Tribune
STATELINE, Nev. – After Saturday’s second round of the American Century Championship, Fish has knocked Pavelski into second place as he secures top spot on the leaderboard with 52 points, surpassing Pavelski’s 47 points. Annika Sörenstam had a remarkable second day, bumping Stephen Curry from the top three with 47 points.
Sörenstam came out of the gate hot during round two, scoring a birdie on Holes 3, 5, 13, 15 and 18, totaling 25 points today, placing her third before heading into tomorrow’s final rounds.
“Today my putter was my friend,” said Sörenstam who didn’t manage to get any putts in during her first round on Friday. “It just shows you, you just have to keep on grinding, keep on going and you never know. I was lucky to be able to make those putts and it felt like, ‘Yeah, I’m still in there.'”
Sörenstam said her strategy going into Sunday is to keep putting the way she was putting today.
“That’s really the key,” she said. “I’m not going to let my foot off the pedal.”
First place finisher, Fish, had a rollercoaster of a round today, but his eagle putt on Hole 18 was enough to knock Pavelski from his current reign.
“Just giving Joe a little taste of his own medicine,” Fish joked. “He made back-to-back eagles in this tournament on 18 so it’s nice to get one on him.”
Fish recalled today’s round being a “tricky day” as he touched on the course’s perfect conditions and ideal weather, saying there’s limited excuses he could use if he didn’t do well. Along with the eagle, he had two birdies and two bogies, making for a consistent finish.
“I don’t make a ton of eagles usually out here, and obviously six points on one hole is pretty big,” Fish added.
Pavelski touched on his performance this round, saying he made too many mistakes, the biggest one being at Hole 12.
“Caught my tee shot a little heavy and then, kind of, didn’t hit a great bunker shot,” Pavleski said. “The sand game was not good.”
Despite a few hiccups, Pavelski said that overall, he did pretty well, especially when it came to his putting game as he scored 19 points today, 10 points behind yesterday’s 29.
“[The round] was close to being decent, and close to being not very good at all.” he said.
When asked what their thoughts were on Sörenstam’s finish today and how they feel going into tomorrow with her in the final grouping, both Paveliski and Fish had only good things to say.
Pavelski and Fish during Saturday’s press conferenceVictoria Mastrocola / Tahoe Daily Tribune
“I’ve always enjoyed playing with Annika. We come out here, the setup is first class, you feel like you’re in a tournament and then you play with Annika, and you watch her short game, you watch her warmup, you see some of the shots she hits and the speeds on her putt – you know she’s a professional,” Pavelski said. “It’s been fun to watch.”
“She’s the greatest female golfer of all time,” Fish said. “That’s the cool part about these tournaments and these events, you get to spend a lot of time with people you’ve watched and people you’ve looked up to.”
A sheriff salutes the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office honor guard during the National Anthem Victoria Mastrocola / Tahoe Daily Tribune
The crowd removes their hats during the National Anthem from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office honor guard. Victoria Mastrocola / Tahoe Daily Tribune
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office honor guard. Katelyn Welsh / Tahoe Daily Tribune
Jets fly over the Douglas County Sheriff’s honor guard at the 17th tee during the ACC on Saturday. Katelyn Welsh / Tahoe Daily Tribune
Two USAF T-38 aircrafts soaring over the 17th tee to honor 250 years of America Victoria Mastrocola / Tahoe Daily Tribune
Courtney, Michael O’Brien and Seung among a group chanting “USA, USA, USA” after the flyover ceremony. Katelyn Welsh / Tahoe Daily Tribune
Douglas High School golf players Peyton Hamblock, Mason Peck, and Cole Rappleye, from left to right, volunteering at ACC on Saturday. Katelyn Welsh / Tahoe Daily Tribune
Grounds crew immediately got to work following Saturday’s rounds at the ACC Victoria Mastrocola / Tahoe Daily Tribune
Annika Sörenstam at a press conference after knocking Stephen Curry out of the leadership group. Katelyn Welsh / Tahoe Daily Tribune
Grounds crew member mowing the green on hole 8 before Saturday’s tournament roundsVictoria Mastrocola / Tahoe Daily Tribune
STATELINE, Nev. – The immaculate greens of Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course have been home to the American Century Championship for over 30 years, and although its prime location, nestled between towering pines and panoramic views of Lake Tahoe, play a part in the tournament’s setting, the golf course’s conditions have ranked it among the best – not just in Nevada, but throughout the country.
Time, effort and consistency behind the scenes from the grounds crews at Edgewood Tahoe are to thank for its success as a premier golf destination.
“As soon as the snow melts, we’re out here working on the golf course,” said Brad Wunderlich, director of grounds and agronomy at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course. “We treat every day like a tournament. I like to think we keep the course in tournament condition all year round.”
Before the sun even touches the horizon, ground crews are putting in work during the tournament, mowing the entire golf course, double-cutting the greens and hand irrigating.
“Our crews are here at 4:30 in the morning every day this week,” said Wunderlich. “As soon as play is over at the end of the day, the team goes back out and we work until dark every night, making sure everything is perfect.”
While ropes are used to prevent crowds from entering each hole’s turf, the amount of pedestrian traffic poses weeks-long repair and recovery once the tournament is finished.
“Typically, inside the ropes, everything’s in really good shape. It’s outside the ropes where all the fans and structures are that get pretty beat up,” Wunderlich said. “It takes about two weeks to get all the infrastructures down, all the grand stands and tents, and probably another two weeks after that to go through and repair everything.”
Wunderlich, who has been at Edgewood for 14 years, noted that maintaining their status inside the Golf Digest’s America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses is always on their minds. Currently, the golf course is ranked 83rd in the country and ninth in the state.
Grounds crew immediately got to work following Saturday’s rounds at the ACCVictoria Mastrocola / Tahoe Daily Tribune
Course work continues in the spring and fall, when Wunderlich and his team can be seen reshaping the greens or rebuilding bunker complexes. Depending on how harsh the winters are, the course may take even longer to recover turf damage, yet they always find ways to overcome. Plans for the future include possibly rebuilding the 8th hole.
The vanguard of their maintenance practices – sustainability and environmental protection.
Wunderlich said they strive to do their part in protecting the integrity of Lake Tahoe as four of their 18 holes are located nearly on the waterfront. Streams and waterways can also be seen throughout the entire course.
“We’re very conscious of that, and we do everything we can to protect our environment around us,” he says.
Now working his 14th ACC tournament, Wunderlich said that despite the amount of times he’s done this, it doesn’t get easier.
“There’s a lot of work that goes into this, and it never changes. They’re always adding stuff to the tournament so that can throw a wrench into things,” he said. “It’s a challenge every year, but I’ve got a great team behind me. Most of my crew has been here over 25 years, and they’re fantastic. I couldn’t do it without them.”
Paul Bronken has worked nights at Edgewood Tahoe for years, and he said that every morning, without fail, crews go out and work extremely hard to keep the greens in tip-top shape.
“The grounds crew is the reason this exists,” said Bronken, echoing Wunderlich’s praises to his team.
STATELINE, Nev. – Being one of a few lakeside holes and the only one entirely visible from the lake (tee to green), hole 17 at the Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course draws boats and raucous beach crowds, earning a certain reputation over the years at the American Century Championship.
“It’s a beautiful chaos,” says Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Bruce Jacobsen, who has been supervising the event for the sheriff’s office over the last five years.
The scene at hole 17 involves fans lining the beach with pop-up tents, kegs, grills, and enthusiasm. Fans throw footballs to celebrities for autographs, and some even offer the stars beverages to quench their thirst.
Rob Mac chugs a crowd beer. Katelyn Welsh / Tahoe Daily Tribune
Rob Mac chugs a crowd beer. Katelyn Welsh / Tahoe Daily Tribune
Rob Mac chugs a crowd beer. Katelyn Welsh / Tahoe Daily Tribune
While keeping the vibe high, interacting with the crowds, smiling and joking, deputies are simultaneously keeping a watchful eye for those in need and certain dangers.
“We understand what 17 is, and we have people out there who are fun, who are personable and can interact and do both,” Sergeant Jacobsen says. “When it’s time for business, we handle business and when it’s time to joke and have fun, we joke and have fun.”
When big names like Stephen Curry and Charles Barkley come through, there are crowds upwards of 10,000 people, adding to the mayhem, especially when celebrities walk from hole 17 to 18—a walk the sheriff’s office refers to as “the gauntlet.”
“We’re trying to let people have that good, fun time that they always do,” Jacobsen says, “but making sure it doesn’t go overboard and over the top where we have to step in.”
Although deputies will occasionally get the drunk person who tries to run onto the course, Jacobsen says that in the close to 40 years of the tournament, there hasn’t been a major incident at hole 17.
One rowdy moment at the hole in ACC history involved Green Bay Packer AJ Hawk after a crowd member requested the linebacker tackle him. Hawk agreed and, Jacobsen describes, “wrapped him up and took that guy to the ground.” It’s a moment often recounted at the sheriff’s office.
With all the mayhem and excitement, it takes a certain type of deputy to work hole 17.
“They’re the ones sitting in the hot sun,” Jacobsen describes, “walking up and down the beach in uniform, full gear, and they love it. They look forward to it every single year.”
The same deputies often return each year to patrol the eventful hole. Jacobsen says, “It’s not just the deputies that come back year after year, but it’s also the community members and the families that keep showing up.”
Officers and crowd members build years-long relationships, developing a mutual rapport in which they take care of each other.
One couple, South Tahoe residents Karen and Steven Imhoff, have offered free burritos in the morning and hot dogs in the afternoon to deputies for about five years now, while also making sure they stay hydrated.
“The sheriffs do a wonderful job out there on 17 and we’ve come to know them because they’re so personable.” S. Imoff says, who has various videos with sheriffs over the years and regularly jokes with them.
New to this year is a sign that says “Douglas County Sheriffs eat here for free.” The sign features a photo of JT, a regular beach deputy they’ve come to know and admire. The photo draws laughs and selfies from other deputies.
Karen and Steven Imhoff’s sign. Katelyn Welsh / Tahoe Daily Tribune
After the reaction the sign received this year, the couple says they will continue to bring it each year, “because we want to let them know that we support them.”
The sheriff’s office’s overall goal, Jacobsen says, is safety, but not too far behind that is fun, especially for the kids. “Really, the kids make this event,” he says. Kids are often seen asking for autographs from stars and sometimes deputies themselves.
A kid in the beach crowd asks a deputy for an autograph.Katelyn Welsh / Tahoe Daily Tribune
When it comes to managing the event, now for 37 years, on behalf of the sheriff’s office, Jacobsen says, “There’s nowhere else that does this in the entire world, and it’s right here in Douglas County. We take a ton of pride in it.”
STATELINE, Nev. – Arc Boats has created a 19th hole at the American Century Championship, featuring a floating golf challenge that combines electric boating technology, golf, and conservation.
Taking place between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. each event day on Lake Tahoe and visible from Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course’s lakeside hole 17, the challenge is available to both celebrities and the public. Those who accept the challenge tee off from an all-electric Arc Sport boat towards a 10-foot by 15-foot floating green island.
“The experience is designed to celebrate Lake Tahoe, create unforgettable moments on the water during one of the lake’s most visible weeks of the year,” Rachel Rogers, spokesperson for Arc, said.
For every hole-in-one, Arc Boats is donating $1,000 to the Tahoe Fund.
“Multiple people have landed on the green,” said Rogers, “but no hole-in-ones so far. It’s just the beginning, and we’re excited for the weekend and more people to get out there.”
The floating green is about 50 feet from the Arc boat’s swim platform, where participants tee off.
Participants tee off from a floating platform.Provided / Arc
Should players miss the green entirely, caddies on paddleboards retrieve the floating balls after each hit.
“Arc is about creating unforgettable moments on the water. Boating should be fun, memorable, something people want to do again and again,” Rogers said, “and the technology we build exists to make that possible.”
Some of that technology is on display at this 19th hole. For example, the Arc Sport, Arc’s flagship wake sport boat, is equipped with station-keeping technology that allows the boat to maintain a fixed position on the water without an anchor, drift, or manual correction.
The helm also features video recording capabilities to capture all the action the boat provides.
The Arc Sport’s Helm video. Provided / Arc
Anyone interested in taking a swing on the 19th hole can register on-site at the Arc Experience located just offshore of Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course.
Pick-up for the challenge is at the Timber Cove Marina outside the tournament grounds.
STATELINE, Nev. – The Tahoe Knight Monsters announced the signing of forward Jake Durflinger.
Durflinger put up 15 points in 58 games for Tahoe last season, while also adding 102 penalty minutes, which ranked second on the team.
A native of Walnut Creek, California, Durflinger spent the previous season playing for the Manchester Storm in the Elite Ice Hockey League. Prior to going overseas, Durflinger played two seasons for the Iowa Heartlanders, where he tallied 47 points and 194 penalty minutes over 104 games in the Heartland.
Durflinger played his collegiate hockey at the University of Denver and Merrimack College, where he skated in 165 games over his career and helped lead Denver to an NCHC Championship in 2018.
The Knight Monsters open the 2026-27 season at home on Friday, October 23, against the New Mexico Goatheads. Season tickets and ticket packages for the 2026-27 season are now available. For more information on becoming a 1645 Club Season Ticket Member, visit knightmonstershockey.com.
STATELINE, Nev. – The past three winners of the American Century Championship are in close competition for another title following day one of the tournament. Reigning champ Joe Pavelski ended the day in the lead with 29 points, followed by the 2024 winner, Mardy Fish, at 27 points and the 2023 winner, Steph Curry, at 25 points.
Football great Tony Romo sits at 23, and LPGA legend Annika Sorenstam sits at 22. John Smoltz and Derek Lowe are tied for sixth at 19 points.
Sorenstam led the leaderboard for most of the day, scoring an eagle on Hole 3, a bogey on Hole 10 and 16 pars.
“I’m a leaderboard checker, who doesn’t love to see their name at the top,” said Sorenstam.
Going into two day, Sorenstam said she needs to take some more risks.
“This format rewards aggressive play,” she added.
Curry is looking to regain his title but recognizes how competitive the field is.
“The scores keep going higher and higher. 25, you used to be pretty sound; now you’re still chasing,” said Curry.
Curry scored six birdies but also had two bogeys, and he double-bogeyed hole 12.
“It’s wild how golf is just unpredictable,” said Curry.
“You’re not going to just sleepwalk through this whole thing and win this,” he later added.
The 2024 champion, Mardy Fish, who is favored to win the tournament, finished the day with five birdies and one bogey.
“I’m happy with the score,” said Fish. “I didn’t hit it great but scored well. We had a great group; it was just an easy round of good golf.”
Fish said he doesn’t want to get too comfortable with his placement, saying, “The golf gods are always listening, and if you say, ‘man, I’m hitting it so well out there and can’t wait to get out there and hit it well again tomorrow,’ it just doesn’t work like that.”
Pavelski eagled 18 to bring his score to 29, helping make up for his four bogeys of the day.
When talking about potentially playing with Fish and Curry on day two, the NHL great said, “That would be an awesome group. [I] love playing with Steph, love playing with Mardy. We’d have a lot of fun together. I like their games. They’re good players.”
STATELINE, Nev. – After the first round of tournament play wrapped up Friday afternoon, nine celebrities continued their golf play for a shot at winning $10,000 at the beachside, lakefront hole 17 in the Corona Beach Challenge.
In the closest-to-the-pin challenge, each celebrity had two shots to hit the ball from the sandy beach as close to the hole as possible.
While each competitor took their shots, fellow competitors sat in Corona-branded director chairs directly behind them, engaging in friendly banter and shielding themselves from the sand. Stragglers from the large crowds earlier in the day cheered them on with Lake Tahoe as the backdrop.
Between the sand and the blue water, it was a scene from a Corona commercial.
Celebrities participating were Brady and Matthew Tkachuk, Matt Boldy, The Miz, Rob Riggle, Larry the Cable Guy, Adam Thielen, Alfonso Ribeiro and Kevin Millar.
Kevin Millar proved that last is not least and won the event. He came back from a failed first shot after his ball rolled back towards him, not counting.
Millar’s second ball landed five feet and two inches from the pin, beating Matthew Tkachuk’s ball that landed one foot farther at six feet and two inches.
Brady and Matthew Tkachuck at the Corona Beach Challenge. Katelyn Welsh / Tahoe Daily Tribune
Brady Tkachuck swings in the beach challenge. Katelyn Welsh / Tahoe Daily Tribune
STATELINE, Nev. – Similar to entering a speakeasy through the backdoor, some enter the American Century Championship from the beach via a small gate near hole 17. The lakefront location makes this hole particularly rowdy as boats line the beach and crowds gather on the sand with grills, pop-up tents and enthusiasm.
Hole 17 is known for its rowdy beach crowds.Katelyn Welsh / Tahoe Daily Tribune
The tournament has been offering the beach pass for a few years now. It allows those who arrive by water to access the entire golf course and move back and forth between the beach and the course throughout the weekend.
Unlike other tournament passes, beach passes are not purchasable in advance but only in person at the beach gate.
Except, unlike a speakeasy, gaining access doesn’t require a password. You need $50 cash—and shoes.
It was a discovery a group of four friends made after strolling down the beach barefoot. While waiting for shoes and finishing their drinks, the group spoke with the Tribune.
This group of friends from high school, Jonathan, Noah, Connor and John, reunite in Lake Tahoe each year.Katelyn Welsh / Tahoe Daily Tribune
Hailing from Hawaii, Oregon and Boston, the crew reunites each summer at Lake Tahoe after attending high school together in Walnut Creek, Calif.
As soon as they had their shoes, the four, Jonathan, Noah, Connor and John, were determined to have the best day.
“Luckily, the weather was prime time, so it was a breeze getting over here,” one friend said.
Whether buying the beach pass, like the high school friends, or simply viewing the star-studded field from the boat, participating by boat requires a few rules to live by.
Rule one, according to the high school friends, is to wake up early. The group of four regretted snoozing their first two alarms after arriving at the tournament around 8:30 a.m. and finding the prime spots already taken.
But with a beach pass, they were content to roam the course to get up close to the celebrities.
The next imperative measure when arriving by boat is to not forget a beach anchor, the group says.
And, of course, “grab a drink, that’s necessary.”
It’s easy to do with a bar right on the beach.
The bar on the beach near hole 17. Katelyn Welsh / Tahoe Daily Tribune
Douglas County Sheriff’s investigators are seeking the identity of a man who was apparently squatting at a Lake Tahoe home while the homeowner was on vacation.
On June 5, a homeowner returned from a three-week vacation to find that someone had partaken of his food and beverages, disturbed his property and left evidence that someone had been living there. The victim also reported that his birth certificate was missing.
During the investigation, deputies recovered a wallet containing a Visa debit card issued to Clarence Zillman, along with a Safeway receipt for the purchase of two packs of Camel cigarettes. Investigators later obtained surveillance video from the Safeway store at the Round Hill Shopping Center that captured the individual who made the purchase associated with the recovered receipt.
The man was wearing the victim’s shirt and hat in the video. The shirt was later recovered inside the home, while the hat remains missing. Investigators believe the receipt recovered from the residence is linked to the transaction depicted in the surveillance video.
Anyone who recognizes the man or has information related to this investigation is asked to contact Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Investigator JT Davis at the Stateline Office at 775-586-7253.
This investigation remains active.
A screen capture of a man suspected of squatting at a Lake Tahoe home while the owner was on vacation.Provided
SPOONER SUMMIT, Nev. – The Spooner Transportation Hub appears to be making very rapid progress, with the removal of trees drawing attention along State Route 28.
The project, which began in May, will supply an additional 250 parking spots, a watercraft inspection station and an access point for Tahoe Transportation District transit services, along with restrooms and EV charging spaces.
The project site is located near the Spooner Lake State Park entrance and is a part of regional partners’ larger initiative to reduce unsafe roadside parking along State Route 28.
The Tribune reached out to the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT), a partner on the project along with Tahoe Transportation District, Tahoe Regional Transportation Agency (TRPA), the U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, and Nevada State Parks, to ask why this project feels like it is making such quick progress.
“Each construction project is unique, with components that impact [the] timeline of each phase of construction,” Meg Ragonese, a spokesperson for NDOT, said.
Ragonese says the construction now underway actually follows years of project development, including extensive design and coordination.
However, the current phase of construction involves tree removal, and as she explains, “This type of eye-level tree removal can have a more profound visual impact than compared to underground utility work that isn’t as fully seen by passersby. With projects like this, you can visually see a quick change in a short amount of time.”
The project site for the Spooner Transportation Hub.Rob Galloway / Tahoe Daily Tribune
Ragonse says the contractors are working very efficiently, using specialized tree-removal experts and equipment for this stage of construction under a U.S. Forest Service permit.
The construction is also taking place in an area with no underground utilities, such as storm drains, water, sewer, electrical, communication, or highway traffic considerations, which impact construction schedules.
Once the project is past the tree removal work, things may appear to slow down. The project will enter its general excavation phase, a more intricate and detailed construction phase that includes tasks such as final grading, drainage and parking lot paving.
The project is on schedule to be completed at the end of next year.
TRUCKEE, Calif. – It sounds like a story straight out of Hollywood: a stray dog rescued in California ends up a hero, helping save lives in Venezuela after a natural disaster. But it’s the real-life story of Greta, an adult dog who arrived at the Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe as a stray in 2024, and ended up searching through the rubble of collapsed buildings in Venezuela following a pair of catastrophic earthquakes. But for those who spent time with her at HSTT, there were early signs of greatness.
“Our staff quickly noticed her friendly personality, unwavering confidence, and one undeniable obsession, tennis balls, said Steph Nistler, CEO of the Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe. “Those traits weren’t just charming; they were exactly what the Search Dog Foundation looks for in future disaster search dogs.”
Greta and Arby FieldsProvided / Search Dog Foundation
When HSTT shared Greta’s story on Facebook, both a Search Dog Foundation volunteer and HSTT team members recognized something special. Having partnered with the Search Dog Foundation before, HSTT reached out, believing Greta had the potential to become something extraordinary, and they were right.
Greta was accepted into the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation’s training program, where trainers discovered she was every bit as remarkable as HSTT staff had hoped. Smart, energetic, social, and driven by an incredible desire to search, Greta thrived in the program. She graduated in May 2024 and was paired with firefighter Arby Fields of California Task Force 2.
Arby’s own journey to becoming a search-and-rescue handler is just as inspiring. Before becoming a firefighter, Arby played professional baseball for the Chicago White Sox and the Seattle Mariners. After his baseball career ended, he followed a different calling, one inspired by a terrifying experience during the 2005 Southern California wildfires. As flames surrounded his neighborhood, Arby experienced first-hand the courage and compassion of firefighters who brought hope during one of the scariest moments of his life. That experience shaped his future.
When Arby later learned about FEMA canine handlers, he knew that was the path he wanted to pursue. When he first met Greta during handler training, he knew he had made the right decision for both of them.
“After an agility demonstration, Greta ran right to me and leapt into my arms. I knew right then the bond had been created,” Arby recalls.
Together, the pair earned FEMA certification in February 2025, qualifying them to deploy on disasters throughout the United States and internationally with USA-2. On June 25, 2026, that call came.
Following the catastrophic 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes that struck Venezuela, Greta and Arby deployed as part of USA-2 alongside other elite search-and-rescue teams from around the world. As hundreds lost their lives and thousands remained missing beneath collapsed buildings, Greta began doing exactly what she was trained to do, using her incredible nose to search for survivors.
“Greta’s story is a powerful reminder of why every shelter animal deserves a second chance. The frightened stray who once wandered into our shelter is now a highly trained disaster search dog whose work may help save lives in one of the world’s most challenging moments,” says Nistler. “We are incredibly proud to have played a small part in Greta’s journey and grateful to the Search Dog Foundation for recognizing her extraordinary potential. Most of all, we’re thankful to Arby for believing in her, trusting her, and forming a partnership built on courage, dedication, and an unbreakable bond.”
As Greta and Arby continue their lifesaving work in Venezuela, HSTT asks our community to join in wishing them, and all the first responders and canine teams, strength, safety, and success.
“Sometimes, the dog waiting quietly in a shelter kennel isn’t just waiting for a home,” says Nistler. “Sometimes, they’re waiting to become a hero.”
Arby & Greta with the Search Dog Foundation. Provided / Search Dog Foundation
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Frequent visitors to Regan Beach have seen the bolted metal fencing preventing people from leaning over the damaged railing. The beach and park, owned by the city, is the oldest beach facility and will undergo repairs by September.
In 2015, a rehabilitation plan for Regan Beach was drafted to help upgrade the facilities, enhance recreational access and restore the shoreline. Eight years later, it was also included in the city’s ADA Transition Plan to improve accessibility.
The California Tahoe Conservancy awarded the city with a $500,000 grant in March 2025, which the city matched with a $50,000 fund for ADA upgrades and a $100,000 fund from the general fund undesignated excess reserves.
According to the city, the public works staff has been working to finalize the scope of work for repairs to the railing, reinforcing the retaining wall and patching asphalt.
The project still must be bid on and a contractor must be selected, but once those are squared away, work is expected to begin in September of this year.
What is the craziest thing a fan has ever asked a professional football player and Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald to do? The answer might not be what you expect.
“I signed a baby yesterday,” Fitzgerald said. “It was in a onesie, and the baby was sleeping. I didn’t really want to wake the baby, so I was very gentle with the signature on the back.”
During the American Century Championship at Lake Tahoe, Fitzgerald shared one of the strangest fan interactions he’s had this weekend.
“I’ve been asked to hold a baby, take a picture with a baby, but never to sign a baby,” he said. “So, that was a first.”
The former wide receiver built a reputation as one of the NFL’s most consistent and respected players during his 17-year career. Fitzgerald ranks second all time in NFL history in receiving yards and set a standard for excellence with his reliability, longevity and production.
Beyond his accomplishments on the field, Fitzgerald is widely recognized for his impact in the community. He was a co-recipient of the 2016 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award, one of the league’s highest honors for charitable and philanthropic contributions.
Looking for a dog with a heart as big as her paws? Meet Petals, a 2-year-old, 75-pound bundle of love who is guaranteed to brighten your days!
Petals is an affectionate, playful sweetheart who brings joy and personality everywhere she goes. Whether she’s tossing around one of her favorite plushy toys, heading out on an adventure, or curling up for snuggles, she’s happiest when she’s spending time with her people.
This lovable girl enjoys staying active and is always excited to make new canine friends and join in on the fun. After playtime, she’s more than happy to soak up all the love and affection you have to give. Snuggles are one of her specialties!
Petals is this week’s Pet of the Week. Provided / HSTT
Petals would thrive in a home that can provide continued guidance, regular playtime, and plenty of love while helping her settle into a consistent routine. With her eager-to-please personality and loving heart, she’s sure to blossom into an incredible companion for a lucky family.
If you’re searching for a loyal best friend who will keep you smiling, laughing, and feeling loved every single day, Petals is waiting to meet you.
Come visit Petals at the Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe and see why this big sweetheart is ready to steal your heart. She can’t wait to find the family she’s been dreaming of!
If you are interested in meeting this sweet girl or learning more about her, please get in touch with one of HSTT’s Adoption Specialists, 530-587-5948 or adoptions@hstt.org. She is spayed, vaccinated, and up to date on her vaccines. To view more adoptable pets or to learn more about the Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe, visit, www.hstt.org.
LAKE TAHOE BASIN, Calif./Nev. – In 2024, Aspen Carrillo painted the first mural in Lake Tahoe created by a Washoe artist and the first to feature the Washoe language. Two years later, the 24-year-old artist is continuing that work, using public art to share Washoe stories, cultural knowledge and a connection to the land across the Tahoe Basin.
Her murals bring bright colors, Washoe words and traditional symbols to walls throughout the region, inviting passersby to learn more about the people whose homeland has long been the Tahoe Basin.
“The reason I know Washoe and speak Paiute is because I feel like there’s a lack of representation of Native Americans,” Carrillo said. “In my homelands of Lake Tahoe, a lot of people don’t even know there’s a tribe up there.”
Her inspiration also comes from her grandmother, a Washoe and Paiute cradleboard weaver and boarding school survivor.
“I’ve always really wanted to make her proud and honor her language, her history and her identity,” Carrillo said. “It all started because I wanted to make my grandma proud.”
Carrillo serves as the youth representative for the Washoe Warriors Society, a grassroots nonprofit organization made up of Washoe community members dedicated to restoring Washoe land, culture and the tribe’s sacred relationship with the Tahoe Basin.
“Mountain Are Always there”–Lake View Commons, South Lake Tahoe
“Mountain Are Always there,” Lake View Commons, South Lake Tahoe
Provided / Aspen Carrillo
Completed in the summer of 2024, Mountains Are Always There was the first mural in South Lake Tahoe created by a Washoe artist and the first in the city to feature the Washoe language. Carrillo spent about two months bringing the project to life.
The mural weaves together traditional Washoe stories, cultural knowledge and the tribe’s enduring relationship with the land. Carrillo said it represents both day and night, with a hawk on one side and a spirit bird on the other. It also illustrates a traditional Washoe story about rising waters, which explains the formation of the region’s many lakes after ancient floodwaters receded. Another section depicts Coyote and Lizard, referencing a traditional story that explains why lizards are said to have blue bellies.
Basket patterns incorporated throughout the mural are inspired by designs created by one of Carrillo’s relatives. Along the river are willow, tule and cattails, plants traditionally harvested by the Washoe to weave baskets, bags and other items.
For Carrillo, the mural is ultimately about the Washoe people’s long presence in their ancestral homeland.
“As long as the mountains are there, the Washoe will always be there too,” she said.
“Wá:šiw ‘itlu’ gáwgayay ‘í:wayé:si” (Speak Washoe all the time) – Kings Beach Visitor Center
“Wá:šiw ‘itlu’ gáwgayay ‘í:wayé:si” (Speak Washoe all the time)Provided / Aspen Carrillo
Spanning four walls inside the Kings Beach Visitor Center, Wá:šiw ‘itlu’ gáwgayay ‘íé is designed as an educational mural that encourages visitors to learn the Washoe language. Created in collaboration with Shenice Turtle, the mural features native animals, plants and trees, each labeled with its Washoe name alongside an English translation.
“I think there is a lot of power in the Washoe language, and I’m just trying to get more people to even say one or two words,” she said.
One of the animals featured in the mural is the Sierra red fox, an incredibly rare native species that was spotted in the Tahoe Basin about a month after the mural was completed. Carrillo said she viewed the sighting as a meaningful reminder of the connection between the Washoe language, culture and the natural world. She hopes that teaching people even a few Washoe words will encourage a deeper appreciation for the region’s native plants and animals and inspire efforts to protect them, and even bring them back into Lake Tahoe.
Carrillo began painting the mural in October 2025 and completed it in January 2026.
“Wá:šiw ‘itlu’ gáwgayay ‘í:wayé:si” (Speak Washoe all the time), red fox featured on the bottom right of the mural.Provided / Aspen Carrillo
South Lake Tahoe Historical Society Museum Mural (In Progress)
Carrillo’s newest mural is currently underway and is expected to be completed in October 2026.
The mural is being created for the South Lake Tahoe Historical Society as part of a new exhibit inside a cabin adjacent to the museum that will explore the history of transportation in the Tahoe Basin.
Rather than retelling the familiar story of explorer John C. Frémont’s “discovery” of Lake Tahoe, Carrillo said the mural will present the often-overlooked Washoe perspective. It will highlight the assistance the Washoe people provided to Frémont and his party, including sharing food, teaching winter survival skills and helping them navigate the Sierra.
By centering the Washoe role in the region’s history, Carrillo hopes the mural will offer visitors a more complete understanding of the people who have called the Tahoe Basin home since time immemorial.
Beyond Murals: Washoe Warriors Society Festival Logo
In addition to her murals, Carrillo also works as a graphic designer, creating artwork that celebrates and preserves Washoe culture.
One of those projects was the logo for the Washoe Warriors Society’s T’anu ʔIšɨmiʔ (“The People Singing”), a free Indigenous music festival fundraiser on Aug. 1 at Truckee River Regional Park.
The design features people round dancing around Lake Tahoe, surrounded by native wildflowers and sage, plants that grow throughout the basin and hold cultural significance for the Washoe people.
“Hard to put into words how freeing it is,” Jimi Brenner said while taking a break from an afternoon at the downhill mountain bike trails. Brenner lives and works on an orchard around Auburn, he likes biking, he is into metal fabrication, and when he was 29, his car slid off the road into a big oak tree. He became paralyzed from chest down.
JIMI BRENNER on his adaptive bike. Trails for these bikes should be at least 58 inches wide, according to High Fives. Photo courtesy Jimi Brenner
Brenner found the hospital-provided wheelchairs not to his liking, so a year after his injury, he built his own. “I’ve always been the outdoorsy person,” he said. “I can’t get stuck inside much.”
Three years after his accident, Brenner rode a bike again. The bike was adaptive to his injury, lent to him at the High Fives Community Bike Day, a fundraiser open to everyone.
High Fives was launched in 2009 after its founder, Roy Tuscany, overshot a ski jump and became paralyzed from the waist down. Tuscany received help from his community and started High Fives to “prevent life-changing injuries and provide resources and hope if they happen.” Since then, High Fives has served over 1,000 athletes in a multitude of sports and funded more than 1,900 grants.
After receiving a grant from High Fives and the Kelly Brush Foundation, whose mission is “to inspire and empower people with spinal cord injuries to lead active and engaged lifestyles,” Brenner was able to buy one of the bikes, which start at $15,000. But he didn’t know where to ride it. “Auburn has a lot of real tight single track,” he said. “It’s hard to ride independently.”
In 2021, High Fives collaborated with Sky Tavern Bike Park, located off Mt. Rose Highway, to build a trail suitable for adaptive riders. “We wanted to include several [adaptive specific] design features,” said Becca Lefanowicz, director of brand and creative for High Fives. For instance, “that it would be wide enough for adaptive bikes that have a wider and longer frame.”
I DID IT! Estocado is triumphant after a downhill mountain bike run.
A High Fives adaptive trail must be at least 58 inches wide, a standard that unaffiliated organizations like Lee Canyon resort in Las Vegas have begun to copy. Because adaptive mountain bikes have a lower clearance than standard ones, the trail is also maintained to avoid what Lefanowicz calls “pinch points” — areas that would be too rocky for the low clearance of an adaptive bike. Brenner described the Sky Tavern trail as “super fun, super flowy.” It’s also one of two locations for the High Fives Community Bike Day in June, July, and August this year.
Since the Sky Tavern installation, High Fives has put in another adaptive-friendly trail at Sierra Vista in Reno.
“Most trails are not too far off,” Brenner said, “there’s maybe just a little something on them [that makes them not suitable for an adaptive bike].” But on Brenner’s new-model Bowhead Reach with a tilting mechanism, he said that “98, 99% of the trails — I can ride on them.”
ALL SMILES: High Fives collaborated with Sky Tavern Bike Park, located off Mt. Rose Highway, to build a trail suitable for adaptive riders, which Estocado happily bombs down. Photos courtesy High Fives
Brenner said it’s big news in his community when a new trail like this is put in. “It’s more open space you can get out and explore.” This, he said, is the point. And Lefanowicz added that the word she most commonly hears from people who use the adaptive trails is “independence.”
There was a moment at the second-ever Gambler’s Run in 2024 when The Main Squeeze was covering Pink Floyd’s “Have a Cigar” and it all kind of came together for Crystal Bay Casino’s production/marketing manager Sam Shear.
“It was right at dusk,” he said. “The golden hour light. The energy of the band, the energy of the crowd. It was epic. All the work we’d done, a lot of things had to line up to make that moment happen.”
MUSICAL CONNECTION: A festivalgoer and a musician are in sync during a daytime set.
Things did line up and that moment did happen. More moments happened last year and more moments will happen in 2026, the festival gaining momentum like some incendiary fiddle solo played against a devil down in Georgia. This year, the String Cheese Incident leads its biggest lineup yet, headlining three days of deep-pooled musicality with their Thursday night set.
Formed in Colorado a good 30 years ago, the band has shredded strings and lit up audiences around the world with its bluegrass meets funky-country-rocky-jazzy-reggae-infused sound that offers a pinch of psychedelia and throws in a warm breeze
for good measure.
IT’S ALL GRATITUDE AND GOOD TIMES in the front row at dusk at Gambler’s Run.
The band’s name stems from a cheese-heavy food fight the members had in a bar back in the ’90s. They’ll be coming off a two-night run at Red Rocks Amphitheater before rolling the dice in Crystal Bay as part of their five-month Just Keep Spinning tour.
Red Rocks has a 9,500-person capacity, a typical venue size for the band. Gambler’s Run, on the other hand, is capped at 1,000. A faraway lawn seat won’t exist at the festival, and access to the front rows won’t cost $500-plus — so fans will see and hear and feel the cheese-grating up close.
“String Cheese is about the biggest act we can get,” Shear said. “We’ve had them in the Crown Room, but this is a new time for a new setting.”
That setting is outdoors. That setting is intimate. That setting is Tahoe air and golden hour light and the mysteries of the night. And visuals.
“A lot of focus is also on the art, the eye candy of the festival,” said Shear, who was coy with details to not give away too much and spoil first-impression surprise and intrigue. “It’s an all-encompassing experience. We’ll transform the festival grounds as much as possible.”
Those adorned grounds will be played from 4 to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, with the gates opening at 3 p.m. for food and craft vendors, and high-energy afterparties in the Crown Room raging until midnight or so.
Big Head Todd and the Monsters headlines Friday’s lineup with its own sweet Colorado-born style that has continued to evolve and delight music lovers since its 1993 platinum rock album Sister Sweetly, featuring the decade’s iconic and seemingly immortal (for good reason) “Bittersweet.” The soulful sounds and rhythmic beat of The California Honeydrops will get Saturday night’s airs swirling and the dancefloor moving.
But Gambler’s Run isn’t just three consecutive big-name concerts; it’s a music festival that features eight hours of music per day and over 10 bands that run the gamut. Also performing are the Humboldt funk machine Diggin Dirt, the electronic-instrumental synthesis of the groovy Octave Cat (featuring Jessie Miller of Lotus), and the Nashville-based Grateful Dead-influenced punk rockers Sicard Hollow, among others.
Sicard Hollow’s guitarist Alex King shared his thoughts: “We love music festivals, casinos, and lakes. Gambler’s Run is a perfect place … because it crosses off all three of those boxes. Let’s party.”
Three-Pronged Event
In addition to the intrepid tunes and dynamic art, Gambler’s Run also features a core contingent of activities and activism at its nonprofit village.
The nonprofit tine is a who’s who of local ecological stalwarts: Keep Tahoe Blue, Sierra Nevada Alliance, Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC), UC Davis, Restoring My Lake; and, from Colorado, Conscious Alliance. Each entity helms an interactive booth and leads an engaging activity that ties back to its message. Festival-goers are provided a punch card; punches are earned by doing the activities; completing all the activities gains entry into drawings for signed posters and other rad prizes.
A main component of the activism for the festival itself focuses on sustainability. “When we started Gambler’s Run four years ago now, we were like, ‘We are in Lake Tahoe, we should be as conscious of our environment as possible.’”
THE OUTDOOR GROUNDS at Gambler’s Run hosts bands from 4 to 10 pm. before the event moves into the Crown Room for the afterparties.
A main cog in that activism/sustainability wheel was to phase out plastic cups by phasing in aluminum ones. The CBC began doing so at the first Gambler’s Run in 2023 and it’s now become standard practice at every show it hosts. No single-use plastic cups, not one; stats showing the switch having already saved close to 100,000 plastic cups and thousands of plastic water bottles from ending up in landfills.
That’s the type of action that helps the world keep spinning and the music keep playing. And summer music festivals right here in the Tahoe Basin, without having to undertake some distant drive in some super-hot direction, are a good thing too.
“If you’re a local,” Shear concluded, “you know the Crystal Bay Casino; what we do is live music. This is our masterpiece — three days of music, art, activism. Come on over and hang out.”
Wade Snider, master photographer, believes that every photo taken should be planned for months. In accordance with his tight hierarchy of strict guidelines, he camped out for ages, waiting for this exact photograph. On day 90, lightning struck. The beagles lined up. The bear was there. All he had to do was hit the shutter. The world softened for a bit. The birds, awestruck, quieted their ritualistic song. When the day returned to focus and time resumed ticking, all that was left was a photograph. Seen here.
With summer in full swing, the Cancer new moon on July 14 offers a welcome invitation to slow down, to rest, and to reconnect.
On July 18, Uranus in Gemini trines Pluto retrograde in Aquarius, an amicable transit that highlights both the tension and harmony between abstract ideas and collective technological transformations underway. Two days later, Jupiter in Leo forms a trine to Neptune retrograde in Aries, while also opposing Pluto — encouraging examination of values and relationships to the world’s changes.
The sun enters Leo on July 22, followed by Mercury coming out of its retrograde transit on July 24. Expect a certain momentum to return to a plan of yours that’s been stalled.
A major collective shift occurs on July 26 as the north node enters Aquarius and the south node enters Leo. This new nodal cycle will be playing out for 18 months and encourages us to participate more consciously in worldly happenings.
Leo-season energies amplify on July 29 when Jupiter conjoins the sun during a full moon in Aquarius. With Pluto in conjunction to the full moon, this lunation brings expansive emotional and subconscious transformation. Pay attention to what needs to be released as well as what’s coming up that needs to be celebrated.
Venus enters Libra on August 6. This will bring balance, a focus on beauty, and an inclination to socialize. August 7 and 8 may feel more reactive, with the Gemini moon transiting first Uranus and then Mars. To give yourself time to take in the full picture, endeavor to pause before responding to things.
On August 12, we have a powerful solar eclipse. The Leo new moon also joins the south node, with Jupiter and Mercury also in Leo. This day will illuminate old stories of identities and patterns that may surface for review.
NATURAL MAGIC
There are many transits happening in this time that relate to collective change and how that is personally significant, highlighted by the nodal shift into the signs of Aquarius and Leo exactly on July 26; consider setting aside twenty minutes a day between July 19 and August 2 to honor both the transition and your own evolutionary growth. Begin with ten minutes of heart-centered meditation. Place one hand on your heart and one hand on your belly, breathing slowly as you imagine your awareness dropping from your head to your heart.
Then spend ten minutes reflecting and journaling. Consider these prompts: When I shift perception from my head to my heart, what changes within me?What is my unique gift to the world? How can I use my creativity in service to something larger than myself?
Bees. These remarkable bugs are more than just fuzzy visitors to flowers or “scary” insects that sting. They are vital pollinators who play a crucial role in maintaining the health of our mountain ecosystems and the planet as a whole.
When most people think of bees, they picture the classic honey bee: living in its bustling hive, making honey, and serving the queen. However, honey bees are not native to North America and their highly social lifestyle represents only a small fraction of the world’s bee species.
In fact, the vast majority of bees around the world and in the Sierra Nevada are solitary, up to 85% living quiet, independent lives that often go unnoticed by humans. In these species there are no queens, no workers, and no hives.
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A SWEAT BEE (Halictidae) nuzzles into flax in South Lake Tahoe. Photo by Nina Miller/Moonshine Ink
Van Dyke’s Bumble Bee (Bombus vandykei) atop a sage in Truckee. Photo by Will Richardson
A MASON BEE (Osmia montana) visits a Senecio in Page Meadows above Tahoe City. Photo by Will Richardson
Rather, every female bee is essentially a one-bee construction crew, food gatherer, and parent all rolled into one. After snowmelt, they find or build suitable nests, collect nectar and pollen, and create a carefully stocked nursery for future offspring. After supplying the nest chamber with food, the female lays a single egg, seals the chamber, and begins the process of preparing the next chamber for another egg. Once her work is complete, her life cycle comes to an end and the next generation develops during the winter months to emerge in the spring.
Meanwhile, male bees have a simpler life. Their lifespan lasts only a few weeks and equates to: emerge, compete to find a mate, reproduce, and that’s about it.
Native Tahoe/Truckee bees come in an incredible variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. Some wear the familiar yellow-and-black striped patterns while others look like tiny flying jewels, shimmering in the sunlight with their metallic greens, blues, or bronze. When identifying whether an insect is a bee, a helpful clue is to look for yellow, dusty pollen clinging to its body. Female bees often carry pollen on specialized hairs attached to their legs called corbiculae (or “pollen pants”), and other species will tote it on the underside of their abdomens.
Tahoe/Truckee Bee Diversity
One of the most interesting solitary bees around Tahoe/Truckee are leafcutter bees (Megachile spp.). These tiny architects carefully cut out near-perfect circles from leaves or other plant material and carry them back to their nests. They then use the leaf pieces to form the structure of their nursery chamber cells, and, like wallpaper, the leaf material lines and protects the chamber to promote growth of beneficial microbes.
Gardeners sometimes notice the neat circular holes left behind by the leafcutters and wonder, “What happened?” Fortunately, it’s most often good news. The holes rarely harm the plant as a whole, and the “damage” is little more than a tiny rental fee, paid in exchange for excellent pollination services.
Mason bees (Osmia spp.) include another type of solitary bee found in our area. These small critters have dark bodies and an often iridescent sheen, and can easily be mistaken for a fly. However, they are all bee: widely considered some of nature’s most efficient pollinators. A single female has been known to pollinate up to 2,000 blossoms in one day.
Her pollinating power comes from how she carries pollen. Instead of packing it tightly on her legs, the mason bee female carries it loosely on the underside of her body, allowing her to transfer more pollen between flowers. Around Tahoe/Truckee you can find mason bees living in natural cavities such as hollow stems and holes in wood, but they will also readily occupy homemade bee boxes with paper or cardboard nesting tubes placed near flowering plants (a fun project for your yard).
For other bees, that patch of exposed dirt in your yard or a downed log out back can be prime real estate too, so leave them be!
Of course, no discussion of Sierra buzzers would be complete without mentioning bumble bees (Bombus spp.). The fuzzy giants of the bee world, bumble bees are larger, louder, and easier to spot than many of their smaller relatives.
Unlike most of the area’s native bees, bumble bees are social insects, forming small colonies led by a single queen and supported by a female workforce. Their colonies, however, function very differently from honey bee hives. As fall approaches, the workers die off, leaving only the newly mated queens alive, seeking shelter underground where they overwinter beneath the snowpack. When spring arrives, each queen emerges to build an entirely new colony from scratch.
Truckee/Tahoe is home to several bumblebee species, including the endangered Western Bumble Bee (Bombus occidentalis). Not long ago, at Sagehen Creek Research Station, Dr. Nina Sokolov of UC Berkeley found 23 Western Bumble Bees in just 45 minutes, a remarkable find given this species is endangered and difficult to find across the state of California. Perhaps Truckee is a hotspot for this species? More research and time will tell, but for now this is encouraging for Bombus occidentalis.
Supporting the Bees That Support Us
Bees play a critical role in maintaining our region’s biodiversity. Their services support the plants that provide food and shelter for countless other species, while encouraging outcrossing among the plants themselves, increasing genetic diversity and creating stronger, healthier, and more resilient communities of organisms.
Sadly, not all news is good, and our bees face many challenges. Habitat loss, disease, pesticide exposure, and climate change all threaten native bee populations. Habitat loss from human development destroys both nesting sites and the flowering plants bees depend on. Pesticides may directly harm the pollinators or indirectly kill the plants they rely on. Climate change creates timing mismatches between flowers and the bees’ emergence.
Fortunately, communities throughout our nation are recognizing the importance of protecting pollinators, and Truckee has an exciting opportunity to join that effort. The Tahoe Institute for Natural Science (TINS) is leading the charge to designate the Town of Truckee as an official “Bee City.” TINS and other partners through Bee City USA intend to protect native pollinators through education, habitat restoration, and conservation. While the designation is an important milestone, its true value lies in the community actions that follow.
POLLINATORS: One of Truckee/Tahoe’s most common and widespread bumble bee species, Yellow-faced Bumble Bee (Bombus vosnesenskii) visiting a yarrow and showing a packed pollen basket. Photo by Will Richardson
Residents can help in surprisingly simple ways; planting native flowers and leaving patches of bare soil, dead wood, and dried stems all work to create nesting opportunities. Even participating in community science projects using iNaturalist, a free app that helps identify plants and animals while collecting data for science and conservation, can help researchers better understand local bee populations. In this way, every yard, garden, school, neighborhood, and human can become part of the solution.
So, the next time you hear a faint buzz while hiking a trail, walking through a meadow, or tending your garden, take a closer look and try to appreciate the bee for who it is and what it does.
These remarkable insects may be small, but their impact is enormous. Quietly and tirelessly, our native bees sustain the wildflowers, forests, and vibrant landscapes that make the Sierra Nevada the wonderful and biologically diverse place that it is.
If you’re not looking for the Understory, it’s easy to walk right past it. Owner Annie Stefani calls it a hobbit hole — picture Alice falling into the rabbit burrow and coming out in Tahoe. Located in an underground cellar at the north end of downtown Tahoe City in front of urgent care, the Understory is North Lake Tahoe’s newest bookshop, which opened June 30.
“That aspect of getting lost in a story has been a big part of my entire life,” says Stefani, who grew up in Tahoe City and has worked in education for 20 years, teaching middle and high school English and social studies. “Reading is a way to learn about another place. Especially in a bubble like Tahoe, books are a window into another world.”
BOOK CLUB: Tahoe City has a new bookstore, thanks to North Tahoe High’s former librarian. Photo courtesy Daniel Stefani
Five years ago, Stefani obtained a master’s degree in library and information science and began working as the librarian at North Tahoe High School. When she took over that role, she completely redesigned the physical space of the school’s library. “When people asked me what I’d do if I wasn’t a teacher, I’d always say I’d be an interior designer,” she says. She discovered a designer who focused on home libraries, and she thought, “This is a thing? I can incorporate design and books and make them look beautiful and readable? Who knew?”
Last year, she left her job at Tahoe Truckee Unified School District and launched Wonderwood Books and Library Services, a book-centric design studio for homes, hotels, and more. She designed and curated bookshelves at the new Apex Club at Palisades Tahoe — complete with books by local authors and ones based on Sierra Nevada ski history — as well as home libraries for several local residences. “When you walk into someone’s home, you look at what they’re reading,” Stefani says. “You want those shelves to not only look nice but also represent who you are.”
LET’S READ: Small but mighty, The Understory bookstore opened last month.
With the launch of her library design business, she needed a space outside her home to store books, so she began looking at storage facilities and commercial spaces around the area. A meeting with Christine and Andrew Ryan, who own the Tahoe Backyard in Kings Beach and operate a micro-business incubator, gave her a new idea: Find a space that could house her library design studio and also be a community bookstore.
“It seemed like a crazy idea in the Amazon-era of online book ordering to open a brick-and-mortar bookstore,” Stefani says. “But Christine and Andy gave me the confidence and encouragement that a bookstore could actually work.”
Another serendipitous meeting with local architects Robb and Molly Olson, who recently purchased the Trading Post buildings in downtown Tahoe City, led Stefani to the so-nick-named hobbit hole. “They said they had a commercial space I might be interested in and when they stopped in front of that door into the underground, I thought, ‘Oh no,’” Stefani recalls. “But then we walked in and my answer was immediately: ‘yes.’ It’s much brighter than it looks thanks to the skylights, and the space has such a good quality.”
The underground store, which previously housed a law office and the office of the former property owners, the Dyer brothers, has been vacant for years. The interior and exterior were recently remodeled and landscaped in preparation for the Understory’s late June opening.
At just 645 square feet, it’s not a huge space. The main room displays books for sale, and the two smaller back rooms offer a reading nook with a gas fireplace that can be rented out for book clubs or other gatherings and a conference room that can be used for private meetings.
“The space is small, but because of that it can be carefully curated,” Stefani says. “I want this to be a community-based bookshop, so there will a rotating community shelf with reading recommendations.”
She doesn’t plan on focusing on outdoor guidebooks — Tahoe City’s Alpenglow Sports has that well covered — or competing with the vast collection at Truckee’s much bigger Word After Word Books. Her goal is to have a small, handpicked collection of fiction and nonfiction books that are switched out regularly, so you can always find something new. “I want everyone — locals, visitors, kids, adults — to be able to walk into the store and discover a book that invokes that sense of curiosity, joy, and wonder that you can find from a good story.”
The last bookstore in Tahoe City, called the Bookshelf, closed in 2012. Can this one fare better? “Tahoe is a very literary place, more than people may realize,” Stefani says. “I’m excited to create this space for our community around a shared love of reading and storytelling.”
After 20 years teaching English and as a high school librarian, I’ve learned that while reading is a deeply personal act, it also has the innate ability to build community through the simple act of sharing the books we’ve loved or what’s next on our list. While Joyce Carol Oates once said, “Read widely, and without apology. Read what you want to read, not what someone tells you you should read,” I also believe that one should never turn down an opportunity to share what’s on their reading list. So, here are 10 books for your summer reading adventures, with stories rooted in travel and place.
1. Properties of Thirst by Marianne Wiggins. The Eastern Sierra is magical this time of year and Wiggins manages to capture the beauty of the Owens Valley and create historical fiction perfection with this story about the building of Manzanar, the city of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and a family stuck in the middle. This is one of my favorite books of all time.
2. Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy. Eco-fiction, mystery, family drama all in one. A woman washes up shipwrecked on a remote sub-Antarctic island guarding a seed vault, and nothing about the family sheltering her is quite what it seems.
3. Playground by Richard Powers. While Powers’ The Overstory was part of the inspiration for The Understory, his novel Playground is a captivating shift to the ocean with this sweeping story about ocean exploration, tech oligarchs, and what it means to be family.
4. The Land and Its People by David Sedaris. I first discovered the sheer genius of David Sedaris while reading Me Talk Pretty One Day on a study abroad trip to France. To this day, I have never felt so seen in a collection of essays about navigating life in another country with such sharp, tender wit. In The Land and Its People, Sedaris revisits those themes of travel, brotherhood, and friendship.
5. Land by Maggie O’Farrell. This highly anticipated historical fiction piece will transport you to Ireland in the years surrounding The Great Hunger, from the author of Hamnet.
6. Barbarian Days by William Finnegan. Much like skiing, surfing quickly turns into an all-consuming adventure. In this Pulitzer-winning memoir I come back to every summer, Finnegan shares stories of chasing waves around the world. Part travelogue, part coming-of-age-story, and part meditation on obsession in sport.
7. Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune. In a past life when I worked for a surf camp in Mexico, my favorite colleagues were all from Tofino. This slow-burn romance set on the Canadian coastline is the perfect summer beach read.
8. Saltwater by Katy Hayes. In this twisty, glamorous murder mystery filled with family secrets, the island of Capri is a character itself. Local Tahoe author Katy Hayes brings the same eye for atmosphere and intrigue that made The Cloisters a hit, making Capri’s sun-bleached cliffs and shadowy villas feel as vivid as anywhere in fiction this summer.
9. Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer. Italy, but make it chaotic. The Pulitzer-winning author of Less sends a young archivist to catalog a crumbling Tuscan villa for a 92-year-old baroness with one last love to track down. The other side of The Understory are library services, including archival work, so my inner cataloguer loves this premise.
10. Calypso by Oliver K. Langmead. This is going to be my personal challenge book for the summer, and it feels like good timing between the release of Spielberg’s Disclosure Day and the new Odyssey movie coming out in late July. Recommended by a friend who’s a sci-fi expert, this Hugo-nominated sci-fi novel is told entirely in verse, following a colony ship engineer who wakes from cryosleep to find her vessel transformed into a forest, ruled by the descendants of the crew.
I likely would not have become a pilot if I didn’t live in Truckee. Like many things we do in our natural mountainous setting — as you discover when backcountry skiing, biking, hiking, or exploring — flying a small, old airplane has some challenges.
When you take off in an old plane, there’s always some uncertainty. If you fly solo, which means alone, you have to solve problems on your own. What-ifs are part of the experience we choose to have.
I earned my private pilot certificate at Truckee Tahoe Airport (KTRK) in 1990, at age 42. In 1997 my husband Tom and I bought our first airplane, a 1946 Cessna 140,
a silver, two-seater, single-engine, tailwheel plane.
NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT: Tom and Laurel Lippert soar over Mount Rushmore during a feature flight that landed the husband-and-wife aviation team on a 2001 cover and inside article of a national aviation magazine. Image courtesy Laurel Lippert
Because my flight training happened here in Truckee, I learned the limitations of flying in an old airplane, taking off at 5,901 feet elevation and climbing another thousand feet, or more, to clear the surrounding mountains around us, which wasn’t always easy.
In July 2002, Tom, who became a pilot at age 54, and I decided to fly to Stowe, Vermont, where we had friends. We had also skied there when Tom had a photo assignment for SKI magazine.
The flight required many airport stops along the way (17 in total) for fuel, food, and overnight stays. Pilots are required to keep logbooks of every takeoff and landing, so I have the proof. There was, and are now, over 5,000 public use airports in the U.S.
If you hike or climb in the Sierra, you know the magnificent views from up there, near or on the peaks. Flying over our beautiful area in a small plane is like that, giving us an even greater appreciation for where we live and why.
On our way to Vermont we encountered weather issues such as wind, clouds, rain, or approaching storms that meant we needed to land and wait them out. At small, remote airports, with no indoor option, there often wasn’t a way to get into town, so we just sat outside. Inevitably, someone driving by would spot us and take us into town, or, sometimes, even to their own home. I remember once being driven to a lovely house on a beautiful nearby lake.
With every landing at some remote airport, through people’s kindness, it didn’t matter who they were, or what they believed, Tom and I felt they were our friends. Most people assumed that Tom was the pilot and I was the passenger. I never corrected them.
Reflecting on that trip to Vermont, and others, since moving to Truckee in 1977, I continue to be grateful to live in a community where people naturally connect with locals and strangers and love adventure.
I decided to become a flight instructor in 1998, at age 50; not to make money, but to become a better pilot. Also, as a freelance writer, published in skiing and travel magazines, I believed I could get more aviation writing assignments as a certified flight instructor.
For those of us who choose to take on challenges, it’s not unusual to say, “How am I going to do that?”
But I found a way and I did it, and as a CFI, I met Henry Levy, a pilot from Lodi who had a house in Northstar and an airplane hangared at KTRK. He asked me to fly him to Sun Valley, Idaho, in his Cessna 182, as he no longer had a medical certificate. I did that, and we became friends.
Henry later got divorced and moved to Truckee full-time. Tom and I enjoyed his company and high spirits, and Henry became a close friend. One day, he gifted Tom and me his Cessna 182 that he had bought brand-new in 1981.
The people whom Tom and I met over the years through flying remain special. With assignments from national flying magazines, Tom and I flew around the country, seeing beautiful places and meeting interesting folks.
I also interviewed pilots who were famous, including Arnold Palmer, Harrison Ford, Sarah Ferguson (the Dutchess of York), and Clint Eastwood. Like most who understand the risks of flying, these celebrities were humble and never bragged about being pilots. Just like we skiers know we shouldn’t brag about being “hot” as it can jinx our next run, the same goes for pilots.
I tell you this because many of us in Truckee have had experiences and adventures that we will never forget, and that affect who we are. In one of my ipilot.com articles, I wrote about being stuck in Newcastle, WY, due to a scary airplane issue. I closed the story, saying, “We know there are angels in the air. Stay open.”
Stay open. Share your stories while you can, and keep smiling.
