The TRPA realizes that management of public forest lands and private property have different needs. We have tried to make things simple for homeowners so that they can reduce the fire danger on their property, but also protect the forested areas around the lake in which we live. For example, if you want to remove a tree on your property for defensible space and it is less than 14 inches diameter at breast height (14" dbh), you can do so without a permit as long as your property is not in a stream environment zone or the tree was not planted at the request of TRPA.

(click here) to go to the Tree Removal Application.

(click here) to go to the Tree Removal Guide.

Additionally, we have tried to improve the ease of creating defensible space on private property by working with local fire departments to issue tree cutting permits on our behalf. Currently we have an agreement to do this with the fire protection district in Incline Village, Douglas County and are looking to expand this program to other fire departments soon.

We are also working with the US Forest Service, Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit and Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board to update their respective management plans, while we update our regional plan for the Lake Tahoe Basin. This process, called PATHWAY 2007 will include updates to management of the public forest areas among other things.

(click here) to find out more about PATHWAY 2007.