Posts: 2

1. Support Wildlife Care

   16.Dec.06, 15:34 EST
   
   Share It | Spread It | Comments: 0

   Who needs to support us? You! As our communities spread outward and the forests and wetlands diminish, the survival of our remaining wildlife becomes critical. Without your financial support, many injured or orphaned creatures who desperately need help will be turned away. If these animals, cannot be adequately cared for, the loss affects us all. Please! Help us to help them. Let us not lose the pleasure of listening to songbirds, watching the flight of wild geese, and knowing that when we walk in the forest, we are not alone. Where do the funds go? Funds are used to purchase food, medical supplies, veterinary assistance and housing. Special formulas are needed for the raising of infant mammals and birds. All injured wildlife receive immediate medical attention. For the best possible care, adequate and safe housing is provided. Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, Inc. also provides community education by presenting illustrated and informative lectures to local schools and service clubs, giving children (and adults) a good start in wildlife awareness.

2. About Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care

   16.Dec.06, 14:23 EST
   
   Share It | Spread It | Comments: 0

   business@rgj.com SOUTH LAKE TAHOE – Proponents of a wildlife park on the South Shore of Tahoe have found the acreage they need for such an enterprise. The problem is the U.S. Forest Service owns the land and doesn’t want the animals. Plus, the site is a toxic dump.
   Tom and Cheryl Millham’s 29-year-old Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care run out of their South Shore home and back yard is proposed to grow from a private nonprofit rehabilitation center to a mega-center that annually would draw thousands of tourists, pour money into the economy, be a research and education center as well as a wildlife park filled with animals that would otherwise be put down because they cannot survive in the wild.
   Forest Service officials say the facility will not be built on the dump, which in close proximity to the current care site, as long as the federal government owns the land. The property could be transferred to another entity – public or private. However, grants for the project cannot be sought until ownership is transferred.
   The Forest Service has said it will entertain the possibility of transferring the land rights once it is determined how the site will be cleaned up, who is paying for it and when it will all take place.
   The 26-acre Old Meyers Landfill off Pioneer Trail in El Dorado County was used by El Dorado and Douglas counties and South Lake Tahoe for 16 years before closing in 1971.
   A lawsuit was filed by the Forest Service against these municipalities and slew of other litigants 15 years ago when it was determined a toxic plume threatens Saxon Creek, a tributary to Lake Tahoe.
   Vinyl chloride, a carcinogen produced when household waste breaks down, is the main contaminant, although trichloral ethylene, methane and other gases pose problems.
   A mediator bring the Forest Service and municipalities to the table in October in an attempt to determine how the dump will be cleaned up, what type of monitoring will occur, who will pay for all of this and what the site will be used for in the future.
   The Environmental Protection Agency has deemed it the only Superfund site in the basin. However, everyone involved says it poses no health risks to humans. Because it falls under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERLA), the site must have a reuse plan after it is cleaned up.
   To get a jump on the matter, the primary defendants in the lawsuit paid for a feasibility study to see if Lake Tahoe Wildlife Park could become a reality at this location. It was prepared by EDAW, an architecture and environmental consulting firm with offices in Stateline, this summer for $35,000. The study looked into the physical feasibility, land availability, legal framework and financial feasibility.
   The Forest Service officials said if it retains ownership, the land will be open space, but is not sure if would be fenced. An economic report prepared by Dornbusch Associates of Berkeley projects that 45,000 of the 1.5 million people who visit the South Shore each year will go to the wildlife park.
   The idea is to build the wildlife park in three phases. The first phase would have Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care move to temporary structures on land owned by Sierra Pacific Power Co. that is adjacent to the landfill. This could happen in spring 2007. Eventually that land would not be needed. Phase 2 includes a 4,000 square foot two-story structure. It would house an education center, research center, gift shop, café, theater and administrative offices. Phase 3 would be creating the actual wildlife park, which would be completed in 2014
   Besides the rehabilitation center and animal enclosures, a wildlife park would house critters that cannot survive in the wild. It would mean the public would have a chance to the see the animals, whereas now the rehab center does not allow visitors. It’s estimated the rehab center would take up about 2 acres, the education center a half acre and the wildlife park 25 acres. John Singlaub, executive director of Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, says the whole deal is possible through special use permits that the agency’s Governing Board would have to approve. All parties agree the permanent structures would not be built over the landfill cap.
   "We are looking at a huge grassy knoll for the cap and beyond there could be picnic areas," said Norma Santiago, El Dorado County supervisor. The Bay Area firm Dornbusch Associates estimates that within six years of Phase 3 being completed the facility would be profitable. Revenue is expected in the form of admissions, memberships, retail, food, programs and grants-donations. Fifty people would work at the site. The Millhams have said they’d stay on as consultants.
   
   Go to the Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care website