Joel Dameral's South Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog (530-545-8827)

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Residents of El Dorado County can receive a free radon test kit until supplies run out.

The Tahoe Division of the El Dorado County Environmental Management Department has several hundred test kits available, said Virginia Huber, Tahoe Division Manager.

The kits can be picked up from 8 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 5 p.m. weekdays at 3368 Lake Tahoe Blvd. Suite 303.

“We recommend everyone in the South Lake Tahoe area test their home for radon,” Huber said.

Radon is an odorless, colorless, radioactive case that arises from the decay of naturally occurring uranium and thorium in soil. The gas is linked to 21,000 lung cancer deaths a year, second only to cigarette smoking, according to the EPA.

A report from the California Geological Survey in June 2009 estimated that 23,400 people in the Lake Tahoe area live in buildings where radon is likely to equal or exceed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recommended action level of 4 picocuries per liter.

The report was based on geological data, as well as results from a survey of 443 homes in South Lake Tahoe between 2006 and 2007.

According to the survey, about 40 percent of homes in the Lake Tahoe area are at or above the EPA’s recommended action level, while approximately 55 percent of homes in the El Dorado County portion of the basin who participated in the survey are at or above the recommended action level.

Winter is a good time to test a home for radon, Huber said.

“It’s the best time to test because your house is closed up,” she said.

For more information call (530) 573-3450.

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California State Parks narrowly escaped major closures during last year’s state budget crisis, and supporters are going to the voters for help to ensure the worst doesn’t happen in 2010.

The California State Parks Foundation and other organizations have created the State Parks and Wildlife Conservation Trust Fund Act of 2010, needing more than 430,000 signatures to get it in the November 2010 ballot.

If successful, the act would add $18 to California’s annual vehicle licensing fees, said Pam Armas, California State Park Ranger Association President, raising about $500 million each year for state parks, wildlife, land conservation and ocean conservation projects.

“That may seem like a lot, but we’ve been so horribly under-funded; this will get us to where we need to be,” Armas said, adding that state parks have an approximately $1 billion backlog in un-funded work.

The $500 million would be split 85 percent to state parks and 15 percent to the other conservation efforts, Armas said, likely finding its way to groups like the Sierra Nevada Conservancy and California Tahoe Conservancy, among others.

In return, California residents who paid licensing fees would get free day admission to all state parks, year-round, Armas said.

“If you go two or three times it pays for itself — state park day use now ranges from $8 to $15,” Armas said.

The effort comes in response to the threat in 2009 to pull $70 million from state parks to help balance California’s eroding budget, which would have closed up to 220 of the state’s 279 parks.

That cut was later reduced to $14.2 million, meaning no full-time closures, but reductions of services and partial closures.

A similar addition to vehicle licensing fees was discussed by lawmakers over the summer, but never gained traction in the capital, so groups like the California State Parks Foundation, Audubon Society of California and the Sierra Club are taking it to the voters, Armas said.

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The Lake Tahoe Unified School District will be part of a three-year, million dollar grant from the California State Department of Education for enhanced and ongoing professional development for teachers in grades three through eight. The California Mathematics and Science Partnership program seeks to establish partnerships to improve the academic achievement of students in mathematics and science, according to a prepared release.

Lake Tahoe Unified joins school districts in Modesto and Stockton for the Summit to Sand grant, which totals $339,201 per year for three years. More than 30 teachers have been recruited for a three-year professional development program that draws upon the diverse geography of California to educate teachers and motivate students. Teachers will receive instruction in life, earth and physical science, focusing on the natural environment of the state of California, in order to positively impact students’ English language arts and science achievement. Faculty from the Lake Tahoe, Columbia and San Joaquin Delta community colleges will provide instruction at three summer institutes from 2010 through 2012.

“This grant will provide important funds to improve science education in the district,” said district superintendent Dr. James Tarwater. “We are very excited to have been funded and to partner with districts and community colleges in our area and in other areas of the state.”

Additional partners include Tahoe Environmental Research Center at University of California, Davis, the San Joaquin County Office of Education, California State University, Monterey Bay, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

The California State Building Standards Commission voted Tuesday unanimously b to adopt the 2010 California Residential Code, which includes the 2009 International Residential Code as established by the International Code Council in September 2008. The residential sprinkler requirement was voted into the 2009 IRC Code by building code officials from all over the United States, gaining more than two-thirds of the vote.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, 3320 people perished in fires in 2008 throughout the United States. According to the NFPA, there has never been a documented fire death in a fully operational sprinklered residence with working smoke detectors.

“It is a tragedy for our nation to have those kinds of preventable fire death losses,” said

Lake Valley Fire Protection District Fire Chief Jeff Michael.

For more information about the new building standards codes coming in 2011, contact the Lake Valley Fire Protection District, Fire Prevention Bureau at 530-577-3737.