NV names fire commish members

STAFF REPORT

Posted: 7/29/2007

Republican political consultant Sig Rogich and former Nevada Congressman Jim Santini are among the Nevada members of a Nevada-California Tahoe Basin Fire Commission, Gov. Jim Gibbons' office announced Saturday.

Gibbons and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding creating a 23-member commission that will look at the laws that affect wildfire management in the Lake Tahoe Basin. This follows the Angora Fire that started June 24 near South Lake Tahoe and burned more than 250 homes and about 3,100 acres.

In addition to Rogich, Gibbons' campaign advisor, and Santini, who as a member of the House of Representatives co-sponsored the Burton-Santini Act that allows the federal government to buy environmentally sensitive land to protect it from development, Gibbons also appointed:

James M. Wright, Nevada Fire Marshal
Pete Anderson, Nevada Division of Forestry state forester
Michael D. Brown, Chief of North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District and a member of the Nevada Fire Safe Council
John Koster, president of Northern Nevada region of Harrah's Entertainment, Inc.
Bud Hicks, president of the Glenbrook Homeowners Association
Bob Davidson, Lake Tahoe basin homeowner

Serving in non-voting capacity as ex-official members from Nevada are:

Allen Biaggi, director of Nevada Division of Conservation and Natural Resources and a member of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency
Leo Drozdoff, administrator of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection

Gibbons is allowed to appoint one more non-voting member. Each governor will appoint eight voting and three non-voting members and the U.S. Forest Service will also appoint a voting member.

"Everyone -- federal and state agencies, residents, management agencies, business owners and environmental entities -- shares a common goal, an environmentally healthy and functioning Lake Tahoe Basin," Gibbons said in a statement. "The Lake Tahoe Basin and the forest resources must be managed by proven forestry practices based on sound science. I look forward to the commission's review of the policies that currently govern forest management in the Tahoe Basin."