Gibbons names 10 to Tahoe fire panel
RENO -- Gov. Jim Gibbons has appointed the state forester, a former Nevada congressman and a former campaign adviser to the new Nevada-California Tahoe Basin Fire Commission.
Gibbons also named the state fire marshal, a casino executive and two Tahoe-area homeowners to the panel he and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger created.
The panel will examine the laws that affect wildfire management in the Lake Tahoe Basin in the aftermath of the fire that burned more than 250 homes near South Lake Tahoe last month.
"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," Gibbons said.
Republican political consultant Sig Rogich, who was an adviser to Gibbons' 2006 gubernatorial campaign, and former U.S. Rep. Jim Santini, D-Nev., are among those the governor named to the panel.
Others are:
• 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 the Northern Nevada region of Harrahs Entertainment, Inc.
• Bud Hicks, president of the Glenbrook Homeowners Association.
• Bob Davidson, Lake Tahoe Basin homeowner.
Gibbons also appointed ex-officio members to the panel who were to serve in a non-voting capacity:
• 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.
Each governor will appoint eight voting and three non- voting members and the U.S. Forest Service also will appoint a voting member. Gibbons has one more nonvoting member to appoint to the panel.
