Hikers give Forest Service static over plan for radio repeater on Tahoe-area peak

A proposal by the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest to install a new radio repeater has raised the ire of hikers who say it would be a blight on an iconic Nevada peak.

The proposal calls for a 20-foot tower on a five-foot-high metal building on top of Job’s Peak, a 10,633-foot-tall peak located eight miles southwest of Minden.

The solar-powered repeater would improve reliability of radio communications for Forest Service workers in the Carson Range, which towers over Carson Valley to the northeast and Lake Tahoe to the northwest.

The peak is a defining feature of the western horizon for the Carson Valley and a popular hiking destination.

“It is so beautiful up there, so desolate and so quiet and so peaceful,” said Colleen Manzer of South Lake Tahoe. “The experience would be ruined by something man-made there.”

Evan Maxwell of Gardnerville said a radio repeater would detract from the natural beauty of the peak, which he can see from his home.

“This would put a clear mark on top of a magnificent peak, one of the stellar peaks of the Sierra eastern front,” he said.

According to a description of the project from the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, there are currently portions of the Carson Ranger District that lack radio coverage.

The dead zones prevent workers from using handheld and vehicle radios. Forest Service radio specialists say Job’s Peak would be the best location to improve coverage.

There are no roads to the peak, so the Forest Service would use a helicopter to deposit the repeater, shelter, antennae and solar panels on the peak.

The project doesn’t require any digging or other ground disturbance, according to the Forest Service.

District Ranger Irene Davidson said because it’s considered a “minor use” and won’t disturb the ground there’s no requirement for the Forest Service to conduct an environmental assessment or produce an environmental impact statement.

The Toiyabe Chapter of the Sierra Club disagrees.

In a letter to the Forest Service, Toiyabe Chapter chairperson David von Seggern said there should be an environmental assessment of the plan.

“Although the repeater equipment is rather benign, the visual impact is not,” von Seggern wrote. “It is visible from the Tahoe Rim Trail at many points. There is no denying that Job’s Peak is a distinctive spot in crowning the range separating the Nevada valleys from Lake Tahoe.”

Von Seggern asked whether the transmitter could be placed on another peak, such as Monument or East peaks, “where there is already considerable environmental degradation associated with Heavenly Ski Resort.”

The Forest Service has already solicited public comments on the plan. An online description of the plan says the next scheduled step in the process will be a National Environmental Policy Act or Forest Plan Amendment Decision document with an estimated date of Feb. 1.