‘Almost irreplaceable’: $147K reward to solve Tahoe’s poisoned trees case

The community of Incline Village posted a $147,000 reward on Friday for information that can help law enforcement solve the mystery of who has been poisoning trees at Lake Tahoe’s Burnt Cedar Beach and prosecute a suspect.

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Trees at Burnt Cedar Beach were poisoned in three separate incidents this year. On May 26, staff members at the Incline Village General Improvement District, which operates the community’s private beaches, reported a strong odor emitting from four trees, believed to be diesel fuel. The same odor was found around two more trees on July 23, and investigators from the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office determined they’d been poisoned, too. 

A little more than a week later, on Aug. 2, investigators found 10 more trees had been poisoned.

“It was an act of vandalism against the entire community,” said Robert Harrison, general manager of the Incline Village General Improvement District, at a meeting on Aug. 12 where the board of trustees discussed the tree poisonings. “This is a community asset that we have here and, frankly, we are really angry about what happened at that site.”

The discoveries are the latest in a series of tree poisonings that have occurred at Burnt Cedar Beach since 2022. In total, 28 pine trees have been poisoned at Burnt Cedar Beach, according to the district’s announcement Friday.

The total loss is estimated at more than $300,000, but the mature trees are “almost irreplaceable,” said Washoe County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Joseph Colacurcio, who works at the Incline Village substation, at a news conference in August.

The reward is for information that leads to a suspect’s arrest and successful prosecution. It includes $25,000 from the Incline Village General Improvement District and $122,000 raised by a group of community members who call themselves Friends of Burnt Cedar Beach. 

The district has also installed security cameras at Burnt Cedar Beach, Harrison said at the Aug. 12 meeting.

Incline Village is a community on Lake Tahoe’s north shore where some of the wealthiest people in the world own lakefront estates and mansions. Billionaire Larry Ellison’s lakefront estate is down the street from Burnt Cedar Beach, which is a private beach operated by the district and accessible only to Incline Village residents and their guests. 

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The district has been working with the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office on its investigation, though the sheriff’s office was not represented at Friday’s news conference. 

Arborists and environmental specialists have been taking steps to save the trees, assessing the damage and beginning mitigation efforts, according to the district. 

If found, the suspect could face felony charges, according to the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office. 

“The destruction of mature trees in the Tahoe Basin and the environmental damage caused by these deliberate acts are unacceptable,” Sheriff Darin Balaam said in an August statement.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office at (775) 328-3001 and reference case number 26-4225. Information must be provided to the sheriff’s office and not to district staff. Anonymous tips can be submitted through Secret Witness by calling (775) 322-4900 or visiting  www.secretwitness.com. 

Burnt Cedar Beach has remained open throughout the summer, despite the investigation. There is no immediate threat to the health of beachgoers, the district said in the Friday news release.