The State - News from May 8, 1989

Caltrans, already under pressure from Lake Tahoe casinos and ski resorts to use more salt to clear roads of ice and snow, has come under attack from residents who say the practice kills trees. “We’re going to have to tone it back or we’re not going to have any trees left,” said Tom Martens of the League to Save Lake Tahoe. “We do what we are told,” said Caltrans maintenance engineer Jim Hochstrasser, whose agency has increased its use of salt despite evidence that it harms trees. For example, a 1980 study on Nevada highways found 2,617 trees damaged by salt. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency chief Bill Morgan said he was hopeful that a less harmful substitute can be used next winter.