Wanted: Notorious Lake Tahoe tree poisoner. Reward? $147,000

A question has bedeviled a wealthy Lake Tahoe enclave for years: Who is poisoning the towering trees that stand sentry on the North Shore?

Residents of Incline Village, Nev., hope a $147,000 reward will generate some answers.

"It's the most appalling, selfish thing that anyone could do, especially for trees that are irreplaceable," said Chris Nolet, a retired certified public accountant and consultant to the biotechnology industry who assembled a small group of private donors known as Friends of Burnt Cedar Beach to put up the bulk of the reward. "These trees are 100 years old."

The donors are offering $122,000 for information leading to the successful prosecution of anyone responsible. The Incline Village General Improvement District, which owns and manages the residents-only beach where the poisonings took place, has put up another $25,000 and installed additional cameras around the trees.

The move came after an investigation failed to generate actionable leads, Nolet said.

"My feeling is, we've got to try something different," he said, "and money talks."

Someone has, on multiple occasions, slipped into the picturesque wooded cove, drilled holes near the roots of the conifers and poured a chemical inside. A total of 28 trees have been poisoned since 2022 and at least 10 have died, some of them more than a century old.

The attacks escalated this summer, with 16 trees — 13 Jeffrey pines and three white firs — poisoned on three occasions between May and early August. It's too soon to say how many of the trees will survive; some are showing signs of stress including brown needles, according to Sam Gough, an arborist with the Incline Village General Improvement District.

"The effects of chemical exposure may develop slowly and may not become fully apparent for several months or even multiple growing seasons," Gough said Friday at a news conference announcing the reward.

Grounds staff have removed contaminated soil from around the affected trees and applied a biochar and compost mixture to support their natural defensive response, she said. They are also hand-watering the trees to reduce environmental stress and give them a better chance of healing, she said.

Staff will continue regular inspections to detect crown thinning, needle discoloration and loss, reduced growth and abnormal resin production, she said.

"It's a little disheartening to realize that somebody has done something that can't be repaired — like, this damage cannot be repaired," Gough said. "In 150 years, new trees could regrow, but we won't be here for that. It's a great loss."

Six trees were previously poisoned in 2022, four of which died, according to Paul Raymore, a spokesman for the Incline Village General Improvement District. The next year, six more trees were poisoned and survived. But then in 2024, someone re-poisoned those six trees, and they all died, he said.

In the past, diesel fuel was poured around the bases of the trees, and grounds staff said last month that they suspected copper sulfate was dumped into the holes drilled near the roots. The chemical is known to slowly kill trees from the inside out.

Improvement District representatives said Friday that in the most recent incidents staff observed blue granules inside the holes and smelled a strong odor associated with an unidentified liquid, but they declined to speculate on what chemicals may have been used. Soil samples were provided to the sheriff's office in Washoe County, Nev., for analysis, they said.

The sheriff's office did not respond to questions about whether it had received the results of that analysis.

Although investigators haven't determined a motive for the arboreal attacks, both residents and law enforcement officers have theorized they may be the work of a homeowner seeking to improve property value .

Incline Village has earned the nickname "Income Village" due to its reputation as a haven for Silicon Valley's ultrawealthy. Lake views are a hot commodity in the community, and buyers pay steep premiums for properties with unobstructed sightlines.

Still, because the homes are staggered up a hillside, upward of 100 properties could gain a better lake view from the poisoned trees' removal, according to the Washoe County Sheriff's Office.

So far, the most compelling piece of evidence publicly reported by authorities was a flash of light captured by a trail camera about 2 a.m. on Aug 2. Authorities are trying to learn how the perpetrator gained access to the beach, including whether they boated over from the other side of the lake, investigators have said.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency is also investigating the tree poisonings. The agency encourages property owners to remove certain trees around homes for defensible-space purposes and works to thin forests throughout the Tahoe Basin to reduce wildfire risk. But healthy, nonhazardous trees are important to the health of Lake Tahoe and environmental quality in the region, according to spokesman Jeff Cowen.

"Root systems protect Lake Tahoe's clarity by stabilizing soils that could erode, and uptaking nutrients that would feed algae in the lake," Cowen wrote in an email. "Healthy forests also provide critical wildlife habitat and protect scenic quality."

Nolet has lived in Incline Village for seven years — part-time for 19 — and describes it as one of the most special places on earth, a veritable paradise where residents can boat, ski, fish and bike.

"The trees are so innocent and that park is so beautiful," he said. "It just kind of is beyond the pale to think that people would sneak in there, drill holes in the trunks, fill them full of poison, put the poison around the tree trunks and sneak out."

"That's an assault on our community that's not acceptable," he added.

The reward funds will be made available to anyone who provides information by March 31 that results in a successful prosecution within two years of the date it is provided.

There's one caveat: neither the person responsible for the poisonings nor any accessories will be eligible for the money. They could face felony charges, as authorities estimate the trees that were killed or damaged to be worth at least $300,000.

Detectives with the Washoe County Sheriff's Office have urged anyone with information, regardless of how insignificant it may seem, to call them at (775) 328-3001 and reference case number 26-4225. Anonymous tips may also be submitted through Secret Witness online or by calling (775) 322-4900.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times .