Seeking to preserve the rich history of Incline this resident dove right into community activism



       Chuck Greene

by Jean Eick
Bonanza Staff Writer
July 29, 2007

Peering into Incline Village's future, it is hard to imagine what this small Tahoe community will become.

Can you envision locked gates across the entrances to Incline Village with all the buildings now empty and dilapidated? Or do you see a major highway running through the town with a Wal-Mart at one end and a Target Superstore at the other?

But whatever it becomes in the future, will anyone remember the story of the people and this little village?

Chuck Greene hopes so.

When Greene looks into the future, he sees Incline Village, surrounded by recreational areas, as "a town with a central area where residents and visitors alike can gather. A village that is pedestrian friendly and has a little art museum."

He also envisions that the stories of the people and the village are gathered in a place where everyone can enjoy the rich history of Incline Village.

The threads of his life began in Canada, weaving together until he moved to Incline Village permanently in 2001 where he is using his experiences for the community's good.

Charles and his twin sister, Belinda, were born in 1945 in Toronto, Canada to Rita and Lorne Greene. He grew up and attended school in Toronto. Summers, he went to camp at Algonquin Park in Ontario, where he would canoe and ride horseback. Greene was seven years old when he began horseback riding.

He recalls, "When you got into the forest it was teeming with life."

Because he was a good rider, he was quickly allowed on the trails at the camp, placing in him a sense of how important backcountry trails are to hikers, horseback riders and other outdoor users.

Greene said his father was "a very important figure in my life from the time I was very young."

He grew up listening to his father on the radio where he was an announcer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He said his father was "like the Walter Cronkite of Canada."

As a young boy in the late 50's he starting visiting Incline Village with his family. His father, Lorne, played the role of Ben Cartwright on the television series, "Bonanza." Already well known as "The Voice of Canada," Bonanza skyrocketed his father to fame as the successful show ran from September 1959 to January 1973. The Greenes purchased an Incline Village home in 1978.

Greene finished his last year of high school at Neuchatel Junior College in Switzerland. Then he went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass. After graduating from college, he returned to Canada. He worked doing live documentaries for Murray Chercover on a program called "W Five."

"It was like 60 minutes and it played opposite the popular American television series, Bonanza!" Greene said.

He also worked with his father on a program that played all over the world from 1980 until his father died in 1987. This was called "Lorne Greene's New Wilderness."

Greene then moved to the seaside community of Marina Del Rey in the Los Angeles area, becoming interested in biking and riding farther and farther each time. Soon he was training for a 100-mile bike ride.

One day as he was riding he experienced a moderate heart attack. So after spending a year "being careful" and working to rebuild his health, he developed what he calls "a very short-term point of view with a long-term ambition."

He still rides around Lake Tahoe and participates in the Tahoe Sierra Century Ride, as well as hiking to 10,000 feet elevation, lifting rocks while trail building and skiing!

"I work on goals nearby. I don't look to be there and if I happen to be there, I get to see all the wonderful things," Greene said.

It was not until 2001 that Greene began living permanently in Incline Village.

He lives with an 18 1/2 year old cat named Buddy. He will probably have some dogs again at some point because lots of dogs and cats need homes, he said.

His twin sister passed away a couple of years ago, but he also has a sister and two nieces in the Los Angeles area. He has a brother-in-law in the San Francisco Bay area and other family in Toronto.

Today, as a full-time resident, Chuck Greene is involved in many different organizations around Incline and the region.

We have "a lot of nonprofits to contribute your time and money to," he said.

The Tahoe Rim Trail Association is his number one priority. Greene has been a board member since 1998. Now he serves on the trails committee, the financial development committee, the history committee and the trail use committee.

The mission of the association is: "to maintain and enhance the Tahoe Rim Trail system and exchange stewardship through volunteer programs." According to Greene, the organization is "a fabulous organization doing a fabulous job."

Greene is president of the Sierra Front Recreation Coalition. The mission of this organization is to "promote, develop and provide access to world-class outdoor recreation opportunities and resource stewardship to meet the increasing demand and diverse interests of the growing visitor and local populations along the Central Sierra Front. The vision of the organization is: "a world-class area-wide seamless network of outdoor recreation opportunities."

Greene said he is involved in this organization because when you go to Algonquin Park in Ontario today you need a reservation for just a campsite. The Sierra Front Recreation Coalition does not want to see that happen here.

"This is a very important organization for me because it can act as an umbrella organization," he said.

On the Nevada Rock Art Foundation, Greene is a board member, secretary and chair of strategic planning and nominating committees. The mission of this foundation is "to identify, record, preserve and protect rock art in Nevada and surrounding area, promoting public awareness and appreciation of Nevada rock art and other heritage resources."

Greene said this foundation was formed over five years ago to preserve markings, either painted (pictographs) or engraved (petroglyphs) on the surface that give a very unique picture and view of the culture of those who created it.

There are other organizations that Greene also serves or works with around the Tahoe area. This includes the Incline Vision committee where he serves as chair of the arts, culture and history subcommittee.

He's working with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency to update its 20-year plan. He is also with the Independent Incline committee, the Watershed Sustainability Indicators committee and the North Shore effort to support Arts, Culture and Heritage - especially the performing arts facilities.

According to Greene, "It is very important for people to know about this community and the history of the area."

It is important to know about the past and the present in order for Incline to have a future, he said. Greene feels that a real facility to preserve history would make the community a better place to visit and would be a positive change.

Greene has worked hard during the past year and half putting together information with the North Lake Tahoe Historical Society. Today there are exhibits in the Donald W. Reynolds Community Center which serve as a beginning to an Incline Village/Crystal Bay Historical Society. More panels are scheduled to be added soon.

Right now there is an urgent need to raise money for oral recording equipment in order to continue with this project.

It would be used to record the stories of some of the early residents and their history. Already it is too late to interview some of Incline's founders such as Harold Tiller and Raymond Smith. There are also early plans in process to eventually have a book. Much work still needs to be accomplished to preserve Incline Village's history, he said.

"Our near-term goal is preserving documents and memorabilia from the history of the community and doing oral histories with as many early residents as we can," Greene said in a Bonanza article in May. "In the longer term, we're looking at creating a museum that will focus on the history of our community and, through that lens, and we'll be viewing the history and the heritage of the rest of the basin."

According to Greene, the museum's central focus would be on the histories of Incline Village and Crystal Bay, though it would use them as jumping-off points for issues affecting the entire Tahoe Basin.

So what does Greene think about Incline Village today?

"When I was a kid and would go to camp I would ask how come we could only go to camp for two months and school for 10 months. Now I am at camp for 10 months!"

He went on to say that he really likes the people of this community. Greene also likes the quality of life here, noting he believes it is extremely high.

One of the reasons he likes it here is that "within half an hour you can experience recreational opportunities like no other place, enjoy the lake, and lots of cultural opportunities and a great library."

"Incline is a fabulous place to be to enjoy life," said Greene.

Incline, however, does have some pressing issues.

"We are losing a lot of our working class families because they are struggling to survive here in Incline," he said.

And of course he pointed out that there are also transportation issues, lake quality issues and some of the older structures in town need to be redeveloped.

"If you don't continually rebuild and redevelop it becomes dilapidated."

He said he would like to see the Village Center area redeveloped.

"We can do better here. This community deserves better. If we put our minds and hearts together we can come up with solutions," he stated.

And now back to his vision, the one that preserves the rich history of the stories of the people from the Washoe to all the residents that love to work, play and live in Incline Village.

"We could add some art around town and update the gateways into town so that they are more welcoming to our home," Greene said.

Yes, Chuck Greene is another story in that rich history of Incline that needs to be preserved for all to know.

http://www.tahoebonanza.com/article/20070729/News/107290043