7,000 acres near Truckee off-limits to developers
By Jane Braxton Little, Sacramento Bee
TRUCKEE – Conservationist groups and Sierra Pacific Industries have reached a first-of-its-kind agreement that protects wet meadows and wildlife habitat in the headwaters of the Little Truckee River.
A conservation easement on 7,085 acres near Jackson Meadows Reservoir in Sierra County will permanently limit development along Henness Pass Road while allowing recreation and selective logging in the mixed conifer forest.
The deal announced last month is the first conservation transaction negotiated with Sierra Pacific, an Anderson-based timber company and the state’s largest private land holder.
Truckee Donner Land Trust worked with the Trust for Public Land, a national conservation organization, to set the terms of the agreement and raise $3.25 million to purchase the development rights from Sierra Pacific, said Perry Norris, executive director of the land trust based in Truckee.