Donation will help preserve Little Truckee River watershed

The Truckee Donner Land Trust recently received $5 million from the Wildlife Conservation Board to acquire approximately 2,995 acres of land for the protection of significant alpine and wet-meadow habitat, protection of the upper Little Truckee River watershed, and allow for continued conservation-based management and public use of the property.

Through 2011, the Land Trust and its acquisition partner, the Trust for Public Land, has been fundraising in earnest to raise $8 million to purchase Webber Lake and Lacey Meadows north of Truckee in Nevada and Sierra counties.

From a biological, historical and recreational perspective, this may be the most important acquisition the Land Trust says it has pursued. Lacey Meadows comprises 1,900 acres and is one of the best examples of a highly functioning meadow system in the northern Sierra Nevada eco region.

The landscape has been targeted by the Nature Conservancy as a “Portfolio Site” because of the critical habitat it provides for biodiversity in the Northern Sierra Nevada.

Webber Lake has been a private recreation destination for more than 100 years and is said to be the birthplace of sport fishing in the Sierra. The site is also of immense historical significance. Webber Lake Hotel, built in 1860, still stands on the property, which is traversed by the historic Henness Pass Road, a crucial emigrant and early California commerce route.

The Land Trust, working in partnership with the Trust for Public Land, hopes to close on the properties in fall 2012.