Deal preserves land in Truckee canyon

RENO — Thousands of acres in the Truckee River Canyon near the Nevada-California line will be protected from development under a new deal that was four years in the making, officials said.

The pact, arranged by the Nature Conservancy, will pay Sierra Pacific Power Co. $2.2 million for 3,350 acres of rugged, forested terrain and seven miles of riverfront between Floriston, Calif., and the Nevada state line.

“This gateway between Nevada and California will now remain forever wild,” Michael Cameron, Nevada associate director for the conservancy, said Thursday when the deal was announced.

The property will be managed by the California Department of Fish and Game, which will prepare a recreation strategy for public access by hikers, hunters and others.

Public acquisition of the canyon property follows a series of complicated negotiations between Sierra Pacific, the Truckee Meadows Water Authority, the Nature Conservancy and others.

“It’s not every day you get to buy and protect the majority of a watershed,” said Perry Norris, executive director of the Truckee Donner Land Trust.

“To be able to assemble this kind of acreage in a single watershed in between two booming communities is a conservation grand slam.”

Though much of the land is too steep to build on, portions could have been developed had the public acquisition not occurred, said Jeff Ceccarelli, president of Sierra Pacific Power.

A gravel company had made an offer regarding a potential mining operation on the property, Ceccarelli said, and ranchette-style houses are popping up on private land in the canyon.

“There clearly would have been some development interest,” Ceccarelli said.

“We came to the conclusion protecting this (land) in the state it’s in for future generations is just critically important.”

Any building that does occur in the watershed would come at risk to the river that supplies Reno-Sparks with 85 percent of its water, said Lori Williams, general manager of the Truckee Meadows Water Authority.

“The last thing we would want is for that 3,300 acres to be developed,” Williams said. “Now this is protected in perpetuity from having those kinds of activities taking place.”

Preserving the land is good for wildlife, particularly the Loyalton-Truckee mule deer herd, whose numbers are plummeting as development gobbles up crucial winter habitat across the region, experts said.

The area also is home to bear, grouse, bobcats and mountain lions.