Truckee Donner Land Trust purchased a 73-acre conservation easement on the planned Sierra College Campus formerly known as McIver Hill, or Hippie Hill. This land is of particular significance in protecting Truckee's scenic and open space from development in the future, and will host a variety of recreational access for hiking and biking trails.
The easement will restrict the building envelope of the college campus and ensures the scenic integrity of McIver Hill within sight of Truckee and surrounding highways. The Sierra College Campus will be a “green,” environmentally sensitive campus, including over 50 acres of open space with hiking and biking trails to serve the recreational public and students.
The Truckee Donner Land Trust has been involved in the planning phases of the College Campus. Construction of the campus and trails is expected to begin in Spring 2007.
Jackass RidgeJackass Ridge sits behind the Albertson's/Longs shopping center running west to Coldstream Canyon and is visible from many locations in Truckee, especially to the south of Surprise Stadium at Tahoe Truckee High School across I-80. It is a historic Truckee landmark and scenic ridgeline, permanently protected by a conservation easement donated to the Land Trust by the Cabona family. The 68-acre conservation easement, spanning across Nevada and Placer counties, protects the parcel from development and ensures that the ridgeline would permanently retain its alpine integrity.
The easement is the most restrictive of its kind, limiting all future development, which reduces the resale value of the land. However, the donors receive immediate and significant income tax exemption benefits and be free of future estate tax obligations on the easement property.
As the owner of the conservation easement, the Truckee Donner Land Trust will continue to monitor the property annually to uphold the restrictions stated in the terms of the easement. An endowment fund will be established for each easement to support the monitoring program.
Northstar
There are approximately 60 acres of land in conservation easement at the Northstar Ski area donated by the Property Owners Association and Trimont Corporation. The easements provide access for the public to great recreational land, and are important for water quality protection as they contain diverse riparian waterways.
A Note about Conservation Easements
The Truckee Donner Land Trust holds over 200 acres of protected lands around the Truckee Region in conservation easements, a legal restriction that protects land from development, resources extraction, and other activities that impact the natural condition of the land in perpetuity. Easement donors decide how restrictive future development rights are on each easement they donate. While the Land Trust permanently owns the easements, the landowners retain ownership of the land and may sell at any time, at which point the buyers purchase the property with the easements intact.
