Conservancy elects to buy Sunset Ranch

Wednesday, Oct. 7, 1998 | 8:53 a.m.

The Conservancy's governing board has approved spending $2.5 million to buy 189 acres of ranch land. It'll take the rest of the year to work out the details of the transaction.

Bordering on U.S. Forest Service and Lake Tahoe Airport property, the land includes about 1 1/2 miles of the Upper Truckee River. The property is a key wildlife habitat for bald eagles, black bears, deer and other animals.

Bruce Eisner, acquisitions manger for the Conservancy, said there are areas on the property with severely disturbed soil, roads and trails that cut into the meadows, and river banks needing restoration.

The ranch has had decades of public and private recreation use, including horseback-riding, snowmobile use and cattle grazing.

Those uses will stop, and most of the existing structures on the land will be removed. A small water well pump house will remain as well as some of the fences.

Dennis Machida, executive officer of the Conservancy, said the purchase is being made with the help of the American Land Conservancy, which is providing an additional $500,000 and making the actual purchase of the property. The Tahoe Conservancy then will purchase the land from the land conservancy.

The Conservancy will go through a planning process to determine how the land will be used, and recreational access will be considered.