Sierra Valley

At 120,000 acres, Sierra Valley rivals Lake Tahoe in size and beauty, but remains one of California’s best-kept secrets. The Valley’s wetlands, which form the headwaters of the Middle Fork Feather River, support the greatest diversity and abundance of birds in the Sierra Nevada, and are a key stopover on the Pacific Flyway. Ranch families, many of whom have lived in the Valley since the late 19th century, own virtually all of the land on the valley floor, while most of the forested uplands lie within the Tahoe National Forest or the Plumas National Forest.

Today, rising land values, and the related challenge of transferring assets to the next generation, are forcing some landowners to sell or identify new strategies for holding onto their land. NSP and its partners have been helping ranch families understand how conservation transactions (both sales and donations) can be a tool for protecting their land from urban encroachment and meeting their financial and land stewardship objectives.

Since the late 1990s, the Feather River Land Trust, The Nature Conservancy, the Pacific Forest Trust and the California Rangeland Trust have worked with landowners and public agencies to protect thousands of acres of private ranchland in Sierra Valley from conversion to residential and commercial uses. Much of the southern end of Sierra Valley is now conserved with easements, as are two of the three largest ranches in the Valley. These easements preserve wildlife habitat, help put Sierra Valley’s ranching economy on a more stable, long-term footing, and provide new financial options to ranching families.