What was long a liability for the city of Santa Clara is now a stunning new asset for a Northern California tribe, in the form 10,274 acres of ancestral land in the Sierra Nevada, north of Lake Tahoe.
The Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California closed this week on the $6 million purchase of Loyalton Ranch, a remote, mountainous property formerly owned by Santa Clara and falling into disrepair after city plans for a geothermal power plant fell through.
The tribe’s acquisition of the ranch, about 30 miles north of Truckee, is believed to be the largest “land-back” deal in the Sierra and the third largest in California history. The property is about a third the size of the city of San Francisco. State funding as well as support from conservation groups helped facilitate the sale.
“It’s something we really wanted to get back for our own and have for future generations to be able to say this land is ours,” said Washoe Tribe Chairman Serrell Smokey.
The Washoe people, who were largely forced off their lands in the Lake Tahoe region during the Gold Rush, today are a federally recognized tribe still based in the area, with members living on both sides of the state line.
The tribe plans to manage its new property much like a nature preserve, helping with restoration of native plants and wildlife, conducting regenerative burns, protecting sacred Native American sites and perhaps one day providing housing for tribal members.
The property encompasses a range of landscapes, running from Long Valley in the east to Sierra Valley in the west, spanning sagebrush scrub and grasslands at lower elevations and conifer forests and alpine meadows on peaks and ridgelines. It covers parts of both Sierra and Lassen counties.
Smokey said before any major changes are made to the site, a number of things need to be cleaned up. There’s an area he called a “dumping ground,” an old mineshaft and several derelict ranch buildings.
The city of Santa Clara purchased the ranch in 1977 for $1.6 million, hoping to generate power there. But after it became clear that geothermal potential was limited, city leaders pivoted, exploring development of a quarry or solar energy, and even a ski resort and pheasant farm.
After the property burned in the 2020 Loyalton Fire, however, city leaders decided it was best to sell.
The Washoe Tribe, which has been working to obtain ancestral lands, established the Wášiw-šiw Land Trust in conjunction with the Northern Sierra Partnership and Feather River Land Trust to seek out Loyalton Ranch. The trust now holds the title.
State funding in the amount of $5.5 million, approved by the Wildlife Conservation Board last year, and $500,000 raised in private donations covered the sale price. The land trust is still working to raise another $2 million to help with stewardship of the property.
The property is being renamed the WélmeltiɁ Preserve in recognition of the people who once lived at the site.
“It is exciting to know that the Washoe people will be caring for this spectacular landscape going forward,” said Lucy Blake, president of the Northern Sierra Partnership. “It’s really full of life. Pretty much every time we’ve been out there we’ve seen pronghorn or mule deer or other animals.”
Jennifer Norris, executive director of the Wildlife Conservation Board, said the acquisition underscores the state’s commitment to both conservation and returning ancestral lands to tribes.
This article originally published at One of California’s largest ‘land-back’ deals hands giant area near Tahoe to tribe.