Sierra Nevada tribe acquires 10,000 acres from Santa Clara

In the 1850s, settlers from around the world poured into California to seek their fortunes during the Gold Rush. The Washoe people, who had lived around Lake Tahoe for thousands of years, were pushed out.

Farming, logging and mining took over their traditional territory in the Sierra Nevada, leading at times to violent conflicts. Now, 175 years later, the tribe is getting some of its land back.

The land, which is home to herds of pronghorn antelope, mountain lions, wolves, mule deer and groves of aspen trees, was originally planned for geothermal development when Santa Clara bought it nearly 50 years ago. But that never panned out. Two years ago, Santa Clara decided to sell the property, which is roughly the same land area as the entire city, but is located in one of the most remote parts of the state.

“Our tribal members are really excited,” said Serrell Smokey, chair of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California. “Being able to regain the land is part of a healing process for our people. It’s important to say that we have something.”

Historically known as Loyalton Ranch, the vast, sweeping landscape extends across parts of Sierra and Lassen counties about 35 miles north of Lake Tahoe. The sparsely populated area is between Highway 395 and Highway 49.

The sale is one of the larger examples of a growing trend in California in which environmental groups and state agencies are helping tribes acquire ancestral lands, often centuries after they were forcibly removed.

In November, the state Wildlife Conservation Board approved contributing $5.5 million toward the deal. That money came from Proposition 117, a measure passed by California voters in 1990 to ban the sport hunting of mountain lions and set aside $30 million a year to purchase habitat for deer, mountain lions, and other wildlife. The rest of the money came from private donations, with efforts led by the Northern Sierra Partnership and the Feather River Land Trust, based in Plumas County.

“It’s a huge property,” said Lucy Blake, president of the Northern Sierra Partnership. “On the east side, there are large sagebrush flats that climb up into conifer forests and aspen groves. It has a lot of springs. It’s very rich in wildlife. When we’re out there, we’ve seen herds of pronghorn antelope and golden eagles. It’s very vast and beautiful. A classic Western landscape.”

Under the grant agreement from the state, the land cannot be heavily developed. Zoned for agricultural use, it will be kept as open space, Smokey said.

The tribe plans to use it for ceremonies and restore groves of pinyon pine trees whose pine nuts are a traditional Washoe food source. It also plans to put up caretaker homes, a native plant nursery, buildings to support firefighting and programs to help young tribal members learn about their language and culture.

The owner of the property will be a new nonprofit organization set up by the tribe last year called the Waší·šiw Land Trust.

“It’s a full circle,” said Smokey, whose great-grandmother once lived a few miles from the property. “Getting our people back onto the lands is a culmination of healing from the historical trauma of being removed from them. Having land we can call our own will help us reclaim the things we used to do: ceremonies, conservation, restoration.”

The tribe has about 1,400 members who live near Lake Tahoe in California and Nevada. Its impact on the region is evident in many places. The word “Tahoe” comes from the Washoe word “Da ow,” which means “lake.” And the northeast portion of Lake Tahoe, which includes Incline Village, Crystal Bay and Sand Harbor State Park, is in Washoe County, Nevada.

Santa Clara purchased Loyalton Ranch in 1977 for $1.6 million, according to city records. When plans for a geothermal energy field for the city’s municipal utility didn’t materialize, and after a 2020 wildfire burned fences and a few small buildings on the property, the city decided to sell the property.

“We have been holding it for decades,” said Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor. “I’m really happy the tribe got their funding, and they were able to close on it. I guess our investment paid off in the long run. It wasn’t for quite what we thought. But it has been put to good use.”

In 2022, the city had the property appraised for $4.3 million. Several councilmembers visited it then.

“The property is huge. It’s beautiful. It’s very relaxing to be out there. We could use some of that right about now,” Gillmor said.

The property, which the tribe will rename the Wélmelti Preserve, a reference to the name of the Washoe people who lived in the area historically, is bordered by the Tahoe National Forest and the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.

The tribe’s land trust is working to raise $2 million in additional funds to help with restoration and stewardship projects on the property.

With the deal, the Northern Sierra Partnership has now helped preserve 164,000 acres across the Sierra Nevada — an area nearly six times the size of San Francisco — since it was founded in 2007. The founders were Jim Morgan, the former chief executive officer of Applied Materials, and his wife, Becky Morgan, a former member of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors who was a state senator from 1984 to 1992.

“These acquisitions are one of the most exciting developments in land conservation in America today,” Blake said of partnerships to restore tribal lands. “I hope this is the tip of a very big iceberg. It has been the most exciting project we’ve ever worked on.”