A one-of-a-kind compromise

More than 7,000 acres of wet meadows and wildlife habitat in Sierra County will be permanently spared from further development but will still be open to recreation and logging, after conservationists struck a first-of-its-kind deal with Sierra Pacific Industries, a North State logging company that is California’s largest private land owner, according to The Associated Press.

Truckee Donner Land Trust worked with the Trust for Public Land to negotiate an agreement that allowed the conservation groups to purchase the land’s development rights from the logging company for $3.25 million. The efforts began in 2007 after the logging company had made plans to rezone about 40,000 acres in Northern California to eventually allow housing and commercial development.

The conservation easement applies to 7,085 acres near the Jackson Meadows Reservoir and will limit development on Henness Pass Road.