Project at a Glance

• Year conserved: 2012

• Acres: 3,000

• Project partners: Truckee Donner Land Trust, The Trust for Public Land, The Nature Conservancy

• Owned by: Truckee Donner Land Trust, Tahoe National Forest and Royal Gorge Cross Country Ski Resort

• Things to do: Cross country skiing, hiking, biking, horseback riding

Conservation History & Values

In the early 2000’s, Royal Gorge was the focus of a major showdown between developers and local residents.  The largest cross-country ski resort in North America and a treasured destination for Nordic skiers, Royal Gorge’s thick forests and lush meadows were slated to be transformed into a residential development that would have fundamentally changed the character of Donner Summit.  

After many years of intense conflict and a sharp downturn in the economy, the developer’s lender foreclosed on the property, opening a window for its conservation.  The Truckee Donner Land Trust and The Trust for Public Land – working together as part of the Northern Sierra Partnership – got the property under contract and launched a five-month campaign to raise the $13.5 million needed for its conservation and long-term stewardship. With strong support from local homeowners and people across the state, the NSP partners acquired Royal Gorge in December 2012.

A landscape of sharp granite peaks, lush meadows, old growth forests and clear streams, Donner Summit is one of the most iconic and historic places in the entire Sierra Nevada. For centuries, Native Americans used 7,200-foot Donner Pass as a travel corridor and meeting place. Much later, the first wagon train to cross the Sierra and the first railroad to cross the continent both traversed the Sierra Nevada at Donner Pass.

Train travel brought new visitors to the Sierra, summer and winter.  As early as 1932, alpine skiing enthusiasts started taking the ‘Snowball Special’ train from the San Francisco Bay Area to ski at Donner Summit. In 1939, Sugar Bowl built the first chair lift in California and in the 1970s, Donner Summit became home to Royal Gorge, the largest cross-country ski resort in North America.

In addition to its extraordinary historic, scenic and recreational values, Royal Gorge is rich in biodiversity. Van Norden Meadow, one of the largest sub-alpine meadows north of Yosemite National Park, supports an abundance of wildlife including 115 species of butterflies, 16 species of amphibians, 20 species of mammals and at least 100 species of birds. The conservation of Royal Gorge protected and connected important wildlife habitat on Donner Summit and safeguarded the headwaters of the American, Truckee and Yuba rivers that supply water to millions of people in California and Nevada.

Recreation & Restoration

Royal Gorge remains today a paradise for Nordic skiing, with a challenging network of trails to explore and unparalleled scenery in every direction. Thanks to our conservation efforts, the property is now open in summer as well as winter. The Truckee Donner Land Trust, which still owns most of the land acquired in 2012, built and now maintains a wonderful network of hiking and biking trails to help the public explore and enjoy Royal Gorge.  

The Land Trust has also made significant investments to improve forest health at Royal Gorge where decades of fire suppression and logging had left the forest vulnerable to wildfire and drought. The first step was to create a quarter-mile buffer zone around the Serene Lakes community to reduce the likelihood of wildfire spreading into the subdivision.

Another priority was to facilitate the restoration and long-term management of Van Norden Meadow. To that end, the Land Trust led a multi-year effort to address the illegal impoundment of water in Lake Van Norden. The effort culminated in a decision to “notch” the dam that was impeding seasonal run-off and to restore a more natural fluvial function to the headwaters of the South Yuba River. The Land Trust subsequently sold the lands it had acquired in Van Norden Meadow to the U.S. Forest Service which is now leading a multi-stakeholder initiative to restore this historic meadow.