Truckee Donner Land Trust Receives nearly $400,000 for Forest Health

The Truckee Donner Land Trust was awarded nearly $400,000 for forest health projects by The Martis Fund and Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation.

The Martis Fund awarded the Land Trust $298,440 dollars for forest health work at Royal Gorge in coordination with other landowners on Donner Summit, and Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation awarded $100,000 from its Forest Futures Program for forestry projects west of Donner Lake.

“The Land Trust is grateful to both The Martis Fund and the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation for their support and partnership to further improve forest health in our region,” said John Svahn, Executive Director of the Land Trust. “Stewardship is a top priority for the Land Trust, and wildfire resiliency is at top-of-mind in that work.”

The work planned with The Martis Fund grant at Royal Gorge will treat 70 acres of forest on the western end of the property, which will help with fire risk to the Serene Lakes community and along a road corridor important for ingress and egress in the area. The work will be done in coordination with Camp Wamp, another property owner on the summit that operates a summer camp for persons living with physical disabilities. 

“Combining multiple landowners and building on past forestry work at Royal Gorge – about 500 acres – will help landscape-level forest health that will make a big difference for our region,” said Daniel Joannes, Forest and Restoration Coordinator for the Land Trust.

Farther east, the Forest Futures funding will be used for Land Trust property along Old Highway 40, which is down-wind from the Donner Lake, Armstrong Tract, and Tahoe Donner neighborhoods – reducing fire hazard for those areas. 

This work would also benefit habitat in the Old Highway 40 corridor for aspen, benefiting willow flycatcher and other wildlife.

“We’re grateful to Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation because smaller, less glamourous projects like these can be harder to get funded, but they’re just as important,” Joannes said. 

In a changing climate with increasing risk from catastrophic wildfires, these forest projects are only growing more important, and the Land Trust continues to dedicate more resources to this work.