South Lake Tahoe, CA…The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) today
announced the award of up to $4,000,000 in Proposition 1 funds to the Tahoe Resource
Conservation District (Tahoe RCD) to partner with the California Tahoe Conservancy and the
Tahoe Fund to seek acquisition of the Johnson Meadows Property located in South Lake Tahoe.

The approximately 209-acre property is the largest privately owned meadow in the Lake Tahoe
Basin and the last large private property holding in the lower nine miles of the Upper Truckee
River (UTR).

The funding from DFW combines with $4,234,000 awarded to the Tahoe RCD by the California
Tahoe Conservancy in March 2016. The Tahoe Fund is also a funding partner and will be
seeking to raise an additional $100,000 to help secure the entire $8,315,000 necessary to acquire
the Property.

“If completed, the acquisition of the Johnson Meadow Property will be one of the most important
public land purchases in the last decade in the Lake Tahoe Basin,” said Kim Boyd, District
Manager at the Tahoe RCD. “The Property would connect over 1,000 acres of UTR floodplain in
near continuous public ownership within the UTR’s lower nine miles.”

Acquisition of the Property would preserve wildlife habitat and open space, create public access
to the UTR, and prevent additional environmental degradation from grazing. Additionally,
acquisition of the property could lead to potential future restoration opportunities such as
floodplain enhancement, sediment filtration improvement, and wet meadow habitat enrichment.
“This potential acquisition places virtually the entire river corridor in public ownership,” said
California Tahoe Conservancy Executive Director Patrick Wright, who noted that the
Conservancy, the U.S. Forest Service, the City of South Lake Tahoe, and California State Parks
have all been working to restore various stretches of the river, the largest watershed in the Lake
Tahoe Basin and the highest contributor of fine sediment that impacts the lake’s clarity.
The Tahoe RCD hopes to complete negotiations with the land owners to enable the acquisition
by the end of 2017.
—
The mission of the Tahoe Resource Conservation District is to promote the conservation and
improvement of the Lake Tahoe Basin’s soil, water, and related natural resources by providing
leadership, information, programs, and technical assistance to all land managers, owners,
organizations, and residents. For more information, visit http://tahoercd.org/.
Established in 1984, the mission of the California Tahoe Conservancy is to lead California’s
efforts to restore and enhance the extraordinary natural and recreational resources of the Lake
Tahoe Basin. For more information, visit http://tahoe.ca.gov.