Making moves on the Sierra checkerboard

Conservation groups and the Forest Service have been left with a land-ownership legacy left by the railroad
By Greyson Howard
Source: Sierra Sun
February 1, 2008

Draped like a net across the northern Sierra Nevada, a distinct pattern, imperceptible to the casual viewer, could play a vital role in the future of the Truckee-Tahoe area. Called the Sierra checkerboard, the pattern of land ownership divides every-other square mile into public and private ownership, hence the name.

Created more than a century ago to help the Transcontinental Railroad develop a route over the mountains, it now leaves the U.S. Forest Service and other government entities in a difficult place for land management and fire fighting.

“This is a really looming and daunting environmental threat,” said Perry Norris, executive director of the Truckee Donner Land Trust.

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