The Trust for Public Land, the Truckee Donner Land Trust, and the Northern Sierra Partnership have announced an agreement to purchase the Royal Gorge property in the northern Sierra Nevada for $11.25 million.

Under the agreement, the Truckee Donner Land Trust will become the owner of the 3,000-acre property on Donner Summit and will oversee a long-term stewardship plan aimed at expanding all-season recreational opportunities, including improvements to the network of local trails. The acquisition of the parcel became possible after development plans for a 950-unit resort stalled in the face of opposition from local residents and conservation groups and the lingering effects of the recession forced the property into foreclosure.

The three conservation groups now face a December deadline to raise $13.5 million to complete the acquisition — including an additional $2.25 million for long-term conservation, stewardship, and associated costs — through the Northern Sierra Partnership's Royal Gorge campaign. To date, the groups have raised about 25 percent of their fundraising goal, TDLT executive director Perry Norris told the Tahoe Daily Tribune.

Donner Summit is considered culturally, historically, and environmentally significant, as it encompasses a Native American trade route, a principal wagon route for nineteenth-century settlers headed west, a section of the transcontinental railroad, and habitats for a variety of endangered animal and plant life. "This is the most important conservation acquisition in the Sierra Nevada in a generation," said Tom Mooers, executive director of Sierra Watch, which spearheaded opposition to development of the property. "It protects one of the Sierra's greatest places from development — forever."