In a historic land deal, the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, through the Waší·šiw Land Trust, reclaimed more than 10,000 acres of traditional homeland in the northern Sierra Nevada near Lake Tahoe on February 10, 2026.
Formerly known as Loyalton Ranch, the scenic 10,274-acre property sits roughly 35 miles north of Lake Tahoe in Sierra and Lassen counties, according to The Mercury News report.
Acquired by the Waší·šiw Land Trust, the land will now be called the WélmeltiɁ Preserve, according to the trust. The trust was created in 2025 to restore ancestral lands to Washoe stewardship.
In November 2025, the California Wildlife Conservation Board awarded $5.5 million to the Waší·šiw Land Trust to acquire the land.
Under the state grant agreement, the land cannot be heavily developed, according to The Mercury News. The property will be zoned for agricultural use and maintained as open space.
The Washoe people plan to use the land for ceremonies, restore groves of pinyon pine trees (whose pine nuts are a traditional food source for the tribe), establish a native plant nursery, and build infrastructure to support firefighting, the news report added.
The trust had been trying to raise $8.6 million to acquire and steward Loyalton Ranch. This includes $6 million for the purchase and $2.6 million for stewardship. The City of Santa Clara was the willing seller of the land.
The land was bought by Santa Clara in 1977 for $1.6 million for geothermal development, but the plan never materialized, according to The Mercury News.
A wildfire in 2020 burned fences and several small buildings on the property, according to the report. The damage contributed to the city council’s decision to sell the land in 2024.
The preserve spans a diverse landscape, stretching from sagebrush scrub and grasslands in the east to higher-elevation conifer forests and aspen groves, with pinyon pines, rocky outcrops, springs, and creeks across the western portion.
“Getting the Washoe people back onto the lands is healing for the people and the land,” said Serrell Smokey, Chairman, Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California.
Recent disasters, both man-made and natural, indicated that the lands are calling the people back, he said. Bringing the original stewards to implement traditional practices of land management will help in conservation efforts, he added.
The land is inhabited by animals such as pronghorn, mule deer, mountain lions, and gray wolves.
The reclamation of the land by the Waší·šiw Land Trust marks the successful culmination of a four-year-long effort of the Washoe Tribe, the Northern Sierra Partnership, and the Feather River Land Trust.
WélmeltiɁ Preserve is the first of many lands the tribe hopes to reclaim. In the Northern homelands alone, the Washoe people hope to expand their ownership to over 20,000 acres in the next few years.
According to the Waší·šiw Land Trust, the absence of traditional Washoe stewardship practices and limited land management have contributed to wildfire damage and water erosion on the property.
The Washoe people’s core homelands span 3.47 million acres, from south of Lake Tahoe, north of Honey Lake, and west to the Sierra Crest. Their land includes Sierra Valley, Long Valley, Independence Lake, Carpenter Valley, Truckee, Martis Valley, Lake Tahoe, the Northern Sierra Crest, Hope Valley, Carson Valley, and Truckee Meadows.
Washoe People’s Deep Roots with Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe is the homeland of the Washoe people, and the tribe has been the aboriginal stewards of the land for thousands of years, according to the California Tahoe Conservancy. The tribe continues to advocate for the preservation and protection of its homelands.
The Washoe people depended on the land for survival and relied on traditional food and medicines within their homeland.
When colonizers began arriving in the Comstock during the Gold Rush era, they targeted Waší·šiw summer camps for logging and cattle grazing and forbade them from managing their lands.
The removal of the Waší·šiw people from their lands, along with increased tourism in the Lake Tahoe Basin, has contributed to environmental strain in the region, according to the Conservancy.
Despite policies that sought to remove them from their native lands, the Washoe people have maintained their role as environmental stewards of the Lake Tahoe Basin.
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