Sierra Watch

Martis Valley is where Sierra Watch wrote the first chapter in our organization’s ongoing story of conservation success.

Martis Valley West

In 2000, speculators sought approval for massive development throughout Martis Valley – subdivisions with 6,000 new houses on both sides of Highway 267, from Truckee to the rim of the Tahoe Basin.

Sierra Watch started the campaign to Save Martis Valley, built a team of planning experts, recruited a core of committed donors, and achieved what was then considered impossible: turning back “inevitable” development proposals.

And we secured a positive vision for the Valley, a blueprint that includes less than half of the proposed units and permanent limits on how much can be built – forever.