Nature preserve planned along Truckee River east of Reno

RENO, Nev. - Five miles of land along the Truckee River will be turned into a nature preserve east of Reno under a real estate deal set to close at the end of this week.

The 1,591-acre McCarran Ranch and its Truckee River water rights will be sold in an unusual three-way deal that will give an industrial park developer, Washoe County taxpayers and The Nature Conservancy something to cheer about.

The deal will also benefit the environment and the 150 bird species that call the Truckee River home by setting aside 400 acres of riparian areas along the river and keeping them from being developed.

''It provides great habitat into the Pah Rah Range and the Virginia Range right behind it,'' Graham Chisholm, The Nature Conservancy's state director, told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

''The river is really a key component for wildlife. If you look at just the number of species of mammals, birds and others that rely on the river, its amazing.''

The complicated deal calls for Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center to take ownership of 1,191 acres of the ranch and 107 acre-feet of groundwater rights.

The land is now owned by a trust set up by Sister Margaret McCarran, who died last year at 94. The trust will benefit Holy Names College in Oakland, Calif., where Sister McCarran once taught English and music.

The second part of the deal calls for TRI to sell the 400 acres on either side of the Truckee River to The Nature Conservancy.

The land is worth about $800,000 but the conservancy will pay $300,000. The third piece of the deal involves the sale of 650 acre-feet of Truckee River water rights to Washoe County and the cities of Reno and Sparks for $1.9 million.

Another 200 acre-feet of water will be sold to the cities and the county later after the state resolves title and mapping problems.

The Nature Conservancy plans to work with Washoe and Storey counties, the federal government and the Pyramid Lake Tribe to restore some of the environmental damage along the river. In the early 1960s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers bulldozed the Truckee River below Reno, removing cottonwoods and willows so that floodwater would flow more swiftly.

''There's an opportunity here to really work to bring back some of the cottonwood gallery forest, bring back the wildlife and make it more of a showcase,'' Chisholm said.