A ten year timeline of
TAHOE TRUCKEE TRUE
Ever since private equity developers bought Palisades Tahoe (then Squaw Valley) in 2010, SIERRA WATCH has been working to defend our mountain values. Some milestones in a decade of Tahoe conservation:
NOVEMBER 2010
Private equity firm KSL Capital Partners purchases Palisades Tahoe (then Squaw Valley), citing its “great growth potential” and claiming “there is nothing to do here in the summer.”
AUGUST 2011
KSL files initial application for development with Placer County, including a series of highrises and a massive indoor waterpark.
DECEMBER 2011
KSL releases public version of initial development proposal.
AUGUST 2012
KSL files for application to build roller coaster in Olympic Valley.
OCTOBER 2012
Placer County releases ‘Notice of Preparation’ of environmental review, identifying 79 “Potential Significant Impacts.”
JUNE 2013
To defend the mountains and secure a better outcome for North Tahoe, Sierra Watch launches the campaign to Keep Squaw True.
JANUARY 2014
KSL offers modified version of development proposal, including redesigned indoor waterpark as a “wet amenity to compete with the Lake.”
JUNE 2014
Local water provider, siding with KSL, releases a ‘Water Supply Assessment’, reversing its previous concern about “limited capacity of the Squaw Valley aquifer to yield sufficient quantity and quality of potable water” and claiming that there is “sufficient water supply to meet the estimated Project.”
JULY 2014
Placer County Supervisors tour Squaw Valley Ski Resort in Olympic Valley; KSL’s Andy Wirth touts the scale and scope of the project, “There is twenty years of product in this plan.”
OCTOBER 2014
KSL finalizes development proposal, releases “Village at Squaw Valley Specific Plan”; doubling down on its development scheme.
NOVEMBER 2014
Sierra Watch opens Keep Squaw True field office.
MAY 2015
Placer County releases Draft Environmental Impact Report, admitting that KSL’s project would make a “substantial contribution to the cumulative degradation” of Tahoe’s Olympic Valley.
JULY 2015
Sierra Watch, local jurisdictions, regulatory agencies, private organizations, and citizens submit 338 letters to Placer County on the Environmental Impact Report – 97% of which oppose the project.
AUGUST 2015
KSL announces negotiations with Great Wolf Lodge to build and manage indoor waterpark.
SEPTEMBER 2015
Sierra Watch hires full-time Field Representative to get people involved in the grassroots effort to Keep Squaw True.
DECEMBER 2015
40 local businesses send letter to Placer County Supervisors, urging them to “to reject KSL’s proposed development and, instead, encourage landowners and the community to work together to create a blueprint that makes sense for Squaw, Tahoe, and beyond.”
FEBRUARY 2016
Sierra Club sends KSL’s Andy Wirth a letter demanding he stop invoking the name of John Muir in support of the proposed development.
APRIL 2016
Placer County releases Final Environmental Impact Report, downplaying project impacts and ignoring state law.
MAY 2016
At a packed public hearing, Squaw Valley Municipal Advisory Council (now the Olympic Valley MAC) votes to recommend that Placer County deny approval of KSL’s proposal.
AUGUST 2016
California Attorney General Kamala Harris sends scathing letter to Placer County, opposing approval of the project based on “longstanding interest in the protection of Lake Tahoe as a state and national treasure.”
Placer County Planning Commission, after hours of public comments expressing overwhelming opposition, votes 4-2 to recommend approval.
NOVEMBER 2016
At a jam-packed, nine-hour, emotional public hearing in North Tahoe, Placer County Board of Supervisors votes to approve KSL development.
DECEMBER 2016
Sierra Watch files initial challenges to overturn approvals based on the Brown Act, California’s good governance law, and CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act.
APRIL 2017
KSL and Henry Crown Company partner to create private equity conglomerate Alterra Mountain Company in what Forbes calls the “biggest deal in modern ski resort history.”
MAY 2017
Sierra Watch flash mob fills resort slopes with purple-clad Keep Squaw True skiers.
SEPTEMBER 2017
Alterra revises proposal for roller coaster in Olympic Valley; Timberline Twister roller coaster tying Squaw Valley in knots, proclaims San Francisco Chronicle.
JANUARY 2018
Sierra Watch releases report on Squaw development and Tahoe traffic, Be Prepared to Stop.
MAY 2018
Sierra Watch’s Robb Gaffney stakes Keep Squaw True flag at peak of iconic Eagle’s Nest.
AUGUST 2018
Placer County Superior Court rules in Alterra and Placer County’s favor on CEQA case, Sierra Watch vows to appeal.
SEPTEMBER 2018
Sierra Watch hosts the world premiere of The Movie to Keep Squaw True in Truckee.
OCTOBER 2018
Sierra Watch appeals Placer County court decision, furthering challenge in Third District Court of Appeals.
DECEMBER 2018
Sierra Watch takes The Movie to Keep Squaw True on tour to packed theaters from Jackson, Wyoming to June Lake, California.
JULY 2019
Sierra Watch submits final briefs in Squaw Valley legal challenges.
MARCH 2020
Covid-19 forces Alterra to close Squaw Valley.
AUGUST 2020
Alterra deems the word Squaw derogatory and announces it will change the name of Squaw Valley in 2021.
NOVEMBER 2020
Sierra Watch releases new name for ongoing effort to turn back Alterra’s proposed development and protect the region’s values as “Tahoe Truckee True.”
July 2021
Tahoe Truckee True’s day in court: California’s Third District Court of Appeals holds oral arguments over Sierra Watch’s CEQA and Brown Act lawsuits against Alterra Mountain Company and KSL Capital Partners.
August 2021
Victory! California’s Third District Court of Appeals sides with Sierra Watch and rules against 2016 development approvals.
May 2022
At a Town Hall meeting, Alterra Mountain Company doubles down on failed development scheme, claiming there is not “enough to do” in Olympic Valley.
July 2022
Court issues Final Judgment in Sierra Watch’s case against illegal development approvals, ordering all approvals rescinded.
November 2022
Placer County releases new Revised Draft EIR for Alterra’s failed old plan – with no changes to the proposed development.
December 2022
New Sierra Watch Field Organizer Allison Silverstein rallies public response to Alterra’s attempt to get new entitlements for its failed old plan.
January 2023
Sierra Watch engages experts in law, planning, traffic, water supplies, and fire danger to research and submit thorough and scathing 66-page comment letter on the Revised Draft EIR, spelling out how the document fails “to respect Tahoe and its mountain communities” with detailed arguments ranging from the impacts on the clarity of Lake Tahoe to the irresponsibility of telling Olympic Valley residents to survive a wildfire by sheltering in place in a parking lot.
March 2023
Sierra Watch musters peaceful purple army of Tahoe Truckee True supporters to march through a Tahoe City blizzard in the annual Snowfest parade.
April 2023
In a tradition dating back more than 20 years, Sierra Watch plants a flag at the Tahoe Truckee Earth Day event in Olympic Valley, engaging citizen volunteers in Sierra conservation.
May 2023
Sierra Watch issues report on comment letters – more than 2,600 – submitted to Placer County in response to Alterra’s proposed development; conservation groups, regulatory agencies and 99.7% of the public express overwhelming opposition to the failed project.
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