Conservation groups snapped up large swaths of Sierra Nevada during recession

The Sacramento Bee reports:

The catastrophic collapse in real estate prices that started in 2007 left more than a legacy of mass foreclosures in the Sacramento region; it also left vast expanses of newly preserved open space in the Sierra Nevada that the public can use for recreation.

Depressed land prices allowed private conservation groups to snap up thousands of acres, much of which had once been planned for housing. The properties stretch along the Interstate 80 corridor from the crest of the mountains to the town of Truckee, north to the Feather River and south toward Lake Tahoe. The parcels form a quasi-public park system – one owned by nonprofit groups but accessible to the public, mostly free of charge.

“Increasingly, land protected for the public benefit is owned by private charitable organizations,” said Tom Mooers, executive director of Sierra Watch, a Nevada City-based group that’s played a leading role in recent conservation efforts.

Limiting the supply of land, the California way.