In the News

Public Agencies Could Acquire Incline Lake Property
date posted: December 13 2005

Lake Tahoe Report #107
March 4, 2005
By John Cobourn and Heather Segale

Incline Lake is located near the top of the Mount Rose Highway, adjacent to the Mount Rose Wilderness and the Tahoe Meadows. The Lake and hundreds of acres of forested land around it were once owned by George Whittell, who at the time owned nearly all of Lake Tahoe’s east shore. Whittell sold the property in the late 1930s, and it became the Incline Lake Corporation. Its 20 shareholders have offered to sell the private land to the US Forest Service, so that the lands they love can be opened to the public.

The Incline Lake property is the largest tract of private land on the Nevada side of the Tahoe Basin. It includes the lake, at 8300 feet elevation, six buildings ranging from a clubhouse to a 14-thousand square foot lodge with a deep space telescope and indoor swimming pool, small cabins and a caretaker’s home. The parcel was split into a 40 lot subdivision decades ago, though that subdivision was never developed. With its twin views of Incline Lake and Lake Tahoe, the property could be purchased for private development if public agencies cannot acquire it.

The purchase of the property has been proposed for consideration under the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act. This legislation allows surplus public land in southern Nevada to be sold, so that more desirable and environmentally sensitive land in other parts of the state can be purchased for conservation purposes.

The US Forest Service is very interested in purchasing the land, but they have stated that they will not acquire the structures. Washoe County has offered to build parking and trailheads at the site and also manage the buildings. The land owners have said if the land is purchased for public use, they will give the county an endowment to help pay the cost of managing the property. The Forest Service, however, will not engage in making reservations for the occupancy or use of the structures should the property become federally managed land.

Incline Lake itself was created by two dams, and the Forest Service would be willing to acquire these if they meet the higher safety standards of either the state or federal requirements. The owners are working with Minden-based Terra Firma Associates to negotiate a solution with several public agencies that will make the purchase possible.

“My family lived year round on this property for more than 30 years,” says Hawley MacLean, an Incline Lake Corporation shareholder and vice president. “With my family’s long history and connection to this special place. We are very hopeful that the Forest Service will work with Washoe County Parks, Sierra Nevada College, Sage Ridge School, and other interested parties to keep the observatory and family lodge in operation” for educational purposes.

In addition to educational uses, the property could provide public benefits ranging from improved parking and public access to the Mount Rose high country, summer hiking trails and winter cross country skiing, and the chance to enhance water quality through watershed restoration projects.

The history of Incline Lake is colorful. It was originally purchased from George Whittell by Norman Biltz, “the Duke of Nevada.” Over the years, it has been a private recreation destination for celebrities and influential figures in government and industry such as Jacqueline Bouvier, Chief Justice Earl Warren and Bill Lear.

While the shareholders of Incline Lake Corporation await the outcome of their offer to sell the property for conservation purposes, it remains private land with trespass enforcement in full effect.

The president of the Incline Lake Corporation, Norm Nash, grandson of Norman Biltz, sums it up this way: “We know we have tremendous development potential for this property, but because of the unrivaled potential benefits to the public, we feel that we should first give the public agencies an opportunity to propose a viable alternative to development.”