Save Van Norden Meadow

Considered by some to be the largest of its kind north of Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park, Van Norden Meadow stands as Donner Summit’s premier natural icon.

A vital component of both the South Yuba River watershed--and the greater ecology of Donner Summit--Van Norden Meadow is a place of long geologic and cultural history.

For eons Summit Valley, as it was originally known, was a sprawling montane meadow of epic proportions. It’s size and elevation made it then--and still today--a unique place in the Sierra Nevada. For centuries, native people inhabited the meadow during summer months and it served as a route over the Sierra for Indians and future Anglo settlers alike. At one point, even domestic sheep and cattle grazed the lush grasses of Summit Valley.

In the early 1900s, a dam constructed at the lower end of the meadow impounded the waters of the South Yuba River and flooded acres of sensitive riparian habitat under an artificial lake. Years later, seismic issues forced PG&E to dismantle the dam. Remnants of this structure, however, continue to constrain the natural flow of the South Yuba River and prevent the meadow from acting as the natural reservoir it could be.

But concerns for the meadow don’t end here. Development pressure on Donner Summit make Van Norden extremely vulnerable as well. And where the meadow was once a place where locals and tourists alike could visit and explore, current ownership of the meadow restricts such activities.