Tahoe Donner Association Signs Landmark Wildfire Insurance Policy
In a groundbreaking move that could reshape wildfire insurance nationwide, the Tahoe Donner Association has secured a first-of-its-kind policy linking premium pricing directly to decades of active forest management. The innovative agreement, developed in collaboration with former California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, The Nature Conservancy, UC Berkeley, and Willis (a business of WTW), marks the first time an insurance company has factored large-scale fuel reduction work into wildfire risk assessments and policy pricing.
The $2.5 million wildfire resilience insurance coverage, structured by Willis, covers over 1,300 acres of high-risk open space within Tahoe Donner, one of the largest landowners in the region. These zones, selected using fire modeling and proximity to ignition sources like Interstate 80, have seen direct threats from wildfire. “Because of the work we’ve done in forest management, it’s more likely that we’re gonna have a lesser impact, lesser cost, lesser payout, because we reduce that risk,” said Jason Hajduk-Dorworth, Director of Administrative Services for the Association.
Tahoe Donner’s long-standing record of fire mitigation, along with its trove of historical data on forest stewardship, made it a uniquely strong candidate for this pilot. The Nature Conservancy is covering the cost of the insurance premium through a grant, making Tahoe Donner’s participation financially viable while establishing metrics that could help scale the program to homeowners.
“This isn’t a cure-all – it’s just one more new tool in the tool bag,” said Annie Rosenfeld, General Manager of Tahoe Donner. “We believe that we’ve positioned our organization to have the best outcome it can if the fire comes through.” While the pilot policy applies only to Association-managed land, officials hope its success could eventually influence homeowner policies and broader insurance practices.
As wildfire risk intensifies and insurers retreat from high-risk zones, the Tahoe Donner policy is being viewed as a potential model. “Hopefully other insurance companies can look at homeowners insurance in the same way,” Rosenfeld said. A member education campaign is set to roll out this summer to explain how forest-wide insurance efforts could eventually benefit individual property owners.
In a state where many homeowners have lost access to fire insurance altogether, Tahoe Donner’s policy may signal a way forward. “Fire is something that we have to live with for the future,” Rosenfeld said. “So how are we adapting to that, and how are we adjusting what we’re doing on the land to live with fire?”
