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Fundraiser aims to buy forest land, protect habitat of Big Bear’s famed eagles

March 13, 2026

The “great backyard” is in danger.

This is the thesis, Peter Jorris, executive director of the San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust, presents as he describes what is at stake for the unincorporated community of Fawnskin’s wilderness and the surrounding area, just northwest of Big Bear Valley.

The San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust, a nonprofit conservancy dedicated to the permanent protection of forest land in the San Bernardino National Forest, is attempting to raise money to purchase land designated along the north shore of Big Bear Lake in Fawnskin to prevent a home development project known as Moon Camp.

The conservancy group and the property’s owners, Chicago-based RCK Properties, have negotiated a $10 million deal for the conservancy to purchase the land. The deadline to raise the funds is July 31.

The proposed development is about a mile away from the nesting ground of Big Bear’s most famous and viral celebrities, bald eagles Jackie and Shadow. The duo has a 24/7 livestream camera set up by the environmental nonprofit, Friends of Big Bear Valley.

Jorris and the Friends of Big Bear Valley say the development would drive away eagles and other wildlife, as well as an endangered herb, the Ash-gray Indian Paintbrush.

“That’s led us to think, well, we have 2 million followers on Friends of Big Bear Valley,” on socials media accounts, Jorris said, “I think it’s possible to just outright buy it (land),” he said.

As of Thursday, March 12, RCK Properties could not be reached for comment.

The Moon Camp project, first proposed in 1969, includes a 50-home development. The development site in Fawnskin spans 62.43 acres and is divided into 58 lots: 50 numbered residential lots, eight lettered lots for conservation areas and well sites, and a marina with 55 boat slips. The proposed homes would overlook Big Bear Lake.

In July 2020, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors approved the development despite concerns about wildlife and the environment. However, a 2022 court ruling found that the environmental impact report lacked assessments of habitat and wildfire evacuation risks.

San Bernardino officials say that those risks have been addressed, and on Sept. 9, 2025, San Bernardino County supervisors approved the development, ending a three-year suspension ordered by a Superior Court judge.

Soon after the September county supervisor meeting, San Bernardino Mountainx Land Trust board member Sandy Steers led negotiations with the developer to establish a limited agreement to purchase Moon Camp. Steers, who was also the executive director of Friends of Big Bear Valley, died on Feb. 11, a week before the fundraiser was announced publicly. Buying the land would permanently protect its nearly 63 acres and incorporate it into the U.S. Forest Service.

As of Thursday, March 12, $1.27 million had been raised — 12.7% toward its $10 million goal.

Peter Jorris, executive director of the San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust and a board member of the Friends of Big Bear Valley nonprofit, stands near the proposed Moon Camp housing and boating development at Big Bear Lake in Fawnskin, CA on Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Jennifer Voisard, the Friends of Big Bear Valley’s media and website manager, said the nonprofit is not in charge of the fundraiser; it is only a supporter of the cause, launching an informational website and a fundraiser portal. “We’re supporting all of the communication, creating all of the content around it, doing the media around it, answering questions,” Voisard said by phone, Thursday, March 12.

“Failure is not an option,” Voisard said about reaching the multimillion-dollar goal. If the funding does not meet its goal, the San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust would explore financing options, she said. Allowing the development to move forward would put Jackie and Shadow at risk, Voisard said.

“It’ll be harder for them to raise chicks, but they would likely leave all together because (of) just the constant destruction and disturbance of construction,” Voisard said, adding that work in the shoreline, coupled with the “hubub and noise” from human activities, would likely impact the eagle’s habitat.

Voisard said purchasing the land is a “win-win” for both parties — the conservancy group and the property owner.

“We don’t want the developer to be out money; that’s not the goal. We think this agreement is really the best thing for everyone involved,” she said.

Donations have been constant since the fundraiser’s launch three weeks ago, according to Voisard and Jorris.

“We’ve received donations across the U.S., but I know we received donations from Canada, Australia, pretty much all over the place,” said Voisard.

Donations also have come in from Thailand, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, Ireland, Mexico and the United Kingdom.

“$10 million is pretty astronomical,” Jorris said, but if all of Friends of Big Bear Valley’s followers on social media send a dollar, $5, or $10, “It could be feasible,” he said.

Earlier this week, Jorris said the San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust had received an anonymous $77,000 check.

Jorris contemplates several things as the timeline to raise $10 million grows shorter by the day. He thinks of his friend, Steers, who has just passed away. He misses her friendship.

“She was not only a close friend but an enormous asset” to the mountain area, Jorris said, “She has put the whole San Bernardino National Forest on kind of an international map,” he said.

Voisard said that Steer’s legacy not only brought Jackie and Shadow to the public, but also built a community and space that “cuts across politics…We just talk about eagles. We talk about Jackie and Shadow, and we talk about how we can help them,” she said.

Jorris said he’s hopeful about their chances rasing the millions required to preserve the land. He says that Jackie and Shadow, and their unhatched eggs, help, too.

“When they hatch, that brings a tremendous amount of interest as they grow up, as they fledge to leave the nest,” Jorris said, viewing the endeavor as a cycle. As the eagle family grows, reaching milestones, so does public interest, which, hopefully, Jorris says, will raise more money, and “money attracts more donors.”

Jorris also said he found inspiration from a float he saw watching this year’s Rose Parade by the America250, a bipartisan organization charged by Congress to lead celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The float featured three eagles in a cascading formation, mimicking flight against a lush, forest-like background.

“The eagles symbolizing our country, our ethic or our heritage. You know, the eagle of the past, the eagle of the present and the eagle of the future,” Jorris said. He believes that Jackie and Shadow and what they represent are the “future,” he said.

“I think we can do it,” Jorris said.

Fundraiser aims to buy forest land, protect habitat of Big Bear’s famed eagles Orange County Register

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Fundraiser aims to buy forest land, protect habitat of Big Bear’s famed eagles

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