A key piece in the Sierra Nevada, north of Truckee, has flipped from private to public land. On Tuesday, the Trust for Public Land announced the completed transfer of 569 acres in Sardine Meadow to the Tahoe National Forest.  The transfer permanently protects a vital part of the Truckee River watershed and comes after a large conservation effort to heal the meadow following decades of logging, overgrazing and railroad construction dating back to the late 1800s. Sardine Meadow is north of Stampede Reservoir, outside Truckee. It’s the largest meadow in the Davies Creek watershed, which feeds into the Truckee River and supplies water downstream to the Reno area.