Backcountry strips that anyone may land on don't keep themselves. Somebody pays for the mowing, the fences, the caretaker and the roof over the caretaker's head. The Jim Richmond Backcountry Aviation Foundation, a 501(c)(3) named for the founder of CubCrafters, has announced a $100,000 pledge toward two of its places: a strip it hopes to open in the Sierra Nevada in 2027 and the Idaho ranch strip it already runs. Aero-News carried the announcement on Nov. 5, and General Aviation News on Nov. 6.
The donors are Royce Anderson and Nancy Schatzberg of Wellington, Nev. Anderson is quoted saying Jim Richmond was a friend and that "the airplanes that CubCrafters builds have been a part of my life for decades."
Where the money goes
The announcement doesn't split the $100,000 in dollars. It says "a portion" sets up a matching offer for Meadow View Peak, under which gifts from other supporters "will be matched dollar for dollar." It gives no cap and no deadline for the match. "The remainder" goes to restoration and deferred maintenance at the 45 Ranch, with a new roof on the caretaker's residence named as a priority.
Meadow View Peak, Plumas County, Calif.
The foundation bought the land in September: 136 acres of private meadow and ponderosa pine surrounded by Plumas National Forest, about 40 air miles northwest of Reno and about 15 miles west of Dead Cow Lake, where the High Sierra Fly-In is held. The plan, on the foundation's Meadow View Peak page, is a grass strip 1,750 feet long and 60 feet wide, open to the public.
It isn't open yet, and it isn't approved yet. The strip needs Plumas County's approval, and the foundation's goal is to open "by summer 2027," subject to those approvals and to the money coming in. The foundation's Phase 1 campaign is $200,000: half retires the $100,000 seller-financed note on the land, and half pays for surveying and runway preparation, fencing, mowing equipment, campsites, a spring-fed water system, and off-grid power, communications and weather reporting. If the county says no, the foundation says gifts will go to its other projects.
The 45 Ranch, Owyhee County, Idaho
The 45 Ranch is a 240-acre private inholding surrounded by the Owyhee River Wilderness, which the Bureau of Land Management manages. The South Fork of the Owyhee runs through it. The other way in is a rough three-hour drive over BLM roads from Owyhee, Nev. Its page calls the strip a "private grass airstrip that is open to the public."
The foundation's own notes for pilots are worth reading before anyone plans a trip:
- The runway is 2,700 by 60 feet, grass, at a field elevation of about 4,300 feet, "with terrain obstructions at each end."
- Pilots "should be experienced and proficient in both mountain/canyon flying and high density altitude operations."
- No landing while sprinklers are running on the runway; the foundation names an alternate BLM strip to the east.
- There's no fuel.
- Landing is at the pilot's own risk; the coordinates are given only after a pilot accepts that on the page.
At 4,300 feet and 86°F, the usual rule of thumb puts the density altitude near 7,100 feet, so the takeoff and climb figures from the airplane's own handbook, worked for that day's temperature, decide whether a trip makes sense.
What isn't known
How much of the pledge is the match, how long the match runs, and how much other donors have given so far aren't stated in the announcement or on the foundation's site as of Nov. 9. Neither is a date for the county's decision on Meadow View Peak. Gifts go through the foundation's donate page; Meadow View Peak has its own campaign page linked from it.
Sources: All read Nov. 9, 2026. Jim Richmond Backcountry Aviation Foundation, Meadow View Peak, 45 Ranch, about and donate pages; the foundation's announcement as carried by Aero-News Network, Nov. 5, 2026; General Aviation News, Nov. 6, 2026 (the pointer); FLYING, Sept. 28, 2026, on the land purchase.
Photo: "45 Ranch – Main Runway, Looking South," from the foundation's 45 Ranch page, used with its announcement.