Photo credit: FOBBV

Friends of Big Bear Valley (FOBBV) is announcing one final chance to stop a luxury housing development and marina from being built on Moon Camp, an undisturbed area where the famous Bald Eagles Jackie and Shadow perch and forage, and where rare, endangered plants grow. After more than 20 years of public opposition, the developer has agreed to give the San Bernardino Mountain Land Trust (SBMLT) a limited option to purchase the property and protect it forever.

Moon Camp sits less than a mile from Jackie and Shadow’s nest. Experts have repeatedly testified that a large housing project there would cause “significant detrimental impact” to the Bald Eagles. Beyond threatening Jackie and Shadow’s ability to raise chicks, there’s a real risk they could abandon the area entirely if the North Shore is destroyed. In fact, before the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors approved the project last September, the public sent over 5,000 emails opposing it.

Before her passing on February 11, 2026, Sandy Steers, FOBBV’s executive director and a board member of SBMLT, helped negotiate this deal with the developers. Securing Moon Camp was the most important priority Steers had. Now SBMLT has less than six months, until July 31, 2026, to raise $10 million to buy nearly 63 acres of lakefront land for permanent conservation, right next to United States Forest Service land. Time is critical.

FOBBV is not buying the land themselves but is running the fundraising effort. They are calling on the public to donate through SaveMoonCamp.org and to spread the word online. This campaign is also being carried out in Sandy’s honor.

“We need everyone to become Jackie and Shadow’s hero,” Steers said before her passing.

This is FOBBV’s most ambitious fundraising effort in its nearly 25-year history. Steers had hoped that their 2.4 million social media followers, members, and supporters would step up, not just for Jackie and Shadow, but also for the San Bernardino Flying Squirrels and the endangered plants that depend on this unique ecosystem. Large donors and businesses will receive special honorary recognition.

“Every single Bald Eagle is an amazing individual being with the right to thrive. Big Bear Valley is the seventh most biologically diverse ecosystem in the country. It is essential that we protect and preserve our unique and rare species, some of which exist nowhere else in the world. Please help today, tomorrow, and the next day. We don’t have much time to protect Jackie and Shadow’s habitat and keep their foraging area from being destroyed,” Steers said in early February.

To help save Jackie and Shadow’s home, please consider making a donation at SaveMoonCamp.org.