protect & preserve PRIVATE LAND for future generations
A conservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement between a landowner and a qualified “holder” that allows a landowner to limit the type of uses on their property while retaining private ownership of the land.
Smithfield Oaks Conservation EasementThe Polk SWCD acquired this 188 acre property with a perpetual conservation easement in the fall of 2019. It consists of oak-covered hillsides in the Baskett-Butte area rising gradually above an intermittent branch of Crowley Creek, a tributary of Rickreall Creek. These hillsides, containing nearly pure oak stands of varying density and are dotted with upland prairie openings, host a large and growing population of federally endangered Fender's blue butterfly and its host plant, Kincaid's lupine.
Below these oak hillsides are several fields in the process of returning to active use (a mix of grazing and grass seed production) after several decades in the USDA Conservation Reserve Program. |
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