Feature Story
Ozark Land Trust: Preserving Land for Future Generations
F
orever may be a long time, but if you listen to Lois Wyman, that’s the idea. “Dad always wanted the land protected from development and division,” says Wyman, a member of the family trust that owns the 2,0000-acre Boettcher Family Farm in the Gasconade River watershed.
In the case of Boettcher Family Farm, the easement not only serves as a vehicle to protect open space but allows activity consistent with that goal. The family regularly visits and has gatherings on the property, while portions of the farm are utilized by the neighboring dairy farmer and deer and turkey hunting.
And so, consistent with her father’s wishes, Wyman and her fellow family members chose to permanently protect most of the farm through a permanent conservation easement, held by Ozark Land Trust (OLT) (www. ozarklandtrust.org).
The long Boettcher family ownership adds to the strong sentiment to keep the land, once a cattle farm, from being broken up or developed. “My grandfather Herman Boettcher bought the first acreage in the early 1900s, less than 200 acres,” says Wyman. “He continued to add (land) in his lifetime, but my father acquired the larger parts in the ‘30s and ‘40s.”
Under such an easement, the landowner retains ownership of the property and can continue to utilize it as their home, place of recreation or working lands such as ranches and farms. OLT takes on the legal and permanent obligation of stewardship to protect the land’s conservation values and to ensure that it’s not broken up for development or used for purposes contrary to the terms of the easement.
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CONSERVATION FEDERATION
(Left) Prairie Blazing Star add color to the restored prairie at Kress Farm Garden Preserve. (Photo: Van Barnes) (Right) Native hydrangea adorn Kress Falls visible from a spur off the yellow trail at Kress Farm Garden Preserve. (Photo: Van Barnes)
