Don Schwerin’s family has been farming their land in the hills above Dixie for almost 100 years. Sprawling over nearly 500 acres, the Schwerin farm exemplifies the scenic beauty of the Blue Mountains’ foothills. Wheat fields covering most of the property are broken by forested hillsides that provide a home for many species of birds and wildlife. Plum, cherry, and apple trees grow along its three creeks. Don’s love of his land is obvious. As he gives a tour, he stops periodically to point out interesting plants and wildlife, tends to the seedlings he has planted and shares a handful of ripe cherries with his visitors.

In recent years, Don and his wife Anne-Marie have been troubled by new development on farmland surrounding their home. “I guess it’s an old-fashioned idea,” Don says, “but I want the land to stay the way it’s been.”

To ensure the things they love about their land wouldn’t be lost, the Schwerins conveyed two conserva on easements to the Blue Mountain Land Trust. The first easement protects the property’s existing homesite and prohibits any development outside a designated building envelope. The second easement encourages continued farming of the wheatfields and protects wildlife habitat along the creeks and hillsides.

Don and Anne-Marie donated the first easement. They chose to sell the second easement but for less than full value. Funding for it was secured through the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program’s Farmland Preservation program. In this case, the Schwerins received both a tax benefit and a substantial payment. 

When Carl and Sonia Schmitt retired to Walla Walla, their rural home was surrounded by everything that Sonia, a Walla Walla native, always loved about the area. But within a few years, Carl and Sonia saw the lush forests and produc ve farmland surrounding their home threatened by new development. When neighboring landowners announced plans for new houses and a private airstrip in a wheat eld next to their home, Carl and Sonia knew they had to act fast to protect their way of life.

Carl and Sonia successfully bought their neighbors’ land and stopped its development. But they knew this was a temporary solu on – the land would be protected only as long as they owned the property. They wanted to protect their land permanently. To do that, they united
with other local individuals concerned about the future of land use in the area and formed the Blue Mountain Land Trust. Its founding mission became partnering with landowners to protect natural areas, scenic views and working farmland from development.

When the Blue Mountain Land Trust was formed, Carl and Sonia donated a conserva on easement on their property to the land trust, ensuring their 69 acres would remain as forests and farmland forever. This easement permanently protects the sensi ve riparian area along Mill Creek and Titus Creek, preserving important sh and wildlife habitat. It also protects the property’s agricultural use, ensuring it will be farmed for many years. Achieving mul ple goals – protec ng sensi ve areas while encouraging con nued use of produc ve land – is now typical of Blue Mountain Land Trust easements. 

Joe and Patricia Cunha’s 3,000-acre ranch outside of La Grande boasts everything you could ask for in a rural landscape: productive grazing land for cattle, spectacular views of the surrounding mountains, herds of deer and elk roaming the forested hillsides, and crystal-clear tributaries of the Grande Ronde that provide vital spawning grounds for salmon and steelhead. This land has been in Joe’s family for generations, and he and Patti hope to someday pass it on to their children.

The Cunhas have carefully managed their property for many years to balance productive cattle grazing with the preservation of the fish and wildlife habitat on the property. Their concern for the continued stewardship of their property led them to work with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and the Blue Mountain Land Trust to ensure the long-term protection of these resources. Patti sums up how well the land trust’s interests align with theirs: “Everything the land trust wants for the property, we want as landowners.”

Today, a conservation easement on the Cunhas’ property restricts future development and ensures that the fish and wildlife habitat Joe and Patti have worked so hard to maintain will be preserved forever. With funding through the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and the Bonneville Power Administration, BMLT was able to purchase the conservation easement. The financial benefits of the sale will also give the Cunhas fexibility in their estate planning and help them keep the land in their family. 

Larry and Barbara Fairchild chose their 100-acre site on the Touchet River because of its natural beauty. The largely-untouched forest along the river provides habitat for an abundance of wildlife, and the river contains critical spawning habitat for salmon and steelhead.

Because they had been drawn to the land’s natural setting, the Fairchilds wanted to enhance that aspect of their property. For several years, Larry and Barbara worked with the Columbia Conserva on District to restore salmon habitat on their property, plan ng willows along the banks and restoring pools in the stream channel. On the advice of the Conservation District, they also contacted the Blue Mountain Land Trust to learn more about preserving this valuable habitat.

After consulting with Blue Mountain Land Trust staff, Larry and Barbara chose to pursue a conservation easement that would extinguish all development rights outside the existing home site, permanently protecting the unspoiled natural areas on the property and the restoration work the Fairchilds had completed.

The Fairchilds sold this conservation easement to BMLT for the full value of the unused development rights. Because of the property’s high-quality fish habitat, the Snake River Salmon Recovery Board funded this purchase. 

Location:

Walla Walla, Washington

Size: 

20 acres

Protected Since:

2009

Blue Mountain Land Trust’s project in the Reser Road wetland is different from anything we had done before. Working with a team, we joined an effort funded by the Washington Department of Transportation to create a 20-acre easement as part of a Highway 12 wetland mitigation project.  With BMLT on board to protect the land in perpetuity, the team selected an area in Walla Walla County where a once-lush wetland had been filled in by soil erosion and was now a perennially soggy spot in a wheat field.

Partnering with Tri-State Steelheaders and Ducks Unlimited, three ponds were created and native bulrush was planted as a buffer against repeated erosion. An acre of water filled in where the land had once been dry, and took to the area better than was ever anticipated. Though it was expected the ponds would be full of water only in the wet season, they are now wet year-round.  Partners have since planted more native grasses and trees on the property, and seen a tremendous range of wildlife call it home, including elk, deer, pocket gophers, harriers, swallows, Northern Shoveller ducks, and Pacific Chorus and Columbia Spotted frogs.