Kansas' conservation easement acres growing

[Judi Lynn]

Kansas' conservation easement acres growing
By MICHAEL PEARCE, The Wichita Eagle
Updated 10:39 am, Monday, April 8, 2013

KINGMAN, Kan. (AP) — On boyhood campouts, the property nourished Bill Johnson's body. Fish for breakfast were caught in a crystal-clear stream. Sweet-tasting spring water gushed from the ground.

For decades since, the 240 acres in Kingman County has nourished Johnson's soul.
"I can have a bad week at work, then go out there and all of a sudden I've been rejuvenated," Johnson said of the land his father bought before he was born. "I can't remember when that place hasn't been deep in my heart."

Now Johnson, 62, worries what will happen after he dies to the towering cottonwoods where wintering eagles roost, the spring-fed beaver ponds where waterfowl flock and the grasslands where the deer he loves to hunt thrive, The Wichita Eagle reported (http://bit.ly/Ya3Ho2 ).
"I've always felt like it's been my job to take care of it," Johnson said. "I don't want somebody to go in there and develop things, or plowing everything up."

Jim Hoy and Jane Koger once had similar fears for the Flint Hills ranches that have been in their families for at least five generations. That changed after they placed those prairies under protective conservation easements, which are restrictions placed on deeds to prohibit most development for perpetuity.

More: http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/energy/article/Kansas-conservation-easement-acres-growing-4417753.php#ixzz2Pt9PX8Qp

You might enjoy seeing the kind of land discussed in this article, the Kansas Flint Hills:

Google Images
http://images.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4TSND_enUS411US412&q=Kansas+Flint+Hills&biw=1124&bih=688&sei=D-tiUbSgCabs2QW4z4DoDg&tbm=isch

[Kali]

1. it can be a good tool

but people have to be real careful about it. I know good and bad cases here in Arizona.

There is a weird disconnect between valuing landscape for its intrinsic elements and how we as a culture equate everything to money.

The willingness to pay actual money to landholders to maintain a larger intact parcel and not develop is low. Yet few have a problem with paying for a property and turning it over to public recreational use with little maintenance or oversight.

[Frustratedlady]

2. What beautiful land.

That ol' Keystone pipeline could take care of all that green in no time.

Don't miss the Google images. They are incredible.

Then, you have this: