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Jim and Ed Merzenich began acquiring the pieces of what would eventually become Oak Basin Tree Farm in 1993, with the goal of leaving a legacy for their families.
They saw a place for the family to grow and recreate, and for Jim, a longtime professional forester, to practice his vision of sustainable, climate-forward forestry and land management.
On the 933 acres they assembled in the Coburg Hills, they found another legacy they could leave: a mosaic of high elevation oak and prairie habitats containing a key population of the endangered Fender’s blue butterfly, its host plant Kincaid’s lupine, and dozens of other imperiled oak and prairie plant and animal species.
The Merzenichs have been active members of the Willamette Valley conservation community since establishing the tree farm, building strategic partnerships with multiple federal agencies and conservation nonprofits, performing oak release projects and prescribed burns, and tackling invasive species across the property.
For the Merzenichs, placing a conservation easement on the rare habitat that they steward is a way to ensure that the conservation legacy of their property is protected beyond their lifetimes and into perpetuity.
After several years of partnership and careful consideration by the Merzenichs and Greenbelt Land Trust, the boundaries of a conservation easement were drawn on 428 acres of two parcels of the best prairie and oak habitat at Oak Basin, where land management will be for habitat exclusively.
A conservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust or government agency that permanently protects the ecological values of a property by limiting uses of the land that would diminish those values.
The Merzenichs have always had their eyes on the long-term health of the habitat at Oak Basin.
Jim says, “Oak Basin is a living laboratory to demonstrate responsible stewardship. Tree farms can be managed to improve habitat while returning benefits to the landowner. I think conservation of rare habitat is the best use of the land and it pays in the long term. In 100 years, well-managed properties in conservation easements will be treasured.”
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January 2nd
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