Shoreline paths and walking trails through the oak grove forest beckon to the visitor. Come in, they bid; embrace nature. The trails are part of an Iowa gem of natural heritage—Woodford-Ashland Lone Tree Point Nature Area—on Clear Lake’s southwest shore.
Jan Lovell grew up taking walks there with her “Gramp,” Earl Ashland. She remembers helping him 
plant walnut trees. She learned to respect and care for this special place from him and her parents, Jim and Marcia Connell. Connell family memories and an appreciation for nature have been built around hiking through wildflowers, hunting mushrooms, enjoying family picnics, and days spent exploring at Lone Tree Point.
“This is a very special place of peace and quiet,” says Marcia Connell. “It has been a special, almost sacred place to many, many people for a long time. It’s good for the soul here.” She continues, “My father knew every detail of this land. Our love for this area brings us close to an oasis of wilderness and close to each other. My parents worried about how to protect this area, how to keep it in its natural state.”
For over one hundred years, Marcia’s ancestors made nature preservation a family value, keeping the Lone Tree Point area just as it had been when settlers came to the area in the 1850s. The 101-acre area includes 4,600 feet of natural shoreline, 84 acres of timberland, and 11 acres of wetland. Besides morel mushrooms, spring wildflowers, and other flora, the area is home to native wildlife including red fox, wild turkeys, Canadian geese, and ducks.
Preserving the area in its natural state was a concern that Marcia inherited with the property when her mother passed away. It was worrisome, until ten years ago. In 1992, the family found peace of mind when Marcia and Jim Connell and their three daughters and sons-in-law donated a conservation easement on the property to the nonprofit Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation (INHF), guaranteeing protection of the area.
“We wanted to retain ownership of the property and make sure that it would never be developed,” Marcia explains. “The Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation was an organization that would work with us as owners to preserve the area.”
By placing a perpetual conservation easement on the property in 1972, Marcia and Jim Connell and their daughters and spouses—Jan and Tom Lovell of Clear Lake, Sarah and Dennis Ohlrogge of Onalaska, Wisconsin, and Susan Connell-Magee and Kevin Magee of Madison, Wisconsin—ensured that the property was protected from development beyond their lifetimes.
The conservation easement removed development rights from the property, so current and future owners are not entitled to develop this land. The conser-vation easement further restricts other uses that would be detrimental to the land’s natural features, and it gives INHF the authority to monitor and enforce the easement in perpetuity. Now the family can look forward to passing the land into new hands, knowing that its natural features are protected.
“Conservation easements are a growing thing in Iowa,” says INHF’s vice president, Anita O’Gara. “We are seeing easements on all kinds of property for a variety of reasons. Some are set up for water quality issues, others for wildlife habitat or scenic purposes. Each one is unique.”
Anita explains that Woodford-Ashland Lone Tree Point Nature Area’s uniqueness is twofold. It is a natural shoreline on a natural lake, and
it offers public access, which is not typical of other INHF private land
conservation easements.
When landowners, like the Connells, begin thinking about a conservation easement they need to ask themselves whom their conservation partners will be. Who will they ask to protect their property into the future? This conservation partner could be the county conservation board, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources or other approved public agencies, or a nonprofit group like INHF.
Other questions that need to be answered include issues of ownership of the land, future restrictions on the land, desire for compensation, and the importance of tax advantages. The Connell family answered these questions. Their answers and a family legacy of commitment to preserve the area’s natural state led them to establishing the Woodford-Ashland Lone Tree Point Nature Area and the permanent conservation easement.
The area’s easement allows for limited public use for hiking, picnicking, and cross-country skiing. It calls for gentle use—no vehicles or horses, no camping or fires. Access to the area is made most easily by boat. Visitors can enter by foot on the east edge of Ventura Heights.
“Many people visit the area, but the land has not been changed by people,” says Jan. “What we are seeing is a natural return of wildflowers, the return of native flora and fauna to areas that were in cow pasture twenty-five years ago. Trail maintenance with the help of volunteers, friends, and the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation is the only visible human impact here over the last ten years.”
Looking to the near future, Jan says the family is exploring ways of enhancing the natural process to return some of the area to native prairie. They are also planning to restore a 190-acre adjoining working farm into wetland and prairie to complement Lone Tree Point Nature Area.
During the last decade, INHF has had the responsibility to regularly monitor compliance with the terms of the conservation easement. This is done by regular inspection visits arranged with the Connell family. The foundation’s staff walks the land, documents its condition, and prepares a monitoring report. They also answer management questions and provide technical assistance and names of experienced land managers in the area who can assist with management issues.
In this time of state and federal budget cuts, conservation easements are a cost-effective way to retain some pristine areas. Easements throughout Iowa are a tool that keeps open space permanently in a community. Even when they don’t allow public access, such easements offer scenic and wildlife benefits, often water quality benefits, and help retain an open, more rural character wherever they are located.
Ron Andrews, Department of Natural Resources wildlife specialist in Clear Lake, explains that there is a significant, positive environmental impact in Lone Tree Point’s natural shoreline. “This conservation easement protects the shoreline and the vegetation which attracts more wildlife to the area,” says Ron. “Protection like this typically increases the diversity and density of wildlife in the area. There is potential for heron rookeries should heron decide to establish here. There is also potential for eagle nests as that population increases and this area is protected. But that will be up to nature, not man, to decide.”
Woodford-Ashland Lone Tree Point Nature Area benefits the Clear Lake area in several other ways. The area acts as a natural filter for water entering the lake and because it will never be developed, it will never add urban pollution to the lake. And the area is openly used as a recreation and tourist area by the public and provides public access to the lake.
“It also provides green space—a place to reconnect with nature,” says Jan.
“I believe that is basic to our human needs—to feel connected to the natural world around us. Preserving this opportunity for future generations—that’s what this is all about.”