Exploring Mysteries

For most of his adult life, Lloyd Scherer has spent winter days, backpack slung over his shoulder, traveling through the Lake Superior Highlands in Cook County. Now 82 years of age, it is still a rare day that does not find him exploring the mysteries of the northern old growth forest. “Even the same place,” he says, “is different every day.” Lloyd adds simply, “It’s my life.”

While raising four children as a single father, Lloyd founded a nursery and landscape business that left room for exploring between the fall freeze and the spring breakup. He would roam for days at a time, following the pathways deer and moose lay down and often traveling by snowshoe — so often that he has worn through three pair. Ever curious, Lloyd continues to walk the woods almost daily, and always observing the new mysteries of the northern wild country.

An Important Contribution

In 1991, Lloyd made an important contribution to the future of the highland forests by donating a 240-acre parcel of land to the Scientific and Natural Areas (SNA) Program of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR). It was land that he had carefully acquired in three separate parcels, the first in 1968, and the others following in the 1970s. His family lived sparingly so that he could purchase this land he knew was valuable: valuable for its relatively undisturbed old-growth communities of northern hardwood, northern hardwood-conifer, and upland white cedar forests; for the home that it offered to wildlife; and for its beautiful Sawtooth Mountain setting. He bought the land to protect it from development, hoping one day to pass it along intact to his children.

For more than 20, Lloyd’s land remained virtually undisturbed while elsewhere in the region residential and commercial development was changing the landscape dramatically. These changes had an indirect but no less dramatic effect on the Scherer land. As land values in the area began to rise, property tax assessments rose right along with them. Lloyd had no intention of selling the land for development, but his taxes increased regardless.

Preserving the Land for Future Generations

When Lloyd came to believe that the inheritance of the land would represent a financial burden to his children, he began to look into other options. After consulting with a number of conservation organizations, he invited SNA Program supervisor Bob Djupstrom to join him on a walk to view the property. Bob was impressed by the land’s old growth forest and value as habitat for rare plants. The land was clearly a good candidate for designation as a state Scientific and Natural Area.

For his part, Lloyd appreciated the high level of protection that SNA status would offer the land. Unlike other preserves, there is a strong provision against any new development on SNA lands and many of them do not even host hiking trails. He liked the idea that such undisturbed areas served to provide baseline scientific information that would be used to increase understanding about managing other natural areas in the state. He had found the right recipient for the donation of the land he treasured and he made certain his children agreed. “For them, it was worth more than any inheritance from me,” explains Lloyd.

The SNA program has done well by Lloyd’s gift. The donated 240 acres were used to create the Lutsen Scientific and Natural Area, which less than two years later was tripled in size by the acquisition of adjacent land. The additional acreage had been acquired through a land exchange by the non-profit Trust for Public Land (TPL), which sold the land to the DNR at half its value, donating the remainder. Through the Reinvest in Minnesota Critical Habitat Match Fund Program, both the Scherer donation, and the TPL donation, qualified for matching funds, which go to acquire or improve existing land that is critical wildlife habitat. Donors thus double the conservation value of their donation. The Lutsen SNA is now a full 720 acres — one of the largest preserved old-growth forests in the state.

A Calm Shelter

Today Lloyd is site steward for the Lutsen SNA and quietly guards the land against overuse. If people begin trafficking the area, it will no longer be what it is today,” he cautions. Because of Lloyd’s thoughtful stewardship, Minnesotans can enjoy knowing there is at least one place where pine marten can find calm shelter in the bases of fallen old-growth trees and where timberwolves can bed down without the fear of human interruption. With its assortment of large diameter sugar maples, yellow birch, and white cedars (some of which are believed to be 300 years old). the Lutsen SNA protects a priceless piece of the North Shore’s natural heritage.

Lloyd is a man of modest means who could have realized significant income had he sold this land. But for Lloyd, the land was not about money. He puts it this way: “We don’t actually own land; we are entrusted with it. Inevitably, we must pass it on to the next generation. We should be ever thankful for it and the water and air that sustain our physical lives, and use them only with care and respect, never arrogance. All life shares this earth with us. We should love this whole great gift from God.”