Ashcraft
Acquired in 2023. The Ashcraft Family protected 323 acres of prime farm ground near Fredericktown in four simultaneous conservation easements, a record for the Conservancy. The Protected Properties are all dedicated to grain farming, and one easement protects over 1,000 feet of the North Branch of the Kokosing River.
Bechtel
Acquired in 2023. Curtis Bechtel’s farm has been in his family for 200 years, and he has the sheepskin deed signed by President James Monroe to prove it! By placing an agricultural easement on his 132-acre beef farm, he has ensured that the property will remain in agricultural production for generations to come.
Watson
Acquired in 2023. The Watsons generously donated a conservation easement on 15 acres of wooded property partially within the city limits of Mount Vernon. The leafy views provided by the Protected Property will be enjoyed in perpetuity by passing motorists as well as by hikers and bikers on the Kokosing Gap Trail.
Howard Milton Galbraith
Acquired in 2022. Dan Galbraith chose to name this easement, his seventh with the Conservancy, after his father, Howard Milton Galbraith, to permanently tie his memory with the worthy efforts of land protection. This easement in Wayne Township protects 135 acres of prime and locally important farm ground and 2,600 feet of Granny Creek, a major tributary to the Kokosing State Scenic River.
Williams
Acquired in 2022. The Williams agricultural easement was purchased through the Local Agricultural Easement Purchase Program and covers 182.5 acres in Milford Township on the south-west side of the county. The topography of the farm is gently rolling with 131 acres dedicated to croplands in a corn/soybean rotation. There are 35 acres of pastured cattle and a small woodlot. The farm is composed entirely of prime soils. The Williams Farm is the ninth property in Milford Township to be preserved by the Owl Creek Conservancy.
Buxton
Acquired in 2020. In 2017, Doug Givens and Ray Heithaus filed an application with the Ohio Department of Agriculture's Local Easement Purchase Program (LAEPP) to fund partial purchase of an agricultural easement for a 143-acre farm owned by Barry Buxton. The property includes 121 acres of cropland, 17 acres of woodland and encloses about 2,690 feet of Armstrong Run flowing through a substantial riparian forest, draining into part of the greater aquifer recharge area for the water supply for the City of Mount Vernon.
B&C Montgomery
Acquired in 2020. In 2017, Doug Givens and Ray Heithaus filed an application with the Ohio Department of Agriculture's Local Easement Purchase Program (LAEPP) to fund partial purchase of 125 acres of NRCS-designated prime or locally important tillable land, owned by Brian and Cindy Montgomery. The easement is near or abutting the six Protected Properties owned by Richard and Nancy Montgomery and one owned by Jeff Montgomery, bringing the total acreage conserved by the Montgomery family to 1,002 acres.
Lanker III
Acquired in 2020. The Conservancy's largest easement, covering 526 acres, is owned by Bruce and Kathy Lanker, bringing their total conserved land to 1,140 acres. The four parcels include 460 acres of NRCS-designated prime or locally important tillable farmland, a Woodland Area, 1,030 feet of Granny Creek, a Riparian Area and NRCS-designated Wetlands. The southeastern 336 acres lay within the five-year time-of-travel zone within the greater aquifer recharge area for the municipal water system of the City of Mount Vernon.
Brill
Acquired in 2019. Marion R. Brill donated an easement in memory of her mother, Patty Markee Brill, to protect her 34-acre property in Morgan Township. The Conservation Easement was crafted to be compatible with Marion's desire to continue agriculture while providing habitat for amphibians, other wild animals, native trees and wildflowers.
Montgomery IV, V, VI
Acquired in 2018. In 2016, Doug Givens and Ray Heithaus filed three applications under the Local Area Easement Purchase Program (LAEPP) of the Ohio Department of Agriculture to partially fund purchase of agricultural easements otherwise donated by Richard and Nancy Montgomery for the three farms. The three farms total 223 acres, and with the three previous farms they conserved, they have protected 697 acres of farm ground.
Lanker II-2
Acquired in 2017. Jeff and Patricia Wells purchased the 40-acre woodland in Bruce Lanker's 313-acre protected property. The existing permanent land-protecting CE (Conservation Easement) continued unchanged when ownership changed. Separation of such a split as allowed in the CE was a first for the Conservancy, although the CEs for some other large protected properties also allow such splits.
B&M Lanker
Acquired in 2017. Brad and Melinda Lanker conserved their 101-acre property occupying the northern and southern corners of the intersection of Bryant Road and Sparta Road in Wayne Township. The National Resources Conservation Service of the USDA classifies all soils there as "prime or prime if drained." Importantly, Brad and Melinda extinguished nine approved, platted residential lots when they conserved their property, thus assuring that their productive farmland cannot succumb to a final crop of houses.
Lanker II-1
Acquired in 2017. Bruce Lanker's 313-acre property in the southwestern corner of Morris Township was the largest single block conserved at the time under one CE. It includes a 40-acre woodland, a seven-acre riparian area enclosing 1,226 feet of Granny Creek, a major tributary to the Kokosing State Scenic River, and 266 acres of productive soils, 96% of which are classed as "prime or locally important" by the National Resources Conservation Service of the USDA.
Kohr II
Acquired in 2017. Longtime member of the Conservancy with an abiding interest in wetlands, Janet Kohr purchased the conserved 63-acre pristine wetland in Wayne Township. The property has a 56-acre riparian area, enclosing more than 2,100 feet of the West Branch of the Kokosing State Scenic River.
McFarland
Acquired in 2017. Our first conserved property in Morrow County, the McFarland property has been owned by the same family since about 1850. The 125-acre farm abuts and drains into the Clear Fork Reservoir, a major source of the municipal water supply for Mansfield. The farm includes 50 acres of woodland with two streams and 69 acres of tilled fields and a six-acre Building Area. Mr. McFarland donated the CE in memory of Georgia Z. and Robert O. McFarland.
Blackjack Wetland Preserve
Acquired in 2016. The City of Mount Vernon's 53-acre Blackjack Wetland Preserve is the site of a spectacular assemblage of plants adapted to hydric soils and acres of high quality wetlands. The Clean Ohio Conservation Fund purchased the now Protected Property.
Wilson
Acquired in 2016. Jay Wilson's 7.6-acre residential property includes seven acres of pristine woodland where the last timbering occurred nearly a century ago. Mr. Wilson's residential property is the first we covered with an easement, but the woodland made the convincing case for conservation.
Horn
Acquired in 2015. John and Donna Horn's 388-acre farm in Harrison and Howard Townships includes land worked by John's family since the early 1920's. Strip farming controls erosion on the rolling terrain. The agricultural easement covering the Protected Property was funded by the generous donation of the landowners and the Ohio Department of Agriculture.
Lanker I
Acquired in 2014. Bruce and Kathy Lanker's 278-acre property in Wayne Township encloses more than a mile of the Kokosing State Scenic River and 3,750 feet of its tributary, Mile Creek and includes 200 acres of prime farmland. They amended the land-protecting conservation easement in 2018 to add 14 abutting acres on the west.