Rise to the Challenge: Double your gift to INLT between May 4-June 30
A great time to show your support for local land conservation
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Let’s rise to the $15,000 challenge – this is a chance to double your gift to INLT!
A friend of INLT put up a $15,000 challenge. Our friend will match dollar for dollar any new memberships as well as any extra gifts from existing members made to INLT before June 30 – the end of our fiscal year.
For example, if you give INLT $50 before June 30, INLT will receive another $50.
Please help us meet this challenge. If you are already a member, please consider making an extra gift now. If you are not a member, this would be a doubly good time to join.
You can VISIT HERE to give via PayPal, mail a check, or call our office at 509-328-2939 to donate with your credit card. If you would like to make a gift of stock or other assets, please contact Vicki at 509-328-2939.
Please give today! We only have a short time to earn this generous gift.
Thank you for your support of local land conservation.
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Upcoming INLT events in 2012
Updated 4/26/12
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INLT Members Dexter Conservation Easement Outing
Sunday, June 2, 8 AM-1PM
Enjoy a leisurely visit to the 44-acre Dexter conservation easement located in the Peone Prairie. Take time out for birding, hiking, and visiting a conservation easement not open to the public.
Please email bnicholson@inlandnwlandtrust.org to sign up and to receive directions.
Native plants Tour at Desert Jewels Nursery: Visit the nursery and learn about the role of native plants in our region and in your landscaping with speakers Diane Stutzman, owner of Desert Jewels Nursery and Sylvia Eberspecher, member of WNPS.
Saturday, June 9 at 8 AM
Desert Jewels Nursery
9809 E. Upriver Dr.
Spokane, WA 99206
Limited space. Please email bnicholson@inlandnwlandtrust.org to sign up or call the INLT office at (509)328-2939.
Butterfly Identification and Nature Walk with speakers John Baumann and Brenda McCracken
Saturday, July 7, 10 AM-1 PM
Carder-Hanson Conservation Easement
Coeur d'Alene, ID
Limited space. Please email bnicholson@inlandnwlandtrust.org to sign up or call the INLT office at(509)328-2939.
For more events with INLT and other conservation-minded organizations view here.
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Volunteers are needed for the KSPS Fund Drive
Help represent Inland Northwest Land Trust and show off your phone etiquette
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Please sign up by May 21st! Contact Brooke at bnicholson@inlandnwlandtrust.org
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True grit: Landowner conserves 2,520 acres in Stevens County with INLT
2012-01-09 |
Rural areas in eastern Washington are some of the last wild places left and due to landowner Beryl Baker’s conservation efforts our regional character will continue to be untamed.
Beryl Baker recently protected 2,520 acres of forest land near Horseshoe Lake in Stevens County with a conservation easement with Inland Northwest Land Trust. This is Mr. Baker’s second conservation easement. In 2009, he protected another 1,363 acres of forest land in Stevens County. His former wife Janet also protected 160 acres in Stevens County and 172.5 acres in Pend Oreille County with two separate conservation easements.
Not far from the Baker property, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department also is protecting habitat in the Spokane River Watershed. In 2009, the agency acquired 1,693 acres of wildlife-rich wetlands and uplands from Horseshoe Lake south to Fan Lake in Pend Oreille County.
The Baker Lake conservation easement includes the 68-acre Baker Lake fed by Beaver Creek and other seasonal tributaries located high within the Little Spokane Watershed. The wetlands and creeks invite an enthusiastic gathering of waterfowl, osprey, and bald eagles.
“What I like about Beryl’s place is that it’s a big chunk of working forest and wildlife habitat high in the Little Spokane River watershed, including an entire lake. He’s shielded 99% of his 2,540 acres from development while keeping it productive and well-managed,” says Chris DeForest, INLT Executive Director.
The land provides year-round habitat for deer, elk, moose, bear, cougar, and other animals. Birds find sanctuary in the forest terrain. The common birds include rufous hummingbirds, Steller’s jays, ravens, varied thrush, mountain bluebirds, red crossbill, ruffed grouse, spotted and barred owls, and many more.
Mr. Baker maintains the land as a working forest. Timber is harvested in a sustainable fashion and reforestation occurs shortly thereafter. His effort in protecting the land will enhance the local timber industry, providing resources and employment for generations to come. A variety of tree species thrive on the Baker property, including Douglas fir, Western Red Cedar, and Ponderosa Pine.
Beryl Baker purchased the property in 1966 after seeing an ad in the Wall Street Journal. “I needed a change from banking in Seattle,” he said with a roguish chuckle. He returned to the wild frontier and protected a pioneer idealism most likely instilled from a childhood growing up on a wheat farm near Kahlotus, Washington.
“I feel fortunate finding a way to protect the property that has been in my family almost 50 years from division and commercial development. The property can only be used for timber production and wildlife habitat. This will provide the animals with a permanent home,” says Mr. Baker. “If my parents were still living, I think they would smile on this event.”
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Stevens County
Located in northeastern Washington, Stevens County is a community with a far-reaching farming and ranching heritage. The Columbia River rolls through the area and many lakes dot the landscape to create a rich ecosystem for species diversity. The forests provide opportunities for recreation and timber production.
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Honoring parents and place: Heine conservation easement continues Cougar Bay preservation efforts
2011-12-01 |
Not only do trees grow roots, but families do too. Joyce Randall attests to this by conserving 119 acres with Inland Northwest Land Trust in  memory of her parents, John and Betty Heine. The Heine conservation easement is located six miles from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho amid the panoramic mountain area above Cougar Bay.
New horizons called to John and Betty. After their wedding in 1941, they travelled across the western states to see the landscape they had only heard about during their Chicago upbringing. Their wanderlust dissolved when they reached northern Idaho. Their daughter Joyce recalls, “They simply loved Coeur d’Alene and decided to stay.” In 1946, John and Betty purchased a half section of the Wolski Homestead and decided to plant their roots.
The family settled into the area and began raising dairy cattle which eventually became a family-run, small Grade-A dairy farm. Joyce described her chores as milking cows, clearing the land, preparing the hay, and breaking calves to feed from buckets.
Her mother covered her chores during the school year and her father divided his time between Kaiser Aluminum for over a decade and full-time farming. “It was definitely a “family” operation,” laughs Joyce.
As for Joyce, being a part of her family’s property is “on a cellular level.” The land stayed with Joyce even after she moved away. “Growing up, I protected a field of oats from the cattle while sitting atop my horse. For hours, I stayed out in the field reading. Maybe that’s why I chose my profession,” she says with a laugh. She spent 40 years as an educator with an emphasis on student reading instruction.
 To Joyce a conservation easement to protect the land was vital since it was her parents’ wish to conserve the land. “They loved the land and they wanted to see a healthy forest and wildlife habitat that survived for the future. A Native American proverb I enjoy is: ‘We don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.’”
Animals, both wild and domestic, are a part of the family’s collective memories. Joyce grew up among wildlife such as black bear, elk, badgers, and porcupine. Many birds such as Pileated woodpecker, Junco, quail, Northern Flicker and Swainson’s Thrush reside on the property. To honor the domestic animals, Joyce remembers how her family referred to the property as two woods. One was named Rusty’s Woods after her sorrel horse and the other was named the Cows’ Woods for her family’s dairy cows.
John passed 23 years ago and Betty passed three years ago, but the parents’ legacy lives on. Joyce remembers her parents’ fondness for their land, “Pa had a love for the forest. When he attended university in Champagne, Illinois, his interest was in forestry. He just had such a huge love and respect for the woods. I remember him picking up plants after a washout and marveling at the leaves and roots.” Joyce notes the plant and tree life on the Heine conservation easement  is rich with ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, shooting stars, glacier lilies, and spring beauties.
Betty stayed on the property until mere weeks before she passed. Joyce notes, “My mother loved being in the woods. She enjoyed the trees and changing seasons. She loved the beauty of the place.” The legacy of the Heine conservation easement is a testament to a couple’s regard for Idaho’s enduring beauty.
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Cougar Bay to Turnbull
This Wild Lifeline is an important wildlife migration corridor that stretches from Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge, through the Dishman Hills, across Mica and Blossom Peaks and down to the shores of Lake Coeur d'Alene at Cougar Bay. INLT has helped protect nearly 2,500 acres in this Wild Lifeline corridor.
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