More than a mile of the Pacific Crest Trail on private land near Pilot Rock has been permanently protected by a conservation easement donated to the Southern Oregon Land Conservancy.
Property owners Nancy Ames Cole and Marshall Cole have signed an agreement with the nonprofit conservancy to forever protect the 1,312-acre parcel. The land includes a stretch of the 2,650-mile-long Pacific Crest Trail.
Portions of the property are bordered by the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's Medford District.
The easement means the ecological health and biological diversity of the parcel, which is for sale, will be protected, said Diane Garcia, the conservancy's executive director. Moreover, future owners will be required to work with the conservancy and the Pacific Crest Trail Association to be responsible stewards of the land, she added.
"This is one of the most gorgeous and important pieces of land in the region," she said in a prepared statement. "Conserving the property has been a longtime dream for the Coles and all of us at the Southern Oregon Land Conservancy, as well as our partner in the project, the Pacific Crest Trail Association."
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"The Pacific Crest Trail's route through the Cole property provides hikers and equestrians with the opportunity to experience the land's rich natural resources up close," she said. "The new conservation easement is going to ensure that this opportunity is protected, for this generation and for generations to come."
Until the easement was signed last month, only an 8- to 10-foot-wide strip of the trail through the property was protected, she said. The conservation easement provides protection on a 600-foot corridor along the trail.
"A conservation easement is a very good instrument for permanent protection," she said of private parcels.
Scientists say the area that includes the national monument has a rich and unique diversity of plants and provides a critical corridor for wildlife.
Protecting that biological richness is what led the family to donate the conservation agreement, said Nancy Ames Cole.
"We felt the Southern Oregon Land Conservancy would be the best organization to protect the land," she said, adding, "We are both very pleased about this."
The Cole property is a mosaic of mixed conifer forests, meadows, pine-oak-juniper savannah and wetlands, Garcia said.
About $24,000 was raised to create the conservation easement and establish a special stewardship fund for it, she said.
"A lot of people stepped up because that area is considered so important," she said.
Since the conservancy formed in 1978 to help protect local forests, it has obtained conservation easements on more than 8,000 acres in Southwest Oregon, Garcia said. A conservation easement allows landowners to permanently protect land while maintaining ownership.
For additional information about the conservancy, see www.landconserve.org. Information on the Pacific Crest Trail is available at www.pcta.org.
Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at pfattig@mailtribune.com.
