The deNeui family
saves wild place

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If you float down the Iowa River south of Ackley, you'll pass by a woodland that lies between Mann Wilderness Area and the Hardin County Conservation Board headquarters. Bob and Joell deNeui of Ackley have owned this woodland for the past 23 years, as a part of a 700-acre Greenbelt farm they call ForestWilde. It's nestled within the portion of the Hardin County environmental corridor identified in the Iowa River Greenbelt plan as worthy of natural resource protection.

Now, to ensure that the spot remains wooded and wild forever, the deNeui family has donated a conservation easement on a 206-acre portion of their farm to the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation. The family continues to own the land, and this permanent, legal protection means they can rest assured that no future owners will ever clear-cut, farm, mine, or develop this natural area.

Bob deNeui has loved this land since he was a youngster. He grew up just a few miles away, and he visited here with his father to hunt mushrooms and Indian artifacts and fish in the Iowa River. The woods were lightly grazed for many years. When Bob and Joell purchased the land in 1974, their first decision was to keep cattle out of the existing timber and, in Bob's words, to "leave it alone and let it go back to nature." Over the years, they planted trees, shrubs, native wildflowers and prairie grasses to improve wildlife and bird habitats.

They also enrolled 100 acres of ForestWilde cropland into the Conservation Reserve Program and planted more than 100,000 native trees and shrubs from a variety of deciduous and evergreen species.

The family often invites others to visit the woods with them. According to Bob, "Many of them are amazed. They say, 'I've lived here all my life, and I didn't know there was anything this wild so close to home.'"

The deNeui family donated the conservation easement to make sure ForestWilde remains wild forever. They have examined the bundle of property rights that every landowner holds, and they've chosen to give specific rights to the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation to safeguard.

By holding these rights, the foundation can ensure that anyone who owns ForestWilde in the future does not damage the wilderness by mining, commercial logging, tilling, grazing, constructing livestock feedlots, erecting billboards, dumping, creating new roads or trails, or building outside a designated 10-acre area. The family even chose to restrict timber harvesting.

Mark Ackelson, president of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, said, "This shows how Iowans can use conservation easements to extend their good land stewardship beyond their lifetimes. The easement does not open their land for public use, and they can continue their good management of the land for as long as they own it. What the owner gains is peace of mind, knowing that future owners will continue down the same path."

The Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation is a statewide, nonprofit organization working to protect, preserve and enhance Iowa's natural resources for future generations. In its 18 years of existence, the foundation has helped protect or restore 45,000 acres of Iowa land.

The foundation holds conservation easements on 1,564 acres of Iowa woodland, wetland, lake shore, and river bluffland. The foundation has a conservation easement endowment, a permanent fund which enables it to accept the responsibility of monitoring use of these lands throughout the coming years and to legally enforce an easement if necessary.

The deNeui family's motivation is ethical, not financial. While the value of the donated rights is a tax-deductible contribution, the family could have realized greater financial gain by harvesting its 1,500 walnut trees and other hardwoods. Bob says, "The idea of harvesting the walnut trees was important to me twenty years ago, but it's not now. Logging can sometimes make a real mess on the land, and it looks so much better with the trees standing up."

Ackelson pointed out that this is the first conservation easement in the Iowa River Greenbelt. He said, "Of all our conservation easements, this one is special because of its location and its people. The foundation helped create the Iowa River Greenbelt Resource Trust, and the Trust continues to operate as a committee of the foundation. Bob and Joell have been two of the most faithful volunteers, leading and working in so many ways to protect the unique resources in this region. This easement is simply the most recent, most outstanding way they are serving the future of this community."

Bob deNeui sums up their action in a more personal way. He says, "We're proud of it. It gives me a good feeling to know ForestWilde is going to be there forever."

For more information about Foundation news, e-mail Cathy Engstrom, Director of Communications or call (515) 288-1846.

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