Land Conservation
ClearWater Conservancy's Land Conservation Program seeks to balance the rapid growth of central Pennsylvania with the conservation of important ecological, cultural, and historic places. We work with landowners and managers to determine appropriate conservation methods, including land management recommendations, conservation easements, and land acquisition.
Lisle
Property along Spring Creek
In January 2005, ClearWater Conservancy protected the 5-acre property of Elsa Lisle along the main stem of Spring Creek just downstream of Lemont.
ClearWater first contacted Ms. Lisle back in 1994 as part of an effort to reach out to land owners near Millbrook Marsh to discuss conservation options. In 2003, through her lawyer, Amos Goodall, Ms. Lisle expressed an interest in permanently protecting her land and invited the members of ClearWater’s Land Conservation and Stewardship Committee to visit the property and determine its conservation value.
The committee recommended pursuing the project and upon receiving funding for a Riparian Conservation Program in 2004, ClearWater decided that the Lisle property should be ClearWater’s first riparian easement.
The purpose of the easement is to assure that the property will be retained forever in its scenic condition and as a vegetated buffer of Spring Creek for natural resource conservation. The property will continue in its existing residential use but will not be converted to commercial or industrial uses.
According
to Jerry Wettstone, the lead committee volunteer on this project, Ms. Lisle has
had a lifelong interest in Spring Creek and the wild flora and fauna on her
land. This conservation easement ensures that the land that she loves will be
protected and cherished in perpetuity.
ClearWater was happy to help Ms. Lisle reach her vision and would happily discuss conservation options with other interested landowners.
Read A Love of the Land: The Elsa Lisle Story.