None The Nature Conservancy in Washington Press Releases Search All Press Releases Leslie Brown Phone: (206) 343-4345, ext. 379 E-mail: leslie_brown@tnc.org Peter Dunwiddie Phone: (206) 343-4345, ext. 342

Innovative land deal protects century-old ranch in Klickitat County

Ranch ecologically critical to health of Rock Creek watershed

Seattle, WA — December 13, 2001 — One of the oldest and largest ranches in Klickitat County will never be sold for development, thanks to an innovative and far-reaching agreement between the owners and The Nature Conservancy of Washington.

Robert and Marie Holter, whose ranch has been in continuous operation for 101 years, recently sold development rights on 1,500 acres of their 1,600-acre ranch to the Conservancy. The sale marks the largest such conservation easement in Klickitat County.

The move means the ranch will never be developed. Under the terms of the agreement, it also means the Holters will get quarterly payments for the rest of their lives from the Conservancy, enabling the couple to benefit from the value of their land now and in retirement without selling off large pieces of it.

"Robert and I wanted to preserve this ranch in perpetuity and to see it continue long after we're gone. That was our dream. And this is the answer to our prayers," Marie Holter said.

The ranch's protection is also ecologically significant. The ranch is part of the Rock Creek watershed, one of the healthiest and least manipulated drainages in the region. Rock Creek and its tributaries support rare forest communities, including white oak and white alder, high-quality canyon woodlands, shrublands and grasslands. A native run of steelhead trout uses Rock Creek; also found there are the rare western grey squirrel, Lewis' woodpecker, and peregrine falcons.

The Holter ranch is an important ecological bridge. It borders two natural areas--the state-owned 180-acre Badger Gulch Natural Area Preserve and the Conservancy's 414-acre Rock Creek Preserve. It also contains portions of two major tributaries to Rock Creek--Badger Gulch and Holter Canyon. The Holter land is in good shape, due to the Holters' careful and conscientious ranching practices and to the steepness of much of the terrain.

"This is innovative conservation at its best," said Terry Cook, the Conservancy's science director. "The Holter ranch is strategically located. It's ecologically important. And we crafted an agreement that enables them to continue ranching until they decide they'd like to retire or turn the ranch over to someone else. It's truly a win-win situation."

The transaction between the Holters and the Conservancy worked like this: The Conservancy and the Holters determined the fair market value of the ranch's development rights by way of an independent appraiser. But instead of buying those rights in one large sum, which would have created a large capital gains tax for the Holters, the Conservancy gave the Holters a much smaller lump sum. The Conservancy put the remainder into an annuity, with quarterly payments from that annuity going to the Holters for the rest of their lives.

The lump sum payment was large enough to enable the Holters to pay off their mortgage. If the Holters decide to sell their ranch, the Conservancy gets right-of-first-refusal. The restrictions on development are attached to the property in perpetuity, so if the property changes hands, the new owners would also be able to ranch and farm but would not be able to subdivide and sell off portions.

"This annuity won't provide us a life of luxury. But it will enable us to live on our ranch for the rest of our lives. And that's what we wanted," Marie Holter said. "It means so much to me that I can look out at our land and know that 100 years from now, 1,000 years from now, if the Earth is still here, it will look like this."

The Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy is a private, non-profit organization that seeks to protect the world's rich diversity of plants, animals and natural communities by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. To date, the Conservancy and its one million members have helped to protect more than 12 million acres in the United States and, by way of partnerships, another 80 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Canada, Asia and the Pacific.

In Washington, the Conservancy has 37,000 members, making it the largest membership-based conservation group in the state. The chapter owns 41,000 acres and has helped to protect another 328,000 acres.