When Bob Ludwig sees the 100-plus-year-old oak trees on his 80 acres in Freedom Township, or the wild turkeys, or some of the 4,000 pine trees he planted in the early 1990s, he knows why he wanted to protect the land from development.

"To see things like that and have them preserved in their natural state is one of the things I'd like to see done," said Ludwig.

Ludwig isn't alone. Next to his property on Bethel Church Road is another 87 acres he gave to his daughter, Connie Ludwig.

She shares her father's love of the partially wooded farmland and recently joined with him in protecting it when they both donated conservation easements to the Washtenaw Land Trust.

"That's what I wanted in my heart for the land, and (the Land Trust) made a way," Connie Ludwig said.

Besides the woods and wildlife, her portion of the land contains an artesian well, Connie Ludwig said. She built a house on her land in 1996 and raises horses. Her father lives in Lodi Township.

The conservation easements allow for Connie Ludwig to have horses, for discretionary hunting, for managed use of wood from the trees, for farming and for one house to be built on her father's property, she said. The land can be sold, but the protection against development goes with the land.

"It's not as if nothing can happen on it, but it's planned and consistent with our vision for the property," Connie Ludwig said.

The Ludwigs received no payment for the conservation easements. That's not uncommon for Washtenaw Land Trust transactions, said Suzie Heiney of the Land Trust.

"It's frequently what we do," Heiney said. "We're often looking for property owners who would be willing to do that."

Of 11 projects finished this year, nine were donations and two involved some kind of payment for conservation easements, Heiney said. So far this year, the Land Trust has protected 860 acres, she said. Since its inception, the Land Trust has protected 3,391 acres.

While the Ludwigs received no payment for the conservation easement, they will get some tax advantages, Heiney said. The Ludwigs said they won't know how much the development rights to their properties are worth until an appraisal is done in January.
The Land Trust signed the deals with the Ludwigs last monthNov, Heiney said.

Bob Ludwig, who is 84, said he bought the 167 acres in 1968 as an investment and a possible place for retirement. He never moved to the land but visits it often, sometimes cutting fire wood.

"I'd like to keep it the way it has been for the last many, many years," Ludwig said.