Easements may help protect Platte lands

Published Wednesday
August 9, 2006

BY NANCY GAARDER

WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

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Easements could become a tool for protecting from development some of the highest priority natural areas in the lower Platte River corridor.

Several thousand acres along the Platte River bluffs in Sarpy County are under intense pressure, with skirmishes already occurring between property owners and developers.

Tuesday, a committee of the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District agreed to collaborate with the Nebraska Land Trust to establish an easement program for the land, including that which surrounds Schramm Park State Recreation Area.

The NRD would give the Trust $5,000 to begin the organizational work. The full NRD board will vote on the measure Thursday but is expected to approve it.

Easements, which are increasingly popular tools for conserving high value lands, pay a property owner for forfeiting development rights.

The bluffs, oak-hickory woods, tall grass prairie remnants and excellent bird habitat make the area ideal for protection, said Dave Sands of the Land Trust.

Sands said he plans to apply to the Nebraska Environmental Trust for the money to purchase the easements.

Virginia Miller told the board that her family has owned land in the area since 1855.

It is her hope, she said, that visitors will continue to be able to walk along the bluffs and watch the sun setting over the valley.

"This will be totally destroyed and not be able to be saved if development moves forward," she told the board.

Another landowner, Connie Anderson, said after the meeting that she hopes easements entice developers to incorporate more conservation in their proposals.

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