Hardwood Creek - Washington County

April 2011 -- Resisting the pressures of developers offering six figure payments for their land was the easy part of Steve and Sonja Ramsey’s decision to permanently protect their Forest Lake property with a conservation easement through the Minnesota Land Trust. Ramsey knew that preserving the land “just the way it is now” is a far greater payoff than any monetary gain that would result in hundreds of condos overshadowing wetlands currently graced with tundra swans and sand hill cranes.

The completion of this recent 158-acre land conservation project, located five miles southeast of Forest Lake, assures a connection to the Hardwood Creek Wildlife Management Area and to "Corrie's Swamp, one of the largest complex of native habitats remaining in Washington County.

Steve Ramsey is an expert in the field of estate planning, and has watched people over the years struggle with the issue of legacy. For him, permanently protecting land that first came into his family over a hundred years ago is, after his family, the greatest legacy he can leave behind. He’s glad that the legal work is done to keep the temptation of financial gain from being a burden on his sons. And most of all, looking at his land is like seeing a panorama of memories. Knowing the trees, wetlands and rolling hills of his childhood will remain undeveloped is “a very satisfying legacy,” Steve muses. “I just know that the land will probably always be exactly as it is right now.”

Funding for this project was provided in part by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR).