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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Couple with conservation award sell home for medical bills

Less than a year after an elderly Colbert couple was recognized with a statewide conservation award, the log home they had built and lived in and an adjoining 21 acres have been sold to help pay for their medical bills, conservation officials said last week.

Lawrence and Elizabeth Brown, who lived on a 238-acre farm near Colbert, were honored in late 2006 as the state Wildlife Farmers of the Year in an award from the Washington Association of Conservation Districts.

Today, they have moved into an area nursing home for long-term care, said Alan Hawson, forester for the Spokane County Conservation District. They recently sold a portion of the farm and their rustic-looking log home to help pay for the care, he said.

Hawson reported that the Browns had spent many years providing nesting boxes, wildlife food plots and pond construction for fish and migratory birds. They planted thousands of native trees and shrubs to increase wildlife habitat and food sources.

During his career, Lawrence Brown was an agent for the Washington State University Cooperative Extension from 1941 to 1978 and received a distinguished service award for his work.

The Browns moved to the property in 1979 and built the log house. They entered the Conservation Reserve Program and began to restore the native environment. The county conservation district helped them. The Browns participated in a firewood-thinning program in which firewood cutters were allowed to harvest trees selectively to assist the forest recovery.

In 2002 and 2005, more than 2,000 new ponderosa pines were planted at the farm. In 2003, an additional 6,900 shrubs and trees were planted, according to the Conservation District’s latest newsletter.

Hawson said the Browns want to maintain their remaining acreage as a wildlife habitat. The Browns previously had written that they hoped to preserve the property as a unit to enhance wildlife, according to the newsletter.