Land worth more than money to owner
Conservation easement will ensure Phyllis Mott’s acreage will be preserved for wildlife
A bald eagle cruises over a mat of lily pads on the south end of Lake Cocolalla, looking for its lunch. Just steps away the earthy smell of cedar wafts from a stand of old-growth trees and a doe and fawn bolt from a thicket. Pileated woodpeckers hammer out rectangular holes in their search for bugs, frogs croak and kick in a bubbling spring and the occasional bear wanders in to snack on fruit-laden trees.
The 52 acres of prime wildlife habitat is now protected from future development, thanks to property owner Phyllis Mott’s decision to enter into a conservation easement with the Inland Northwest Land Trust.
“This is pretty special,” said Vicki Sola Egesdal of the combination of meadows, wetlands and forest. Add the fact that the property is adjacent to 100 acres of Idaho Fish and Game land, and it offers animals a great place to live. It’s also one of the few undeveloped places along the lake, located about 13 miles south of Sandpoint.
“All of it added to something worth protecting,” Egesdal said.
Idaho lands have featured prominently in recent Inland Northwest Land Trust protection efforts.
The organization has worked to safeguard 2,425 acres of North Idaho property spread among 26 different projects, including 17 conservation easements.
Of the 11 conservation easements Inland Northwest Land Trust finalized last year, seven were in North Idaho.
Recent efforts have protected land along Lake Coeur d’Alene and other prime properties.
Mott camped on her Lake Cocolalla property before deciding 17 years ago to buy it. She knew it had to be her home when she saw a grouse running up a hill near her campsite.
Over the years she added to her initial purchase, buying adjoining parcels as they came up for sale.
She first lived in a log cabin and now in a home on a hill overlooking the water. Mott’s son, Andrew Mott, now lives in the cabin with his wife.
Those two homes will remain, but under the terms of the conservation easement no more homes may be built.
Had Phyllis Mott chosen to develop it instead of preserving the land for wildlife, about 10 more houses could have been built there. She found out about Inland Northwest Land Trust during a University of Idaho Extension class.
People have always told Mott her land was special. When she hired a logger to come and take some trees from the property, Mott said the man told her not to log the old-growth cedar.
Developers have come calling on many occasions, only to be turned away. Phyllis and Andrew Mott said they can’t imagine the land with houses on every five acres.
They’d rather be neighbors to all the animals that live there.
“People say, ‘You have half a mile of shoreline. Do you know what that is worth?’ ” Andrew Mott said. “I say, ‘Yes.’ They’re equating it to dollars and cents. I’m equating it to something very different.”