Conservation easement will protect 700 acres around Bonner Lake

About 700 acres surrounding Bonner Lake in Idaho’s Boundary County will be protected from development through the purchase of a conservation easement.

Four generations of the Wages family have owned the land around the popular recreation lake since the early 1950s.

“My grandfather’s original intent was to keep the properties together as a working farm and forest,” said Adrian Wages. “Through this agreement we were able to honor his wishes, and keep the family lands undeveloped and whole for our children and future generations.”

The property’s development rights were valued at $1.67 million. The Forest Service’s Forest Legacy Program, which seeks to protect working forests, paid $1.25 million toward the purchase and the Wages family contributed 25 percent of the value as a charitable donation.

Money for the Forest Legacy Program comes from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, earnings from offshore oil and gas leasing that is dedicated to conservation purposes.

The Idaho Department of Lands and The Nature Conservancy also worked on the project.