— Land boasts second-biggest larch tree in Canada —
(OSOYOOS TIMES — March 28, 2007) —
By Julie TurnerrnOsoyoos Times
When Dale and Anita Lehman decided to sell the farm, they wanted to be sure a prime piece of land with great sentimental value would stay intact in perpetuity.
The property, valued at $790,000 ($60,000 in land and $730,000 in timber) is located just off Wagon Wheel Road in Bridesville, about 16 miles east of Osoyoos.
The Lehmans moved from their ranch in 2003 to settle in Osoyoos.
They decided the only way to guarantee the new owners would leave as-is their 60 acres of old-growth forest land “ complete with 10 artesian springs “ was to contact a land conservancy organization.
They contacted the Nature Trust, who referred the Lehmans to the Land Conservancy of British Columbia (TLC), beginning a two-year push in the summer of 2001 to get the property out of the Agricultural Land Reserve and keep it as a nature reserve.
The couple believes their gift was the single largest private donation in B.C. They received a tax receipt for the property under TLC's Ecological Gifts Program.
TLC has named the property 'Lehman Springs' and is responsible for the land's future care and maintenance.
The land has never been logged and we didn't want anything to happen to it, Dale explains. We knew once we sold it, we couldn't guarantee somebody wouldn't come and log it. Or maybe the next family who bought it after that might do it.
The land, a total of 2,200 acres, belonged to Dale's father, who rented in the 1930s and bought it in the 1940s. He ranched before Dale took over the operation “ which in the last few years supported 800-1,000 head of cattle.
The ranch land was sold, leaving just the 60 acres of adjacent forest to deal with.
With their four grown children moved away to the Coast, Alberta and Australia to pursue lives other than ranching, the Lehmans made the decision to donate the land rather than will it to their children.
The family was supportive, Anita says.
Dale says when TLC people came out to look at the property, including Shawn Black, who was TLC's Regional Manager for the Okanagan and oversaw the Southern Interior properties, they really weren't too excited by it, but then they went into the woods and it changed their minds.
The naturally-flowing artesian springs, which flow at 400 gallons a minute, are a source for Nine Mile Creek. The sloped land is forested in a diverse mix of fir, pine, larch and spruce trees, and is home to the second-largest larch tree in Canada.
The larch stands at 171-feet-six-inches, just about six inches shorter than Canada's tallest larch, in Rock Creek.
Shawn Black told us it might have been the tallest had the top not been broken off, damaged by a lightning strike, Dale says.
The old-growth forest is also home to some rare plants and animals, including salamanders and the Williamson's Sapsucker, a medium-sized woodpecker. University students come to study the area, and it is also a favourite spot for bird watchers.
Tours of the property can be organized by contacting TLC office in Penticton.
The Lehmans say one of the joys of knowing the land has been saved for the future is being able to visit their former homestead, which had been in the family for 75 years.
TLC representative Alyson Pulham, who is also with the South Okanagan Similkameen Stewardship Program, says a real driver for TLC's involvement was the great relationship with the Lehmans.
TLC was really able to work with their vision to see the land protected, and the property also fit with TLC's mandate of protecting endangered habitat like old-growth forest. As well, there were a number of species at risk associated with the area.
According to The Land Alliance Trust of B.C., an umbrella organization for TLC, a half-million acres of land (equivalent to the size of Greater Vancouver) has been protected over the past decade, including the Okanagan properties of Lehman Springs, Eagle Bluff (home to the South Okanagan Rehabilitation Centre for Owls) at Vaseux Lake, Max Lake on the West Bench of Penticton, Okanagan River Cottonwoods on the Penticton Indian Band reserve and Similkameen River Pines south of Cawston near the U.S. border.
Founded in 1997, TLC is a non-profit, charitable trust working to protect important habitats for plants and animals as well as properties with historical, cultural, scientific, scenic or compatible recreational value.
TLC is also working to save Skaha Bluffs near Penticton and has launched a fundraising campaign to purchase 750 acres of land beside the Bluffs by the end of April.
