“This enables the land to continue on into the future,” said Nick Boutis, director of the Glen Helen Ecology Institute.
The Tecumseh Land Trust, a nonprofit that preserves various types of land in Clark and Greene counties, holds two conservation easements for the property and monitors Glen Helen to ensure it follows the terms of the easements. Antioch College in Yellow Springs remains the owner of the property.
If the Tecumseh Land Trust went out of business, the easement will transfer to another land trust, said Tecumseh Land Trust Executive Director Krista Magaw.
The agreement stipulates the Glen cannot be developed for commercial or residential use, nor can natural resource extraction occur, said Dave Vasarhelyi, senior project manager at the Trust for Public Land Ohio office.
Some education development will be allowed on the land, said Magaw.
Funding for the two easements totalled more than $1.6 million and included $940,650 from the Clean Ohio Fund, $567,500 from the federal Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program, $100,000 from the Village of Yellow Springs, and $39,034 from the Glen Helen Association.
An easement completed in February 2013 protected 563 acres on the banks of the waters in the Glen. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s Water Restoration Restoration Resource Sponsorship Program and The Upper River Fund contributed $1.2 million in funding. The Tecumseh Land Trust holds this easement.
The easements generated funds that went to the Dayton Foundation, Boutis said. That money was placed in endowed funds set up to benefit Glen Helen.
The Tecumseh Land Trust, Antioch College and the Trust for Public Land began an official process in 2010 to put a permanent protection in place for Glen Helen, Boutis said.
Vasarhelyi said the land needed to be protected because of the water ecosystems in the Glen. A section of the Great Miami River, several tributaries and the Yellow Springs, the original spring the village is named after, are all within the property, which includes a 20-mile network of footpaths.
“Just because it seems like we have an abundance of water (in Ohio), by not treating water properly, we could find ourselves in a situation like out west where the situation of good, clean water has been compromised,” Vasarhelyi said.
Boutis said the Glen — enjoyed by hikers, birders and others — is now able to be enjoyed by everyone for a long time.
“Glen Helen is one of the region’s largest and most visited nature preserves in Ohio,” Boutis said. “All of those people visiting is possible only because the land is protected and open to the public.”
About the Author