Help us save our land, water,and wildlife in the Lower Muskingum by volunteering, donating, or offering land.
Land Trusts
We are a Land Trust
As part of its mission to protect and preserve the future environmental integrity of the Muskingum watershed, Friends of Lower Muskingum River is incorporated as a Land Trust. As a Land Trust we have assumed ownership, and thus protective custody, of several vital properties within the watershed land area. We have acquired property from a concerned individual, which is being used by Marietta College as a field biology station under a Memorandum of Understanding between FLMR and the college. FLMR also acquired and then transferred to the City of Marietta a 9-acre addition to Kroger Wetlands, which is a passive use park with walking trails. Learn more about Land Trusts and Conservation Easements here. If you wish to contact Friends of Lower Muskingum about donating your property to a Trust or to ask for help setting up a conservation easement, we are there for you.
Follow the links below to learn more about some of our Land Trust properties…
Testimonial from a Local Couple Who Placed a FLMR Conservation Easement on Their Land
“In the course of our lives we’ve lived in enough different areas to realize that more and more of our precious green space is being eaten up by development or cut up into small acreage lots. Not that that is always a bad thing but we need to save some larger areas for wildlife and future generations. Our property in Noble County is remote enough that industry is not likely anytime soon but it would have made many home building lots. Some may tell you that a conservation easement will hurt your property value but that isn’t necessarily so, especially in this area. Not many large tracts of rural land are still available and will be sought after more and more.
We had known about conservation easements for several years but had not thought of them as applying to us. They seemed to be something for large organizations such as The Nature Conservancy to use. We slowly came to realize that we have something to save and that is 382 acres. Most of it is land that has been strip mined and areas that were at one time farm ground. Reforesting by the state and mining companies and with the help of beaver, the land looks much different now than it did 32 years ago when we first moved here. Our main concern was to keep it from being subdivided and that was easily accomplished with our conservation easement with the Friends of Lower Muskingum River. More difficult was deciding what else we wanted to prevent or permit. We also added the stipulation that there be no other houses; it will remain a one-home property. Conservation easements are written for each property for the individual needs and wants of each land owner. They are added to the deed and stay with the property in perpetuity.
It was such a relief and great satisfaction when we finally finished, signed and recorded our easement. Not that it was terribly difficult to do, but knowing that no matter what happens to us now, this 382 acres will remain 382 acres!”
Habitat fragmentation can hinder the ability of tree species to migrate to more suitable habitat on the landscape, especially if the surrounding area is nonforested. Modeling results indicate that mean centers of suitable habitat for tree species will migrate between 60 and 350 miles by the year 2100 under a high emissions scenario and between 30 and 250 miles under milder climate change scenarios. Based on data gathered for seedling distributions, it has been estimated that many northern tree species could possibly migrate northward at a rate of 60 miles per century. Fragmentation makes this disparity even more challenging, because the landscape is essentially less permeable to migration.
L. Iverson, M. Schwartz, and others. 2004. How fast and far might tree species migrate in the eastern United States due to climate change?. Global Ecology and Biogeography. C. Woodall, C. Oswalt, and others. 2009. An indicator of tree migration in forests of the eastern United States. Forest Ecology and Management. ...
Studies have consistently shown that diverse systems have exhibited greater resilience to extreme environmental conditions and greater potential to recover from disturbance than less diverse communities. This relationship makes less diverse communities inherently more susceptible to future changes and stressors. The diversity of potential responses of a system to environmental change (response diversity), is a critical component of ecosystem resilience. Response diversity is generally reduced in less diverse ecological systems. Genetic diversity within species is also critical for the ability of populations to adapt to climate change, because species with high genetic variation have better odds of producing individuals that can withstand extreme events and adapt to changes over time.
T. Elmqvist , C. Folke, and others. 2003. Response diversity, ecosystem change, and resilience. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. A. Hoffman and C. Sgrò. 2011. Climate change and evolutionary adaptation. Nature. ...
I've heard some younger people suggest that we begin using QR codes. Use the QR code reader on your phone to go directly to the web pages for more info or to sign-up. If you can't use these I have the links below.
I want to share with everyone what FLMR does on a normal day. I've found that many people don't understand our organization so I'm trying to remedy that. This was taken last week when I was monitoring Reno. Please volunteer to monitor! ...
I get a lot of blank stares when I tell people that FLMR is a land trust, so I thought it might be helpful to let people know what a land trust is. After-all, land trusts are not commonly understood and I didn't know about them until I became Executive Director of FLMR a year ago. I still have people refer to us as a watershed and this is inaccurate. We narrowed our focus to land in the Lower Muskingum River Valley in 2014. Our goals are to protect water by protecting land and manage land for endangered species, wildlife, and recreation. Source: Conservation Tools Pennsylvania Land Trust Association ...
Land Trusts
We are a Land Trust
As part of its mission to protect and preserve the future environmental integrity of the Muskingum watershed, Friends of Lower Muskingum River is incorporated as a Land Trust. As a Land Trust we have assumed ownership, and thus protective custody, of several vital properties within the watershed land area. We have acquired property from a concerned individual, which is being used by Marietta College as a field biology station under a Memorandum of Understanding between FLMR and the college. FLMR also acquired and then transferred to the City of Marietta a 9-acre addition to Kroger Wetlands, which is a passive use park with walking trails. Learn more about Land Trusts and Conservation Easements here. If you wish to contact Friends of Lower Muskingum about donating your property to a Trust or to ask for help setting up a conservation easement, we are there for you.
Follow the links below to learn more about some of our Land Trust properties…
Testimonial from a Local Couple Who Placed a FLMR Conservation Easement on Their Land
“In the course of our lives we’ve lived in enough different areas to realize that more and more of our precious green space is being eaten up by development or cut up into small acreage lots. Not that that is always a bad thing but we need to save some larger areas for wildlife and future generations. Our property in Noble County is remote enough that industry is not likely anytime soon but it would have made many home building lots. Some may tell you that a conservation easement will hurt your property value but that isn’t necessarily so, especially in this area. Not many large tracts of rural land are still available and will be sought after more and more.
We had known about conservation easements for several years but had not thought of them as applying to us. They seemed to be something for large organizations such as The Nature Conservancy to use. We slowly came to realize that we have something to save and that is 382 acres. Most of it is land that has been strip mined and areas that were at one time farm ground. Reforesting by the state and mining companies and with the help of beaver, the land looks much different now than it did 32 years ago when we first moved here. Our main concern was to keep it from being subdivided and that was easily accomplished with our conservation easement with the Friends of Lower Muskingum River. More difficult was deciding what else we wanted to prevent or permit. We also added the stipulation that there be no other houses; it will remain a one-home property. Conservation easements are written for each property for the individual needs and wants of each land owner. They are added to the deed and stay with the property in perpetuity.
It was such a relief and great satisfaction when we finally finished, signed and recorded our easement. Not that it was terribly difficult to do, but knowing that no matter what happens to us now, this 382 acres will remain 382 acres!”
– Herb and Susie Hulls 2009
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Friends of Lower Muskingum River
4 days ago
Habitat fragmentation can hinder the ability of tree species to migrate to more suitable habitat on the landscape, especially if the surrounding area is nonforested. Modeling results indicate that mean centers of suitable habitat for tree species will migrate between 60 and 350 miles by the year 2100 under a high emissions scenario and between 30 and 250 miles under milder climate change scenarios. Based on data gathered for seedling distributions, it has been estimated that many northern tree species could possibly migrate northward at a rate of 60 miles per century. Fragmentation makes this disparity even more challenging, because the landscape is essentially less permeable to migration.
L. Iverson, M. Schwartz, and others. 2004. How fast and far might tree species migrate in the eastern United States due to climate change?. Global Ecology and Biogeography.
C. Woodall, C. Oswalt, and others. 2009. An indicator of tree migration in forests of the eastern United States. Forest Ecology and Management. ...
Photo
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Friends of Lower Muskingum River
4 days ago
Studies have consistently shown that diverse systems have exhibited greater resilience to extreme environmental conditions and greater potential to recover from disturbance than less diverse communities. This relationship makes less diverse communities inherently more susceptible to future changes and stressors. The diversity of potential responses of a system to environmental change (response diversity), is a critical component of ecosystem resilience. Response diversity is generally reduced in less diverse ecological systems. Genetic diversity within species is also critical for the ability of populations to adapt to climate change, because species with high genetic variation have better odds of producing individuals that can withstand extreme events and adapt to changes over time.
T. Elmqvist , C. Folke, and others. 2003. Response diversity, ecosystem change, and resilience. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.
A. Hoffman and C. Sgrò. 2011. Climate change and evolutionary adaptation. Nature. ...
Photo
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linked InShare by Email
Friends of Lower Muskingum River
5 days ago
I've heard some younger people suggest that we begin using QR codes. Use the QR code reader on your phone to go directly to the web pages for more info or to sign-up. If you can't use these I have the links below.
www.muskingumriver.org/about/
www.muskingumriver.org/membership-2/
www.muskingumriver.org/volunteer/
www.muskingumriver.org/donate/ ...
Photo
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linked InShare by Email
Friends of Lower Muskingum River
5 days ago
I want to share with everyone what FLMR does on a normal day. I've found that many people don't understand our organization so I'm trying to remedy that. This was taken last week when I was monitoring Reno. Please volunteer to monitor! ...
Video
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linked InShare by Email
Friends of Lower Muskingum River
5 days ago
I get a lot of blank stares when I tell people that FLMR is a land trust, so I thought it might be helpful to let people know what a land trust is. After-all, land trusts are not commonly understood and I didn't know about them until I became Executive Director of FLMR a year ago. I still have people refer to us as a watershed and this is inaccurate. We narrowed our focus to land in the Lower Muskingum River Valley in 2014. Our goals are to protect water by protecting land and manage land for endangered species, wildlife, and recreation.
Source: Conservation Tools Pennsylvania Land Trust Association ...
Photo
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linked InShare by Email