Crown Hill Farm - Easement
This conservation easement, signed in 2002, was the first established by a SWCD in Oregon!
The purpose was to protect a 720 acre parcel of agriculture and forest land from sub-division or non-agriculture uses. The Grantor for the Crown Hill Easement was Lucien and Juliette Gunderman and the 720 acre property is located along Baker Creek Road west of McMinnville. Previous to establishing the conservation easement the Gunderman operation received statewide conservation honors from Oregon Department of Agriculture for all the practices they have implemented.
Stan Christensen and Stephanie Page from YSWCD present Lucien and Juliette Gunderman their conservation award.
Some of the side benefits to the public related to this easement include a large parcel of land protected for wildlife habitat and also water quantity and quality protection. The property is a valuable resource for water that supplies Baker Creek. So much so that Lucien has established a small micro-hydro plant to turn water power into electric power that is fed back into the McMinnville grid system.
Scenic overlook at the top of Crown Hill Farm
