191-acre Forest in La Honda Protected By Family's Conservation Easement
June 29, 2004
Menlo Park, Calif. – A prominent Bay Area surgeon has preserved a 191-acre forest in La Honda by donating a conservation easement on the property to Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST).
Dr. Frances Conley, former chief of staff at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System and professor of neurosurgery at the Stanford University School of Medicine, owns the property as the surviving trustee of the Krauskopf Family Trust. Her late parents, Konrad and Kathryn Krauskopf, purchased the land 40 years ago and used it as a weekend retreat.
Located in the Santa Cruz Mountains near the intersection of Skyline Boulevard and Highway 9, the property ranges in elevation from 950 to 1900 feet and is covered by second growth redwood, Douglas fir, oak, and madrone.
"This is a gorgeous piece of land, a beautiful redwood forest," Dr. Conley said. "My folks adored the land and wanted it to remain in its natural, pristine condition. That was really important to them. They wanted it to be their legacy. This easement ensures that the land will be preserved forever in its present state and never developed."
Conservation easements are voluntary legal agreements between landowners and conservation organizations. They allow landowners to restrict development and protect natural resources on their property while retaining private ownership of the land.
"My parents felt the land should remain the way it is, without big homes or high rises," said Dr. Conley, who retired in 2000 after serving 25 years on the Stanford Medical School faculty. " We had inquiries from people who wanted to develop the property, but I didn't want to let a developer come in and break it up into parcels and put a lot of houses on it. The easement seemed like a nice way to honor my folks' wishes and keep the land in the family."
POST President Audrey Rust called the Conley/Krauskopf donation "a very significant gift to POST and to the entire community." The value of the easement was appraised at $1.35 million. "We're delighted that this beautiful piece of land will be permanently protected as open space," Rust said. "The easement recognizes the family's longtime commitment to conservation. We're really grateful to Fran Conley and her parents, and hope their gift inspires others like it."