Working family forestland - the Stage Easement

“Dad was all about growing big trees. For Mom, it was all about the critters,” recalls Helen Stroebel, daughter of the late Al and Marjory Stage and current Stage conservation easement owner, speaking about her family’s forest at the southern edge of Moscow Mountain. “Actually, our family bought this property specifically for our own critters (horses) back in the mid-1960’s, and all the native wildlife and trees were a bonus!”

The family would spend each and every weekend on the mountain when they first purchased the 81-acres—the parents working, and the kids playing. Marjory and Al converted the wheat fields to hay pastures for the stock, and managed the forest for health and longevity. “And, oh, how they loved to build recreational trails and just be on the land!”

Over the decades, the Stages connected with the Idaho Native Plant Society and experienced an evolution, learning the value of native plants and working to restore native ecosystems and eradicate noxious and invasive weeds. Marjory grew to become a true steward of the land, working with wonderful partners like Trish Heekin at the Latah Soil and Water Conservation District and Jacie Jensen of Thorn Creek Native Seed Farm. Before long, a restoration plan was created for the pasture and Marjory became the chief steward of the land she so dearly loved.

Putting protection in place

As development pressure began to grow in earnest along the treeline of Moscow Mountain, the Stages knew they had to do more than just actively manage their land for productive pastures and forest health. In the early 2000’s, they connected with the land trust to ensure that the land they loved so dearly would remain intact, and never face subdivision. This was as much for their love of the land as it was for their love of the community – the Moscow Mountain we know and love today would look very different with dozens of small plots developed where the wheat meets the pines.

The Stage conservation project was completed in 2003, permanently ensuring that creatures great and small would always have a healthy home, working agriculture and sustainable forestry practices could take place, and the land would retain its incredible scenic and open space values for generations to come.

“It was just a few years after the easement was put in place that my parents’ health declined and I moved up to Moscow permanently and started learning the stewardship ropes from my mom after my dad passed. And my, there was a lot to learn. But it has been so wonderful. I’ve always dreamed of living somewhere where I could walk out the door and go hiking or snowshoeing, and now here I am,” muses Helen.

The ending of an era and the turning of a page

When Marjory could no longer care for the land and herself on her own, she was sensitive to the imposition that staying there could cause and didn’t push to remain at home. The family came together and decided that staying where she could thrive was indeed what they were going to do, to which Marjory responded, “oh good, that’s what I wanted all along!”

Despite her failing health, she was so committed to being on the land she loved dearly, to remaining independent, and to helping steward the land for as long and as best she could. In her later years, she would take her walker out and walk the land, dissatisfied with the view from the deck.

“She would scoot off so quietly and make it so far out into the restoration field we had to find her and rescue her with a vehicle. She just wanted to be out there. She was happy as a clam being out on the mountain. And this summer as her final days were coming to a close, all she wanted was to be home and to look out her window onto her own land. And she was.”

Since Marjory’s passing in late July 2022, the property is now in a family partnership between Helen and her brother Morgan. “You just don’t realize the value of the land, of the sense of home and place it created when you’re building your career. I sure didn’t. Now that I’m retired and here full time, I see it. And we are here to carry on Mom and Dad’s legacy and care for the land to a point where the restoration plantings and wildlife habitat are fully grown and thriving, fire mitigation has taken place, and we’re able to welcome university students and faculty to learn on the land and to pass the conservation ethic on to the next generation.”

Your continued support of private land conservation makes this type of conservation and community legacy possible. Thank you so much for sharing the vision of the Stages and other future-focused landowners like them. The preservation of our rich history, heritage, and legacy is all possible because of you.