POST receives easement on 191 acres of Skyline forest POST receives easement on 191 acres of Skyline forest (July 07, 2004)

When Dr. Frances Conley of Woodside wanted to preserve 191 acres of second-growth forest that had been her parents' weekend retreat for 40 years, she donated a conservation easement to the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST).

The land, located on the west slope of the Santa Cruz Mountains near the intersection of Skyline Boulevard and Highway 9, belonged to Dr. Conley's parents, the late Konrad and Kathryn Krauskopf. She owns the property as surviving trustee of the Krauskopf Family Trust.

"This is a gorgeous piece of land, a beautiful redwood forest," said Dr. Conley, former chief of staff at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, and a professor of neurosurgery at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The 191 acres, which rise from 950 to 1,900 feet, are covered by second-growth redwood, Douglas fir, oak and madrone.

"My folks adored the land and felt it should remain the way it is, without big homes or high-rises," Dr. Conley said. "They wanted it to be their legacy. This easement assures that the land will be preserved forever in its present state and never developed."

POST President Audrey Rust welcomed the gift of the conservation easement, appraised at $1.35 million. "The easement recognizes the family's longtime commitment to conservation," she said. "We hope their gift inspires others like it."

The conservation easement, a voluntary legal agreement between the landowner and POST, restricts development and protects resources on the land, while allowing it to remain in private ownership.

"I didn't want to let a developer come in and put a lot of houses on it," said Dr. Conley, who retired in 2000 after 25 years on the faculty at the Stanford Medical School. "The easement seemed like a nice way to honor my folks."

POST, a private, nonprofit land trust based in Menlo Park, has saved more than 50,000 acres on the Peninsula as permanent open space and parkland. It is currently focusing on its $200 million "Saving the Endangered Coast" campaign, which has already preserved 11,350 acres of coastal land.

For more information, call POST Director of Communications Deirdre Holbrook at 854-7696.

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