The Cladel Easement

Cladel easement signed December 26; a holiday gift for wildlife and people

It was with great pleasure that The Manada Conservancy accepted a conservation easement on the 6.6 acre homestead parcel in East Hanover Township owned by Charles and Nancy Cladel. This parcel, sandwiched between two parcels already owned by The Manada Conservancy (and previously donated by the Cladels), serves to unite all three parcels, creating a nearly 20 acre wildlife preserve, surrounding the historic stone farmhouse just off Meadow Lane.

The easement property contains a pond, significant wetlands, wooded areas, and a variety of habitat types. The Cladels have worked hard to make this property a nature preserve, and the result is that many species have visited and nested here, including a number of rare, threatened or endangered bird species. Charles and Nancy’s reasons for preserving the property can best be expressed by themselves:

“When we first saw our property more than 30 years ago, the 200 year old house was in the process of being resurrected after a long period of abandonment. The surrounding land barely contained a tree as it had been extensively grazed. Even so, the house and land intrigued us. We bought the place and set about planting trees, a garden, flowerbeds, and a small orchard. We gradually refurbished the house, reconstructed the barn and brought the summer kitchen back to life. It has been a joy to live on this historic property and to watch the land revert to a more natural state. It has been fun to catalogue each new species of bird to visit (about 170 species to date), to photograph the butterflies visiting our gardens, and to sit by the warmth of one of our many working fireplaces on cold winter nights.

Our house is now on the National Register of Historic Sites. We cannot assure that the building will not be altered in the future. However by placing a conservation easement on the land, we can help to make certain that there will always be a sense of place surrounding the historic structures. Of at least equal importance is the protection the easement will afford to the habitat that has emerged over the years, habitat that provides living space for so much wildlife and that has, consequently, provided us with so much pleasure. How can one place a value on a flock of bluebirds glistening in the morning light? What is the worth of a freshly emerged swallowtail nectaring in the front garden? These things are priceless to us. We want to protect them. The easement is our way of doing so.”

The Manada Conservancy works with landowners who voluntarily wish to preserve their land. Two different methods of preservation were used for the Cladel preserve: a combination of outright land donation and the donation of the easement on the homestead portion. Two different Eagle Scout Projects have been completed on one ten-acre parcel owned by The Manada Conservancy, and it is hoped that other projects will provide trails, educational opportunities, and public access.

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