By Bryan Pierce
Northwoods Land Trust Executive Director

It is more than just a bend in the river. Just ask the bald eagles that hunt from towering pines along the entirely natural shoreline. Or the pack of timber wolves that killed a deer on the ice last winter.  Or the otters that slide down the steep banks. Or the ruffed grouse that drum on downed logs in the aspen thickets while the woodcock perform their sky dance overhead at dusk in the spring.  

Or you can ask the occasional paddlers canoeing or kayaking past, enjoying the solitude as they go with the flow. This bend is a place of special beauty, and it always will be thanks to Tim Hagen of Rhinelander.

When Hagen found out this property with 870 feet of entirely natural Wisconsin River frontage was coming up for sale, he knew he wanted to buy it to protect it. Through his River Bend LLC, he did just that last spring when he bought 75 acres of land. He then granted a perpetual land protection agreement, or conservation easement, to the Northwoods Land Trust in December on the 35 acres adjacent to the river.

The agreement will ensure that this special bend in the Wisconsin River will be protected for wildlife and natural scenic beauty forever.

Located below Hat Rapids Dam south of Rhinelander, the protected property is immediately adjacent to land owned by his cousin, Beverly Engstrom. Her 50-acre site was protected with a conservation easement through NWLT in 2006.

Hagen’s land is also located less than a half-mile downstream from Harry and Candy Whidden’s conservation easement-protected farmstead by the dam.

Hagen knew about the Northwoods Land Trust since its inception.  A Certified Financial Planner with Financial Strategies Group (formerly Hagen Financial Planning), he went looking for land trust information earlier for a client, and found there was nothing available in this immediate area.

“It grabbed my attention and I got really interested when I saw the press about this organization forming,” he said. “I thought it was a great thing. I have been pushing the land trust ever since, just trying to encourage people to protect their lands.”

Hagen became even more familiar with the Northwoods Land Trust and the organization’s conservation efforts when he was recruited to the NWLT Board of Directors. He also served a stint as board treasurer. Hagen continues as a volunteer and shares his investment expertise and advice with NWLT.

Family connections

Hagen knew about the property for a long time, and explains his connection to the land.

“My Dad talked about it all the time. It was called Eternicka’s Bend, named after Eternicka’s farm in the vicinity. Bev’s parcel and the parcel just upriver were my Grandfather’s homestead.

"That is why my Dad was so familiar with it and why he referred to it many times. As a kid growing up, he used to knock off big ice chunks, jump on and float down the river until he got down around Eternicka’s Bend. Then the ice chunk would eventually hit shore and he would walk back.

“I grew up on Hat Rapids flowage a mile or two upriver from the property. I used to ride horses up and down Washatko Road past this place as a kid, but I never set foot on the property until I bought it.

"Twenty years ago I became aware of the property as a place to possibly build a house. I contacted the man who owned it, but he was keeping it as a place to build their dream retirement home. I kept in touch with him on and off over the years. A year ago I heard a rumor he was going to sell it, so I contacted him again.

“This part of the Wisconsin River is special. When I was a kid growing up, we used to canoe the Pelican River all the time, and there were very few houses. Now you are canoeing through houses.

“I actually didn’t canoe this stretch of the Wisconsin River much as a kid. On the Wisconsin, we usually did our canoeing right out the back door on the flowage.  But this stretch has always been important to me.” 

So why did Hagen select a conservation easement as a financial planning and land management option for his property?

“To know it is protected, but still own it is probably the key,” he explained. “Unlike some other options, with a conservation easement you also have the ability to pass it on to someone else who appreciates it. But you still know that no matter what happens going forward, it will be protected.

“I’ve seen way too many cases of people who wait too long. They find out that the family member they left their land to, doesn’t treat it the way they treated it. It can be a death, divorce, or other things can happen, and suddenly these lands are worth more to someone developed than they are protected. The conservation easement assures me the land is protected, but it also gives me options going forward."

Tax breaks for easements created in 2008 and 2009

Tim noted that "there are also some financial reasons for me to do the easement this year," as he was aware of the enhanced federal income tax benefits which currently apply to any conservation easement donated in 2008 and 2009. 

Subject to an IRS-standard appraisal, donors can deduct the value of the conservation easement at up to 50 percent of their adjusted gross income in any one year (versus 30 percent normally), and any remaining charitable contribution balance can be carried forward for up to 15 additional years (as opposed to five years with the previous federal tax provisions).

These enhanced federal tax benefits are currently scheduled to end on Dec. 31, 2009.

According to Hagen, most of the property is under the state’s Managed Forest Law (MFL) program. However, there were two reserved building zones excluded from MFL: one on the 35-acre riverfront parcel and one on the adjacent 40-acre forest parcel along the black-topped road.

Through the conservation easement, he is eliminating the building zone on the river, and is currently amending his MFL forest stewardship plan to reflect that change.

“The front 40-acre parcel, right on Washatko Road, will take some additional thought to determine just exactly how that should be protected and dealt with,” Hagen said. “When I initially bought the property, my inclination was to protect the whole 75 acres. But when my financial circumstances changed, I did the river parcel easement first with the idea of adding the second piece later. That piece along the paved road will take more time and consideration, because I’m still undecided as to whether I will allow a building site on it.

“I can say that if neighbors adjacent to this piece of property were to ever put their land into some kind of strong protection, I wouldn’t hesitate to eliminate a building site on this second piece too,” he added. “But without knowing what is going to happen, and to protect myself a little bit financially, I’ll leave that door open for a while.

“It would be nice if this stretch of the Wisconsin River was fully protected from the Hat Rapids dam all the way down to where the state owns property and Lake Alice. That would be the hope, before it becomes too cluttered with homes – but, who knows?” 
 

What Tim Hagen does know, though, is that he and his cousin Bev are certainly doing their part to conserve the Wisconsin River for all of us and future generations to come.  

For more information about the enhanced federal income tax benefits for 2009 donations of conservation easements, contact the NWLT office at 715-479-2490.