Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation: Native Son

Though Jim and Jan Gardner’s land was not suitable for conservation protection, they devoted a portion of its sale proceeds to help protect other Iowa lands.

Jim Gardner was raised in Greene County—land of flat, black farms. Though Jim and his wife, Jan, have lived and worked in California for many years, he’d maintained his Iowa connections — most recently as a result of having both inherited land and purchased land in Greene and Guthrie counties.

Jim dreamed that some day he would begin restoring the prairie on at least some of these lands. However, distance and time — the lack of time, the passage of time, and a sense of time left to him — conspired to thwart that dream. He simply wasn’t going to get to it.

So last May, the couple decided to offer their land for sale. As they prepared for the late August auction, they also worked with staff at INHF to arrange a gift for the land, people and wildlife of Iowa: 30% of the proceeds of the sale of 75 acres was to come to the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation.

Auction day was bittersweet. There’d been rain, so the turnout was good and the bidding competitive. About half the land that was auctioned had been in Jim’s family for more than 100 years. Since he no longer had family in the state, the sale spelled a final severing of his physical ties to his boyhood home.

... Except for the gift that Jim and Jan made that day. While they chose not to direct the way in which INHF will use the gift, they trust it will benefit Iowa and Iowans as a lasting gift honoring their roots.