Chinkapin Bluff Conservation Easement

The Chinkapin Bluff Conservation Easement was donated to Greenbelt in late 2022 by landowners David Galat and Diana Papoulias. The property is located at the western edge of Callaway County near Millersburg, within the bounds of the Cedar Creek District of the Mark Twain National Forest and less than a mile away from the Little Dixie Lake Conservation Area, and it features approximately 1.75 miles of frontage along Cedar Creek, which forms the boundary between Callaway and Boone Counties.

The property contains approximately 144 acres of unimproved land, about ¾ of which is wooded. Other portions of the property consist of grassland, some of which has been restored with native prairie grasses; a large pond/wetland complex; a building envelope containing the landowners’ home, a barn, other agricultural structures, and a Japanese-style guest house; and a black walnut orchard that is managed for nut production as well as for potential timber harvesting purposes. The walnut farming (and potential timber harvesting) aspect of the property is consistent with Greenbelt’s goal, under the Working Lands initiative, of conserving farmland for sustainable agricultural production by current as well as future generations of farmers. Meanwhile, the woodlands that occupy most of the property serve as a scenic amenity to the surrounding area, provide high-quality habitat for endangered Indiana bat populations, and function as a critical riparian buffer for Cedar Creek. There are also some visible karst geology features, including limestone bluffs above Cedar Creek.

The conservation easement placed on the property provides substantial protection against two potential threats: conversion to industrial-scale grain agriculture, which is prevalent in the surrounding area; and subdivision for large-lot residential development, which has already been done on nearby properties based on the land’s scenic value and its proximity to the rapidly growing city of Columbia.