The road to preservation

Linda Bering and her first husband were looking for a quiet place in the country. This was 50 years ago. They found the perfect spot just outside Johnstown.

“It was about as far out as we could still drive and work in Columbus,” she said. That was before there were any good roads out this way.

They found 14 acres set back off the road, the house surrounded by woods.

Years later, when her current husband Bill Bering came into her life, he purchased the adjoining 14 acres. They created a horse farm and maintained walking paths through the woods.

Today the couple is reverent when they talk about what the land has come to mean to them.

Bill describes stepping out into the woods one day when it was snowing. “The silence was profound. And it was a dark gray day. It was like an old black-and-white photo. I just stopped and stood there and soaked it all in, you know?”

He says, “I've had cancer and I can't imagine that it would have been as easy for me to handle what I had to go through if I didn't have the property here and the quiet and the peacefulness.”

Linda feels a connection to the animal life on the property, including the deer, raccoons, opossums, the ducks at the pond, the migratory birds in the spring. And, of course, their horses.

There’s a large maple tree in the woods that was struck by lightning and killed. They leave it standing. It’s habitat.

She says, “We have quite a relationship with the animals here, and the place is really a nature preserve the way we operate it.”

They’ve watched the development in the Johnstown area with a great deal of sadness. And it’s made them want to preserve their land, and maybe even set an example for their younger neighbors.

The Berings on the wooded section of their property. To the left is one of the paths they maintain. To the left off camera is a small pond. Credit: Doug Swift.

The Berings on the wooded section of their property. To the left is one of the paths they maintain. To the left off camera is a small pond. Credit: Doug Swift.

The Bering's horse farm. Credit: Doug Swift.

Linda and Bill Bering, with Spring, a very friendly gelding. Credit: Doug Swift.

Spring, a male gelding, in his barn. The Berings have two more horses, a big draft cross mare, Missy, and a paint mare, Foxie. Credit: Doug Swift.

Linda talked to Bill about putting their property into a conservation easement so that whoever owned it next could not subdivide or develop it in any way. He was on board, but hadn’t acted on it yet.

Then a daughter and son-in-law visited. The son-in-law, a developer, mentioned that “he could put five or six houses in that horse pasture over there,” Linda said.

She added, “The next morning, Bill called Jeremy.”

“Jeremy” is Jeremy King. He chairs the Board of Directors for the Licking Land Trust.

It’s an organization which protects green space, farmland, and natural landscape in and around Licking County, according to its website.

King says that conservation easements are central to this work. That’s the legal arrangement the Berings worked out with the Licking Land Trust. In this case, the Berings created a conservation easement, and the Licking Land Trust agreed to oversee that trust in perpetuity.

Though this conservation easement is now tied to their property, the Berings were surprised to learn that the value of their property did not depreciate. In fact, it may appreciate as properties of that size and natural character become more rare in western Licking County.

King says that “Over the last four years the land trust has put eight properties into protective easements and we've seen a marked uptick in interest for protecting land.”

For context, the land trust protected 3 properties in the 10 years before that. Says King, “We've noted that the announcement of Intel combined with other development in western Licking County has contributed to this surge. In particular, we closed on two properties this year that were on our radar a decade ago. The owners of each property finally felt the sense of urgency to get these easements done.”

The Licking Land Trust protects over 1,800 acres of land in and near Licking County through both conservation and agricultural easements.

There’s a second, less common way that landowners can protect their property. That is to actually donate it to the Licking Land Trust, which will then turn it into a reserve or preserve. Spring Valley Nature Preserve is one of their model properties of this type.

Spring Valley Nature Preserve. Credit: LLT website.

Spring Valley Nature Preserve. Credit: LLT website.

The Land Trust hosts free events as a public service and to fulfill its mission and raise awareness of green spaces, says King.

In Fall 2025 the Land Trust hosted author Guy Denny, who spoke on the history of Ohio prairies, and on how to introduce one in a yard or farm. There was an autumn equinox celebration at Infirmary Mound Park cohosted by dozens of organizations.

And then there was the third annual Community BioBlitz.

Jeremy King, right, giving the lay of the land at the third annual BioBlitz. Credit: Doug Swift.

Jeremy King, right, giving the lay of the land at the third annual BioBlitz. Credit: Doug Swift.

It was held at Fryman Reserve. Community members were invited to document all species they could find on the property in a 2-hour window. This was done by using iNaturalist. Participants uploaded their finds into a project folder, which will ultimately help monitor the health of the property long term.

This event is unique since it invites amateur naturalists to work beside scientists. Children participate as well. It is an immersion into what “green space” actually means.

Andy McCall, a volunteer for the Licking Land Trust and a biology professor at Denison University, said during the event, that “biodiversity is something we talk about, but maybe we don’t understand how valuable it is.”

Experience the event, and see how many species were discovered, in the short documentary below.

For more information about the Licking Land Trust, visit their website, lickinglandtrust.org.

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