According to Spokane Public Radio, a northeast Washington couple is turning decades of quiet, hands-on work into a lasting gift for generations to come.
Lynn and Becky Miner have donated their 100-acre tree farm near Chewelah to Washington State University Extension Forestry, ensuring the land they restored over 30 years will continue to thrive as a living classroom and working forest.
The Miners purchased the land in 1992 with plans to build a log home and start a tree farm, despite having no background in forestry. What they found instead was a forest shaped by poor logging practices dating back to the 1880s. Over the next three decades, they carefully reshaped it, planting more than 11,000 ponderosa pine and western larch trees and installing over 700 nest boxes.
The transformation was dramatic. What was once a quiet landscape with few birds is now home to more than 80 species of birds and small animals.
After years of intensive labor, often 20 hours a week on top of full-time jobs, the Miners told Spokane Public Radio they began thinking about the land’s future. Selling it was never an option, and with no family able to manage it, they chose to donate it to WSU so it could remain a preserved, working forest.
WSU state extension forester Andy Perleberg called the donation a special gift, noting it will be used to help students, researchers, and small forest landowners learn practical solutions for forest health, wildfire risk reduction, and sustainable land management.
The land is already being used for forestry research, entomology studies, outdoor recreation projects, and future training opportunities, and it will remain accessible to the wider community.
For the Miners, the goal was simple: leave the world better than they found it. And now, thanks to their generosity, a once-mismanaged forest is growing into a shared resource for education, wildlife, and the future of Washington’s forests.
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