Luther Land Stewardship Program receives $500,000 donation

Lifetime conservation enthusiast Donald Nelson has donation $500,000 to the Luther College Land Stewardship Program.  $40,000 of that amount has been set aside to create the Lionberger Preserve Wetland Restoration Project.  The donation brings Nelson's donations to date to $1.3 million for Luther's Land Stewardship Program.

Those donations have been used to fully implement Luther's Land Stewardship Plan, which includes three overarching goals: to support the educational mission of the college; to nurture a connection with place by providing opportunities to explore, enjoy, care for and contemplate the natural world; and to fulfill Luther's responsibility as land stewards by sustaining and restoring the ecological communities placed in Luther's care.
 
The largest portion of the new donation will be used to ensure the long-term investment in land stewardship at Luther and create permanent funding for land stewardship student internships.  The gift also provides funding for smaller projects, such as purchasing native seed.  In addition, $40,000 of Nelson's donation will fund wetland restoration along Ten-Mile Creek, a perennial waterway within the Lionberger Preserve a 180-acre reserve located five miles west of campus which includes terrestrial and aquatic communities and upland woodlands in the bottomlands.

A native of Minneapolis, Nelson began contributing to Luther in 1970 after he purchased farm land in the Rochester area to plant trees. He has no direct connection to Luther, but is drawn to Luther's sustainability efforts.  "Some years ago now when I visited Luther, I was impressed with the campus and thought that working with land stewardship would be very appropriate and helpful in the Luther College area," said Nelson.

Luther began restoring nearly 700 acres of natural areas in 1969, including many remnant and restored habitats. Since 2011, Luther has planted 13 acres of bottomland forest, 25 acres of prairie along the Upper Iowa River and almost three acres of prairie designed to research pollinator habitats.