Ebeltoft/Eppling and Fischer/Herbst/Thorps Landowners of the Year

By Robert Williams

Editor

For more than 100 years, the Ebeltoft/Eppling and Fischer/Herbst/Thorp families have cared for the land on which they have lived just outside of Frazee’s city limits. This month, a decade of discussions was completed resulting with the Minnesota Land Trust bestowing upon the families the Landowner of the Year award at the Trust’s Treasured Places event in St. Anthony on Wednesday, Oct. 2.

“This land, our home, has been shaped by the literal blood, sweat, and tears of my family—generation after generation,” Marty Thorp said in his acceptance speech. “They worked the soil, built the fences, weathered the storms, planted the trees-ensuring this land was not just productive, but alive with stories, memories, and purpose. I am reminded every day that we walk in their footsteps, trying daily to fill their gigantic shoes.”

Every year, the Minnesota Land Trust acknowledges an outstanding land steward who has taken the important step of protecting their land permanently with a conservation easement.

In many cases, these landowners go above and beyond, performing restoration work or partnering with Minnesota Land Trust to increase access to nature experiences through a program like Ambassador Lands. 

The support of caring, conservation-minded private landowners is essential to ensure the places people all love are protected in perpetuity.

According to the introductory speech given at the event, the family’s ties to the land date back to the early 1890s when Ike Fischer’s grandparents purchased the land.  

“I believe 1896 is what we’ve narrowed it down to as the first time Herman Fischer was on record purchasing it,” Marty Thorp said.

In the mid 1950s, the family farm expanded when Ike’s sister Rose and her husband Bill Ebeltoft purchased adjacent land and began their own farming operation. Over the years, and long before the properties were protected with conservation easements, the family farms served the local community in myriad ways.  

Cross country skiing trails were created for public use and enjoyment, upwards of 100,000 have been planted, and thousands of school kids came out to the property over a 50-year period to learn about plants, animals and conservation practices.

“Ike made a lot of movement toward trying to make it a community place with the ski trails and working toward that so other people can come out and appreciate it,” Marty said.

Talks with the Land Trust about protecting the family farms started in 2004. It took a little time, but good things are worth waiting for, and in 2013 five separate conservation easements were completed between the Ebeltoft/Eppling and Fischer/Herbst/Thorp families, resulting in nearly 500 acres of forest, wetlands, and working farmlands being permanently protected, including more than three miles of shoreline on six different lakes. 

Today, some of the properties have been transferred to the next generations, but a strong conservation ethic remains. Case in point: just a couple years ago, Great River Energy approached the Land Trust and family to announce their intention to expand a utility easement passing through a portion of the protected land. Despite the strong cards the utility holds with their power of eminent domain, the family was not about to be steamrolled by a poorly executed easement. Together with Marty’s predecessor Sue Steinwall, the family fought successfully to negotiate an easement that required Great River Energy to perform restoration on the property to the tune of about $66,000 worth of native grass, forb, and shrub plantings.

“Our families joined forces with the Minnesota Land Trust in October 2013, it was the culmination of 10 years of discussion,” said Lori Fischer Thorp. “Original trust participants were Sandy Ebeltoft Eppling’s mother Rose Ebeltoft (my dad’s sister), my folks Albert “Ike” and Larene Fischer, my husband Don and I, and my cousin Roger Herbst. 

Sandy’s grandfather used to run the drug store in Frazee and her parents purchased an adjoining two parcels for them to retire upon. Her father teamed up with Ike Fischer to purchase the “Fox farm,” which is not part of the conservation easement but is part of the farm.

When the land, which lies in both Becker and Otter Tail Counties, was inherited by Sandy and her sister the two split the land up with each sister taking the land in one of the particular counties.

Other than one section that is rented out for alfalfa, the rest of Eppling’s land is in the conservation easement or part of the Board of Water and Soil Resources’ Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). There is lakeshore on two adjoining lakes. At one point, the land was all pastured, but has since returned to its natural state.

“Ike was very much for that once they decided to not raise cattle anymore,” Sandy said. 

The land is also home to a diverse collection of wildlife.

“Pretty amazing,” Sandy said. “I had some visitors this summer who hadn’t been there for a long time. We were talking about the loons leaving early and sure enough a loon came in and yodeled at them.”

Sandy attended one of the Trust’s forestry restoration seminars to aid in helping return a wooded portion of her property to its natural state.

“A lot of the trees that Ike planted and dad planted in the ‘50’s need to be managed to be made into a more natural habitat,” Sandy said. “There’s more stuff to do.”

Continuing to preserve the land and finding ways to share it is a communal thought and one that makes the Frazee families stand out in the list of Land Trust award nominees dating back to 2010. Many of the nominees are couples or maybe a family of four. The combined families from Frazee standout in the list by having three generations in just their photo of family who attended the event.

“One of the reasons for the award, I’d say, is how we worked together as a whole family unit,” Roger Thorp said. “This award is basically commending us on being able to stick together even though we’ve had five different parts of the family—we were able to work together to preserve it for everyone.”

Roger and his wife Kayla and two-year-old son Kaiser, along with brother Marty and his wife Toni are the next generation of family members to take over duties. Don and Lori passed the properties to the brothers and their wives. There are plenty of projects to work on.

“We’d like to restore all the buildings because those are all pre-1900,” Toni said.

All of those projects come with their own special memories, those of the family and those who used to visit.

“Uncle Bud used to have a resort and we still have people that come back with good memories from the 50’s,” said Kayla Thorp.

For the brothers, it’s a family tradition that they take seriously in caring for the land and each other.

“Being stewards of the land is something we all value, taking care of it and preserving it and making sure it’s taken care of for future generations,” said Roger. 

“I thank my lucky stars every day. It’s awe-inspiring,” Marty said. “Thinking about the people that came before us and cared for it and put their love and hard work into it to make it what it is.”

Both of the couples are concentrating on ways to help the community enjoy the property by potentially bringing back cross country running and ski races on the existing trails, or a potential future art installation and working in Frazee with CornerStone Community and Youth Center.

Marty alluded to that in the conclusion of his acceptance speech.

“It’s not just about honoring the past,” he said. “My family and I are committed to carrying this legacy forward, to educating others on the history and importance of this land, and to building memories for generations to come. We are proud to work hand-in-hand with the Minnesota Land Trust to protect and preserve this land.”