For 16 years, Michael Blehar and Beth Evans have had their very own cabin in the woods in Cook Township.

The vacation cabin is on property — part woodland, part open field — that fronts Fourmile Run and has been a haven for the family for years.

“When the opportunity came to buy this little cabin in the woods, we jumped at it. It’s been a fantastic place for family recreation,” said Blehar, an Indiana County native who lives in Mt. Lebanon.

Now the couple has jumped at another opportunity — this time to ensure the property stays an undisturbed haven.

They have placed 22 acres under conservation easement through the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, a Pittsburgh-based organization that seeks to protect land in the Ligonier Valley from unnecessary development.

The donated easement took effect in December but was announced recently by the conservancy.

“We would never want to see this property developed,” Blehar said, “so we thought, ‘Let’s do something good for conservation and preserve this land so it’s never developed.’ ”

The couple then approached the conservancy about the easement, through which they retain full use of their property but with certain restrictions.

“I’ve agreed not to build on the property or develop the property. You and the conservancy agree on the contingencies,” Blehar said.

As the easement holder, the conservancy — an accredited land trust — is responsible for monitoring the property through annual visits and offers itself as a resource to the landowner, said Shaun Fenlon, the group’s vice president for land conservation.

“It allows a landowner to live there and enjoy it … but then it also protects the inherent values of that property,” he said.

Fenlon said this most recent easement is part of a larger, ongoing effort by the conservancy to preserve land in the Ligonier Valley.

“That valley between Chestnut and Laurel Ridge is of interest to us. There’s a lot of conservation on the tops of the ridges, but not so much in the valleys,” he said. “For us, there’s an opportunity to really make some inroads and protect some valuable conservation land in the lower valley in between the ridges.”

The conservancy has about 10,000 acres of the Ligonier Valley — Cook, Donegal, Fairfield and Ligonier townships, along with Ligonier Borough — under protection through more than 100 conservation easements, he said.

The Blehar-Evans property includes 1,000 feet of frontage on Fourmile Run, a tributary to Loyalhanna Creek that is annually stocked with rainbow and brown trout, according to the conservancy.

The riparian area along Fourmile Run is entirely forested, which helps improve and protect the water quality and aquatic life. The conservation easement will keep the property’s eight-acre forested riparian area intact and protect a scenic corridor of open space along Fourmile Run, the conservancy said.

Blehar said he hopes the easement encourages other Westmoreland County landowners to take similar action. “It’s a good thing for other people to consider doing,” he said.

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