A stretch of canyon land south of Twin Falls is staying open, and open to the public, after an Idaho couple chose conservation over development.

As KMVT reported, Charlie and Melody Lenkner donated 330 acres for the Cottonwood Canyon Nature Preserve through the Magic Valley Land Trust.

The couple bought the land in the 1980s for their grass-fed beef business, but later came to see it differently.

“The deer were coming down here for refuge and you could see that it was an oasis for them,” Melody Lenkner said.

The land supports mule deer, bobcats, river otters, owls and rare birds.

Housing developers made multiple offers on the property, but the Lenkners chose to donate it instead.

Karl Ruprecht, president of the Magic Valley Land Trust, called the donation one of the organisation’s most significant projects, according to KMVT.

Melody Lenkner said preserving the land “as an ecosystem that can exist like it used to” was important to the family.

The trust hopes to open the preserve to visitors within the next year and plans to build trails before opening it to the public.

Motorised vehicles will be prohibited, with the trust saying that will help keep the area quieter and reduce disturbances to wildlife.

“The plan is to have it free … just going to be a quiet place for humans to interact with wildlife,” Ruprecht said.

The Lenkners also hope the land can be used for education, helping visitors better understand the local ecosystem and the role wildlife plays in everyday life.

“To think about this place being full of houses was just anathema to us,” Melody Lenkner said, per KMVT.

Charlie Lenkner said he hoped the preserve would offer “An appreciation for nature and a chance to study, you know, the ecosystem such as it is here, which is what it used to be in a way.”

Read more from The Cool Down.