By Tribune staff

A rural Viola farm with more than 1,100 acres along the Kickapoo River
has been donated to the Mississippi Valley Conservancy for
preservation, the La Crosse-based land trust announced Tuesday.

The property, valued at $2.5 million, marks the largest single gift to
the conservancy since it started in 1997, and raises the total number
of acres in trust to 11,000 in seven counties, MVC President George
Kerckhove said.

The 1,129 acres came from the Babson family, which for many years
owned the Chicago-based Surge milking machine business.

The land is adjacent to the Tunnelville Cliffs State Natural Area
already owned by the MVC, said Tim Jacobson, executive director of the
conservancy.

“It is an astonishing gift that gives further protection to important
ecological features and wildlife, as well as increasing public access
to this spectacular part of the Wisconsin landscape,” Jacobson said.

Jean Babson said her late husband James, who was president of Babson
Brother Co., bought farms in the area 35 years ago and consolidated
them into a grazing operation with as many as 1,000 beef cattle.

The conservancy plans to use prescribed burns to restore some of the
native habitat, Jacobson said, and will work to control invasive
species on the land.