In the summer of 2022, Brad Lightle met with Tecumseh Land Trust staff to discuss protecting his brother’s property in
Cedarville Township.  Brad, and his mother Cheryl, wanted to honor Rob by forever preserving the 14 acres that he dearly loved.  Rob had been stewarding this land for years with its wetlands, woods, springs, and creek. 

What is so unusual about the Lightle property are the abundant and diverse natural resource features.  Four springs can be found along the backside of the buildings.  Nathan Weber, Wetland Team Leader for the Natural Resource Conservation Service, visited the property to identify and categorize the wetlands on the property.  Nathan found 2.8 acres of riverine-emergent wetlands, and a half-acre of riverine-oxbow wetland.  There is almost 2,600 feet of meandering Massie’s Creek running through this land along with a prominent and functioning floodplain.  The emergent wetlands are broad, low-lying depressions within the floodplain.  These areas are inundated during flood events and stay saturated.  The oxbow wetland is either part of the old stream channel or scours from previous flood events.  Both wetlands are holding and filtering water during high flood events.   

The house on the property was built in the mid-1800s – a two story, white brick house with double-decker back porches that look out over the 13 acres of native habitat.  The land around the house is used for gardens, chickens, and most importantly, rescued pets. 

For a property of its size, the Lightle property is providing a great service to the ecosystem and to built surfaces by holding and filtering water, providing habitat for wildlife -both land and aquatic, and capturing carbon.  These types of properties are rare in our part of Ohio and TLT is happy to ensure its
contributions to bettering the environment are here to stay.