Mark Geyer says the deal he signed last week to sell land around Greenleaf and Sioux lakes offers the best of both worlds.

Not only was he paid for his land — something Geyer described as a nice financial reward — but he will be able to continue to visit and enjoy the land for as long as he wants. The $3.2 million deal with Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota to sell 265 acres, with an option to sell another 120 acres, provides the first — and most important — piece of land for what will become Greenleaf Lake State Recreation Area. As far as Geyer is concerned, his part  of the story should end there. “I got  paid,” he said last week.

There’s much more to Geyer’s story though, and the fact is that it has little do with money.

His land — including about 2.5 miles of shoreline around Greenleaf and Sioux Lakes — obviously will be an integral part of the recreation area.

His determination, patience and unflagging belief that the land should be preserved for public use were the real driving forces that made it all possible.

The Excelsior, Minn., resident purchased his first piece of property on the south end of Greenleaf Lake in the mid-1980s. He saw the land as the perfect retreat, a place where he and his family could enjoy the outdoors.
The tranquility and natural state of the area were threatened in 1990, though, when a developer proposed a housing development on the northeast shore of the lake. Geyer was among many Ellsworth Township residents who rose in protest of the idea. It was at that time that he made his boldest commitment to preserving the area.

He was quoted in the Aug. 9, 1990, issue of the Independent Review as telling the Meeker County Planning Commission that his land would never be developed and that he was willing to sign a deal then with the Department of Natural Resources or Meeker County guaranteeing it.

Greenleaf Lake was one of only two undeveloped recreational lakes in the county (Lake Willie was the other), and to allow the proposed 18-lot “Greenleaf Hideaway” would be “a rape of nature — an absolute outrage,” Geyer said.

Eventually, Geyer went beyond simple opposition and put his money where his mouth was. He worked a deal to purchase the 125-acre parcel, keeping it out of developers’ hands.
Geyer went on to purchase three other smaller parcels through the years — purchases for which he says his wife, Mary, “was very tolerant.”

Then, in the late 1990s, when the DNR sought input on locating a state park in the Meeker and McLeod county area, Geyer suggested the Greenleaf area might be the perfect spot. The DNR agreed.

Anyone who’s followed this story knows that’s far from the end of the saga. After the DNR said it was interested, it said it wasn’t. And then it changed its mind and instead of state park  proposed a recreation area.

Meanwhile, Geyer waited. He easily could have sold his land to a developer, but he stood firmly by his commitment to preservation. It wasn’t always easy and Geyer admits now he was frustrated at times by the two-steps-forward-one-step-back process of first getting the DNR on board and then negotiating the sale of his land with the Parks & Trails Council. But he expressed no regrets — only a little sadness.

“I’ve had it for a long time,” Geyer said. “We had a lot of fun with it. But this was important. This was the right thing to do.”

Geyer heaped praise on many other people and organizations — Rep. Dean  Urdahl, Sen. Steve Dille, Meeker County commissioners, the DNR, Parks &  Trails — for making the dream reality. “So many people have been so important in this whole project, it’s difficult to single anyone out,” he said.

Perhaps for Geyer it is. He’s right that many people have played roles in the Greenleaf story to this point. But none more important than his own, though to suggest that to Geyer only seems to embarrass him. He remains true to his original goal.

But it is the people of Meeker, McLeod and neighboring counties who should heap praise on Geyer. We owe a great deal of gratitude to a man — with no ties to the area — who was determined to preserve a bit of nature for all of us to enjoy.