Daughter convinces dad to give away $14 million property to conservation group

Marty Kehoe had planned to build 32 multimillion-dollar homes on the property, but instead gifted the land to the Audubon Society, according to the Willamette Week.

“As a family, we talked a lot about this,” Kehoe said in a statement to the Week. “We loved the property and felt that it would make a wonderful gift -- not only to the Portland Audubon, but as a permanent gift to the whole city."

It was Kehoe's daughter, Katherine Lynn Kehoe, who convinced her father to help preserve the forest, KPTV reported.

"It was kind of just a no-brainer for my sister, and she's very persuasive and uh, my dad obliged to that," Shannon Kehoe told the news station.

The executive director of the Portland Audubon chapter, Nick Hardigg, said the group has been fighting to preserve forestland in the region for over a century, the Week reported.

“We also recognized that this would be one of the most valuable gifts to Portland Audubon ever - worth millions - and we are incredibly grateful to the Kehoe family,” Hardigg said.

Shannon Kehoe said she's glad her father made the decision to give the group the land.
"I'm really proud of my dad because like you said, the thing that he's known for is not necessarily conservation, it's a lot of development … so, it's nice to have a change of pace and see 22 acres of land preserved forever, that's pretty huge," she told KPTV.

The donated land was named the Katherine Lynn Kehoe Sanctuary. It is covered in fir and deciduous trees and is home to various wildlife.

The Audubon Society said it plans to restore the land, remove invasive species and create trails.