Good News Network · 1 day ago

Man Gathers up Family Acres Home to Moose and Mountain Lion and Returns Them to Indian Tribe

Gary Verbrugge spent three decades with the Social Security Administration dreaming of the forest his family had stewarded since leaving Iowa in the early 1900s, only to return and discover it had been logged for profit rather than preserved. At 72, living alone in a cabin with no heirs, he gathered 885 acres -- buying additional parcels from his nieces and nephews -- and placed them under conservation easement before gifting the land to the Kalispel Indian Tribe. The forest, threaded with the Little Spokane River and home to moose, wolves, cougar, and bull trout, will remain wild under the tribe's care, which accepted with "profound gratitude." For Verbrugge, who watches his neighbors through trail cameras, the reward is simple: "To see the wildlife, where they're not aggressive, they're not scared, they're just at home."