Sorry to hear it, kat. A very compassionate song that touches on this is John Gorka's "Houses in the Fields."

Sometimes the Nature Conservancy has achieved what you wished for, Kat, a way to "keep the old places intact and free from the clutter." In some cases they've been able to purchase land at close to market value and come up with arrangements so that the original owners have tenancy or easements so that they can continue farming / ranching etc. Obviously this only happens when the land in question is critical to maintaining biodiversity (any chance of a rare salamander or a patch of remnant prairie?). Something to think about. Margaret