Linda Snyder has three passions: Preserving her Polk Township farmland, helping to save the Camp Trexler property, and sharing the rich history of the Jonas Bake Oven.

During a ceremony Wednesday afternoon by the bake oven, which is now inside the West End Fairgrounds, Snyder preserved 70 more acres of her 125-acre property. It is next to the Trexler property in Jonas.

“I’m very excited,” Snyder said. “I have been waiting about eight years for this. I didn’t want the land to become a strip mall.”

The Monroe County Agricultural Land Preservation gave Snyder a check for $454,067.52 for the land.

The 70 acres will always be used for agricultural purposes from now on. Only one additional residence can be built on the property, and anything else has to be related to agricultural production.

“Since its inception in 1990, the program has spent $22.2 million to preserve about 8,300 acres in the 125 easements,” said Glenn Beers, chairman of the program.

Years ago, Snyder applied for the program and preserved 25 acres.

“All the applicants come into the program willingly. They talk to their friends in the program,” Beers said.

Snyder still lives in the house she grew up in, which was built in 1940.

The property has orchards of apple, peach and pear trees. Neighbors farm corn and wheat on her property.

This land “has been farmed for four generations. It’s in our blood,” said Snyder, who doesn’t have children or siblings.

She has some cousins and her passion project, which is a petition to save the Camp Trexler property from becoming houses.

When Snyder heard the Jonas Bake Oven was going to be knocked down, she contacted Norm Burger and the other members of the Polk Township Historical Society.

“It’s an old and precious building. What a big operation that was and it took several days,” she said.

The truck carrying the bake oven took up the whole road, she said.

It’s located near the fair museum and the livestock buildings.