Hi Everybody! What an inspiring motivational event, 1800 people caring about land conservation gathered in Hartford Connecticut for the Land Trust Alliance’s National Land Conservation Conference. The impact of such land conservation networking, educational seminars and workshops will be with me as a first timer indefinitely! The passion for protecting open space in perpetuity is evident with over 300 hours of training seminars and workshops available in four fast days, not to mention field trips which I would have loved to attend if I didn’t want to learn so much from the wisdom of so many in the land conservation frontier. What I found so incredible was the overall feeling of generational obligation in young people caring about land use today because someone before them cared about land use yesterday and the day before… I myself am now giving greater consideration to what I can do for conservation because my mother served as the founding president of The Idaho Foundation for Parks and Lands in 1972, for 20 years. I have cared for land and conservation since I was a very young girl because my mother encouraged me to and passed it on…in perpetuity! I felted honored to be among the living ghosts that have had the foresight to see into the future. I cannot emphasize the importance of gathering as one among the many conservationists from around the country including international representatives from Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Puerto Rico, Australia and Tasmania to understand collectively what land conservation challenges we face. It says we are all in this together!
Here are some of the issues I heard buzzing at the conference…….
v Trouble budgeting in tough economic times! Don’t forget to give to your favorite land conservation group!
v Accreditation Process – Land Trusts are working hard to become accredited to support the integrity of what land trusts do…
v Land Use Planning – lack of land use planning has resulted in poor regional and state planning organizations are not catching up with the rate of land use changes.
v Land Conversion – agricultural Land is being converted to non-working landscape uses. I.e. landowners sold their land to development, no development took place but the streets are in and the sewer is in and the land use is nonexistent, can’t grow or build. Wetlands are not considered in developmental phases and flooding becomes an overwhelming issue an example would be the Iowa flooding crisis.
v Land Use for Urban farming is disappearing quickly; Baltimore has found 11,000 abandoned lots within the city for conversion, some of which have been repurposed for growing food for the neighborhood. This is working well for Baltimore in reducing gang related crime in degraded areas. I guess they don’t get violent near the garden that used to be their street corner. They moved!
v Wildlife populations overgrazing wildlife areas in cities because of Bio-Islands.
The Solution:
Attending the Land Trust Alliance Conference!
v The best training you can receive re-energizing land conservation within your soul!
v Learn standards and practices from the amazing staff collected for this event!
v Share the message
About The Land Trust Alliance
The Alliance is a national conservation organization that works in three ways to save the places people love. First, we increase the pace of conservation, so more land and natural resources get protected. Second, we enhance the quality of conservation, so the most important lands get protected using the best practices in the business. And third, we ensure the permanence of conservation by creating the laws and resources needed to defend protected land over time. The Land Trust Alliance is based in Washington, D.C., and has several regional offices. Visit www.landtrustalliance.org.
From the Rally Report:
Land Trust Alliance Chair David Anderson welcomed everyone to the 23rd Rally, pointing out that Connecticut has 128 land trusts that together have protected more than 100,000 acres, and the Northeast with 600 land trusts has protected over 3.6 million acres. This is one of the largest gatherings of its kind. This year’s Rally offered more than 100 workshops, 29 seminars, special featured sessions, 12 field trips and four plenary speakers, all touting the “how” and “why” of protecting private land in America. “You’re going to learn an enormous amount here,” Rep. Murphy told attendees. “I hope that when you leave with new skills and a renewed passion that you’ll go home and tell your members of Congress to call Chris Murphy’s office and sign up to be part of this fight.
| With Your Help, the Lame Duck Can Lay a Golden Egg |
| The “lame duck” session of Congress, beginning November 15, could be a unique opportunity to make the enhanced easement incentive permanent — but only if you call your Rep. and both Senators today! Right now is actually a good time to reach their tax staffers back in D.C. (Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121). Remind them how bipartisan this issue is, how we’ve lost a year of conservation, and urge them to make the incentive permanent as part of any year-end tax bill. More |