Private Land Conservation in U.S. Soars (11/18)

Subject: Fwd: Private Land Conservation in U.S. Soars (11/18)
Date: 11/19/2004 11:13:31 AM Eastern Standard Time
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Private Land Conservation in U.S. Soars (11/18)

Source: Land Trust Alliance
Posted by: Land Trust Alliance - archive
Posted on: Nov 18, 2004 @ 4:11 pm
Private Land Conservation in U.S. Soars

For Immediate Release
For more information:
Jim Wyerman, 202-638-4725 X 310
John Bernstein 202-638-4725 X 309


Private Land Conservation in U.S. Soars

Land Trusts Double the Acres Under Protection

Washington, D.C., Nov. 18 – As communities across America each grapple with how to deal with development sprawl that is eating up 2 million acres a year, thousands of quiet success stories lie behind the 1500 land trusts that are successfully conserving farmland, forests, coastal land and scenic vistas. These nonprofit groups have doubled the acreage protected just 5 years ago and are now protecting more than 800,000 new acres each year. Typically land trusts either buy land outright or work out private, voluntary land agreements that limit future development.

The Land Trust Alliance, a national association representing land trusts since 1982, today released its census of progress made over the last 5 years. The nation’s local and regional land trusts have conserved over 9 million acres as of December 31, 2003, doubling the acreage protected just 5 years ago and creating an “everlasting legacy on the land,” according to the Land Trust Alliance’s President Rand Wentworth. Indicating their growing popularity at the local level, new land trusts are being formed at the rate of 2 per week, with the fastest-growing region being the West.

Said Wentworth, “The mission of land trusts is not just to save land, but to protect the traditional lifestyles of a community, a way of life that remains connected to that land. This can mean saving the family farm, setting up a community garden or urban park, ensuring the sustainability of a Southeastern forest, or conserving ranchland in the American West.”

He attributes the success of land trusts to their grassroots nature and their entrepreneurial spirit. “These groups—many of them all volunteer—represent the best of community spirit in America, bringing people together to protect some unique piece of land that, for them, helps define what makes their community unique.” Wentworth stressed that land trusts work solely through voluntary private transactions, often fulfilling a landowner’s wish to keep their land as it is for their children and future generations.

Despite this progress, Wentworth and his land trust colleagues cite cause for alarm. "The current rate of development essentially means that we have at most 20 years to protect our most cherished landscapes before they are lost forever," said Wentworth. "Private land trusts are our last best hope, particularly now that deficits will severely limit the ability of the federal government to conserve new lands. Land trusts are vitally needed to do this work.”
The National Land Trust Census, the nation’s only tabulation of the achievements of the private, voluntary land conservation movement, describes how people in their own communities are helping to safeguard water quality, preserve working farms and ranches, and protect wildlife habitat and other natural areas. The Land Trust Alliance’s Census identified several milestones:

• Local and regional land trusts have now protected 9,361,600 acres of natural areas, an area four times the size of Yellowstone National Park. This is double the 4.7 million acres protected as of 1998. Although this Census tallies data only from local and regional land trusts, national land trusts have protected an additional 25 million acres.

• A record 5 million acres were protected through voluntary land conservation agreements, more than triple the amount (1.4 million acres) protected just five years ago.

• A record 1,526 local and regional land trusts were in operation in 2003, a 26 percent increase over the number (1213) that existed in 1998.

During the last five years, the land trust community has seen growth in many areas:

• California, Maine and Colorado led the nation in the amount of acreage protected by local and regional land trusts. Land trusts in the Northeast (ME, NH, MA, NY, CT, VT, RI) protected a total of 2.9 million acres.

• Percentage increase in land protected was highest in the Pacific and Southeast. In the Pacific (CA, NV, HI), protected lands jumped 147 percent to 1,521,007 acres, up from 614,796 acres protected as of 1998. In second place, the Southeast (AL, AR, FL, GA, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN) experienced a 123 percent increase in protected acreage – 648,895 acres in 1998 compared to 291,413 acres five years earlier.

• The Southwest (AZ, CO, NM, OK, TX, UT) and Pacific regions saw the most rapid growth in the number of land trusts. Southwest region land trusts numbered 70 in 1998 versus 107 in 2003. Pacific land trusts grew from 127 to 189 over the same period.

• California now leads the nation in numbers of land trusts with 173, followed by Massachusetts, the birthplace of land trusts, with 154 nonprofit land conservation organizations. Connecticut is third with 125.

Land trusts protect different land types, with the most common ranked as: 1) habitat for plants or wildlife, 2) open space, 3) working farms or ranchlands, and 4) working forests. “The dramatic growth of land trusts and acres protected show that private conservation initiatives are successful at the local level. We are doubling the pace of conservation and we are doing it in a nonregulatory way that respects private property and is supported by local communities,” said the Land Trust Alliance’s Wentworth. “Land trusts are the vanguard of land conservation in the 21st Century.”

Additional information about the National Land Trust Census, along with a state-by-state summary of acreage protected, is available on the Land Trust Alliance Web site, www.lta.org. The Land Trust Alliance is headquartered in Washington, DC, with regional offices.
1331 H St, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20005. Phone 202-638-4725. Fax 202-638-4730.