Washington, DC - The Land Trust Alliance recently established
a 19-member steering committee
of volunteer and professional land conservationists from around
the country to guide it in designing programs to respond to
new challenges to land trusts’ ability to continue and
sustain their conservation work.
Jay Espy, president of Maine Coast Heritage
Trust and co-chair of the committee commented on the importance
of the work ahead, "the land trust community is an important
force in land conservation and we need to figure out how best
to keep the public’s trust in, and support for, our
work in an environment of increased public scrutiny, increased
competition for resources and increased potential for abuse
of tax benefits."
The Standards and Practices Program Design
Steering Committee will advise Land Trust Alliance on programs to enable land
trusts to effectively implement Land Trust
Standards and Practices and to demonstrate to the
public their progress in doing so. The committee will evaluate
training, assessment and credentialing options in making its
recommendations to Land Trust Alliance. The committee will seek the advice
and counsel of the land trust community throughout the process,
and report to the Land Trust Alliance's Board of Directors
by summer 2005 with feasible, practical recommendations that
serve the best interests of all land trusts, regardless of
size, location, or specific mission.
The committee met for the first time on October
27th, a day before the LTA Rally
in Providence, RI. LTA Rally participants had the opportunity
to hear Land Trust Alliance president, Rand Wentworth’s, keynote
address that stressed the need for action. In his remarks
Wentworth spoke of the gains land trusts have made in land
conservation across the nation, but also commented on the
growing threats to the ability to protect land, including
media attacks and the potential for government regulation
of land trusts. Wentworth noted that the revised Land
Trust Standards and Practices are one tool to help address
the ethical and technical challenges facing land trusts.
Committee co-chair Larry Kueter, a Denver
attorney and counsel to the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural
Land Trust, offered this comment, "after serving on the
advisory team for
the revisions to Land Trust Standards and Practices
I know that comments from the land trust community made the
standards a much better document. We pledge to do the same
with this process by listening to land trusts." In his
opening remarks to the committee Mr. Kueter stressed that
the credibility and sustainability of land trusts is absolutely
essential to meeting the public promises land trusts have
made.
In announcing the formation of the committee,
Wentworth noted that "the committee represents the breadth
and depth of the land conservation community and is eager
to hear from land trusts as it moves forward." The committee
will provide the land trust community with an update on its
work and opportunity for comment in early December. It will
post regular updates and information. The committee hopes
that land trusts will take the time to be involved in this
process and will schedule additional opportunities for comment
soon.
Standards and Practices Program Design
Steering Committee Members
David Anderson, Land Trust Alliance Board and Land Trust for Santa Barbara
County (CA)
Mary Bradford-White, Barrington Hills Conservation Trust (IL)
Lois DeBacker, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation (MI)
Michael Dennis, Land Trust Alliance Board and The Nature Conservancy (VA)
Vicki Elkin, Gathering Waters Conservancy (WI)
Jay Espy, Maine Coast Heritage Trust (co-chair)
John Hoffnagle, Land Trust of Napa County (CA)
Steve Horn, California Coastal Conservancy
Larry Kueter, of Counsel to Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural
Land Trust and
Isaacson, Rosenbaum, Woods & Levy, PC (co-chair)
Bill Long, Montana Land Reliance
Ted Mascott, Thousand Islands Land Trust (NY)
Kevin McGorty, Red Hills Conservation Program/Tall Timbers
Research Station (FL)
Dale Schumacher, Rockburn Land Trust (MD)
Marc Smiley, Organizational Management (OR)
Ed Speir, Georgia Environmental Policy Institute
Peter Stein, Lyme Timber and LTC Conservation Advisory Services
(NH)
Carolyn Vogel, Texas Land Trust Council
Thom Woodruff, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (MT)
Leigh Youngblood, Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust (MA)
