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Featured Land Trust Success Story
Arizona Open Land Trust partners to protect ‘Western way of life’ Accelerated development in southern Arizona threatens to stifle the Western way of life, especially ranching, but some landowners are fighting back. Dennis and Deborah Moroney have taken a stand with the permanent protection of 960 acres of their 22,000-acre working ranch. The couple, which partnered with the Arizona Open Land Trust to conserve a portion of the 47 Ranch, said that this was just the beginning of many future conservation easements. Dennis Moroney said “The placing of the easement on the land will make it easier to hand it down to our children, who have expressed an interest in ranching one day.” More (posted 4/16/08) Southwest Land Trust Conference Senator Baucus Meets with Land Trust Alliance Leaders on Capitol Hill
Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) has been a major champion in getting the tax incentive passed in the Senate (which is now in the Farm Bill awaiting conference), and he was one of original co-sponsors of S 469. Thank you Senator! (posted 1/31/08) Legislators call for more accountability in Colorado's conservation easement tax credit More Land Trust Success Stories
Over a Thousand Acres More in New Mexico Taos, NM - Since 1988 Taos Land Trust has been working to protect land in northern New Mexico, one acre at a time. In fact it’s the only organization in Taos and neighboring counties that is exclusively dedicated to permanent land conservation. As 2006 drew to a close the organization finished three new conservation easements to protect another 1,029 acres of exceptional wildlife habitat, prehistoric rock art and incredible views. Read full press release. (posted 1/31/2008) Central Arizona Land Trust Accepts Donation of Conservation Easement to Protect the W Diamond Ranch in Skull Valley Prescott, AZ – The Central Arizona Land Trust (CALT) announces the protection of 4,296 acres of private ranchland in Yavapai County. David Jenner, owner of the W Diamond Ranch in Skull Valley, donated the conservation easement to the Central Arizona Land Trust on December 19, 2007. Read full story. (posted 1/23/2008)Year-end deals add significant open-space protections across Colorado A flurry of year-end activity to finalize conservation easements on unique properties across Colorado has protected significant new parcels from future development, according to land conservation groups from around the state. Read full story. (posted 1/9/2008) GOGO Funds Rio Grande Initiative with Largest Award in Colorado San Luis Valley, CO --The Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust (RiGHT), the local land trust in the San Luis Valley, is the recipient of the state’s largest award in the Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund (GOCO) Legacy Grant round, with $7.385 million going towards the Rio Grande Initiative. Governor Ritter announced the awards Monday, December 3rd at the Capitol in Denver. GOCO Legacy grants are awarded every few years in order to achieve landscape scale protection efforts in critical areas of Colorado. Read full story. (posted 12/13/07) Governor Ritter Announces Preservation of 138,000 Acres with $57M in COGO/Lottery Grants Denver, CO - Governor Bill Ritter today joined with members of the Lottery-funded Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) Trust Fund Board in announcing the investment of $57 million in Legacy grants to 15 projects that will help preserve 138,000 acres across the state. Several of the projects receiving funds are based around river corridors including the South Platte River in Adams and Arapahoe counties, Fountain Creek in El Paso and Pueblo counties, the Rio Grande River in the San Luis Valley and in the Crystal and Upper San Juan watersheds in western Colorado. The projects will expand urban recreational opportunities, provide critical wildlife habitat, protect scenic viewsheds, prevent communities from growing together and result in the construction of 40 miles of new trail. Read full story. (posted 12/13/07) 3,748 Acres Within California's Mono Lake Preserved
CARBONDALE, CO — The high desert landscape surrounding Mono Lake has moved one large step toward being kept unspoiled with a 3,748-acre gift from The Wilderness Land Trust. The Trust purchased the acreage from a developer in 2005 and donated it July 13th to the Bureau of Land Management, which administers nearby land as Wilderness Study Areas. To further assure that the land will remain in its natural state, the Trust donated the parcel’s mineral and development rights to Eastern Sierra Land Trust. Funding for the original purchase came from Resources Legacy Fund Foundation in Sacramento. Cedar Hill, as the donated land is known, was the largest privately-owned tract in the Mono basin. It ranges in elevation from 6,800 to 8,500 feet above sea level and includes evergreen forest, sagebrush steppe, perennial streams, and meadows. The entire area offers other outstanding qualities including nationally significant historic and prehistoric cultural resources, and opportunities for solitude and primitive recreation. During the past three years The Wilderness Land Trust has donated some 10,000 acres within California to the BLM or the Forest Service in 55 different transactions. Based in Carbondale, Colorado, Wilderness Land Trust protects wilderness by purchasing private parcels within wilderness areas and transferring them to public ownership. Since its founding in 1992 the Trust has purchased 264 parcels totaling over 21,000 acres in more than 60 western wildernesses.
The Wilderness Land Trust is based in Carbondale, Colorado, and has staff working actively in Arizona, California and Washington State. Its goal is to transfer wilderness inholdings to federal land management agencies and to assist with the acquisition of inholdings in areas proposed for wilderness designation. It is the only organization in the nation to focus solely on the issue of inholdings (privately owned lands completely surrounded by public lands) in designated and proposed wilderness areas. Visit the Wilderness Land Trust for more information. (posted 7/24/07)
Colorado Governor Signs County Open Space Sales Tax ExemptionOn March 30, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed SB-98, the County Open Space Sales Tax Exemption, into law at the Capitol. This bill allows counties to ask voters to approve up to a half-cent sales and use tax to fund an open space program which would reflect local priorities for acquisition and management. This is a critical tool for Colorado counties to protect water quality, natural areas, working farms and ranches, wildlife habitat, and create new parks and opportunities for outdoor recreation. Local funding is vital to attracting matching funds from state and federal sources and for purposes of pursuing land conservation projects with interested and willing landowners. (posted 4/4/07)
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