2008 Brings Land  Protection Goal Closer

Our land trusts had another very strong year in 2008, with over 16,000 acres protected. This acreage put us over 115,000 acres. If we come in with something in 2009 like our better than 11,000 acres average over the last ten years, this puts us within striking distance of our strategic plan’s 125,000 acres protected goal for 2011.

With the potential sunset at the end of 2009 of the current more favorable rules concerning non-cash charitable donations, there is the potential that we will achieve a significantly higher total than that average by the end of 2009. With the motivation of an impending sunset in 2007, we produced by far our best annual total—over 35,000 acres. (Click here for information on the status of these benefits and more information regarding their use.)

The 2008 easements covered a large geographic expanse, ranging from our first Mississippi easement (near Aberdeen in NE Mississippi) all the way down to Effingham County, in SE Georgia, about 500 miles as the crow flies. They ranged in size from almost 2,000 acres to under ten acres. Importantly, the easements covered all of the core conservation purposes enumerated in IRS Code Section 170(h), providing:

• Public access; public access is not a requirement for a conservation easement, but a riverfront easement put in place by Uptown Columbus, will provide a peaceful spot for residents to enjoy a wonderful view across the Chattahoochee toward Columbus and trail easements put in place by our Lula Lake Land Trust affiliate continue to add to the Cloudland Connector Trail that will terminate at Cloudland Canyon State Park;

• Riparian protection, as many of our easements protected significant stretches of river and stream frontage with significant buffers provided in perpetuity; our easements touched most of the major river basins in Alabama and Georgia;

• Preservation of productive lands, as highly productive agricultural and silvicultural lands were protected from conversion to uses that would not have employed this valuable natural economic asset;

• Water quality protection beyond riparian buffers, as we worked with mitigation bank donors (both streambank restoration and wetlands) to hold easements dedicated to these hydrology restoration programs;

• Protection of relatively natural habitat; a significant percentage of our easements feature explicit protection of clearly delineated significant natural areas and all the easements are crafted to ensure that the uses of the land do not compromise a property’s core conservation values;

• Protection of traditional viewsheds in communities—while one of the harder benefits to quantify, the contribution that familiar, traditional vistas make are highly important to the “sense of place” and the perceived quality of life that this contributes to a community;

• Support to a variety of clearly delineated federal, state and local government and non-governmental organization (NGO) programs that seek to advance goals associated with the above conservation purposes; government initiatives included the Army Compatible Use Buffer Program, Farm and Ranchlands Protection Program, the Georgia Land Conservation Program, and various county Greenspace initiatives; a particularly effective NGO partnership in 2008 and 2007 has been our collaboration with the Open Space Institute and the Lyndhurst Foundation to protected high conservation value lands in Northwest Georgia, with particular emphasis on protecting lands that are adjacent to previously protected lands. Another five OSI CEs closed last year.