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;
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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;
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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.
The Landowner’s Land
Trust in 2009
So, as we are looking back with a sense of
satisfaction and accomplishment, we are already sprinting into what we
believe will be another hectic and rewarding year in 2009 working toward
achieving our overarching goal of “Protecting Land for Present and
Future Generations.” We thank all of you who have worked with us to
protect land, who recommended us to landowners who wanted to protect
their land and to those of you who supported us financially in 2008.
Again we ask you for your continued support
both with helping us reach out to potential donors and through your
contributions to our organization. While we march ahead to our strategic
plan’s land protection goal, we continue to make rather more halting
progress to the plan’s goal of raising sufficient “undesignated” funds
to support our general program of work.
We are working to expand our donor base and
request assistance from our supporters in helping us identify still more
people like you who care about protecting land, who want to see
productive lands used productively, who want their children and
children’s children to know the same things you have known in your
relationship with the land and who believe that this work is important
enough to actively support.
Thanks again for your assistance in the past
and for your continued assistance in the future.
Click Here to go to Support page |
Our Mission:
Protect Land for
Present and
Future Generations

 



Our
Donors
Easement donors came to us from a variety of
sources:
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Repeat donors and referrals from our
previous donors—traditionally our strongest source of references and
a testimony to our organizational emphasis on being The Landowner’s
Land Trust;
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Strong track record in an area, like
Floyd County (GA), which added 9 CEs to its previous thundering herd
of 15 easements. The 24 total in Floyd County is by far the most of
any county in any of the states we operate in. Floyd County has been
a particularly active area for easements put in place as part of our
cooperative effort with the Open Space Institute. Morgan and Walker
counties (GA) both reached double figures in total CEs recorded
this year—joining Cherokee County (AL) in achieving that
distinction. Cherokee County is second to Floyd County with an
impressive total of 17 CEs;
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The Internet—our web site,
www.galandtrust.org, does a
good job of introducing us, answering basic questions about
conservation easements and helping interested landowners get started
toward successful conservation easements;
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Other land trusts referrals; other land
trusts referred several of 2008’s easement donors to us. Generally
these referrals stem from an potential easement falling outside the
referring land trust’s service delivery area or project criteria,
but the referrals are a statement of trust in our organization—it is
understood that we will provide quality counseling and execution to
the individuals referred to us.
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