FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Elizabeth Guss
Director of Outreach and Development
(360) 222-3310 | elizabeth@wclt.org
GREENBANK, WA -- In February 2010, the Whidbey Camano Land Trust signed an ‘Option to Purchase’ agreement with a bank. The goal was to buy 654 acres atop a ridge on Whidbey Island and turn it into a community forest — providing wildlife habitat, protecting the upper section of three watersheds and creating a public place for non-motorized recreation. The amount to raise? Formidable. The deadline? June 2010. Yikes! 120 days to raise over $4 million. The conclusion? ‘We had to try.’ Skeptics asked – In this economy? Is it even possible?
The foreclosed property had quite a history on Whidbey Island. Logged multiple times during the last century, it was sold to investment developers in 2002. Both the logging and proposed dense development had sparked vigorous community protest. But, since the land was in private hands, the protest didn’t make much of a difference. As the bottom fell out of the real estate market, the developers fell behind on the loan payment and the bank took it over in the Fall of 2009.
The Land Trust had just completed its 25th anniversary celebration, a year of effective outreach in the precarious 2009 economy, raising awareness about the history and critical importance of grassroots-based land protection. Now, facing the largest single fundraising project in its history, the Land Trust drew from all the lessons and blessings of that outreach year and entered the adventure of the impromptu capital campaign.
Key board and staff convened an initial meeting to build a plan, recognizing that the normal process and rules of capital campaigns wouldn’t apply. No time. No long, silent, connect-with-major-donor-and- secure-major-donations effort followed by a very public campaign. No, everything had to happen at once. Committees were organized, each taking a major section of the campaign. With determination, they worked to create and grow community buzz, find donors of all sizes, and make the deal happen. They designated a campaign coordinator, created campaign materials, and enlisted a small army of workers to tell the story in dozens of ways and ask for support. After one month of preparation, the Land Trust went public with this incredibly ambitious goal and asked everyone who cared about land, clean water, and wildlife to help make it happen.
The community stepped up — organizing fund raisers, contacting media, and asking friends and colleagues to donate. Donations and pledges came in. The June deadline came and the Land Trust negotiated a three-month extension. Initially euphoric, the island community, board and staff seemed tapped out and a bit discouraged. But during that time, a Land Trust staff member made a successful contact with a cub reporter at the Seattle Times. Her front page story on August 3 opened a whole new chapter in the campaign. As the word spread through the internet, hundreds of donations flooded in from across the country. Inquiries from major donors made the goal seem possible. On September 29, the deal closed for $4 million.
The final tally was impressive — 102 endorsers, 27 letters to the editor, 86 newspaper articles, three television stories, radio coverage, a gardening talk show and over 625 Facebook fans. In just six months, the Land Trust received well over 1,500 donations, from groups and individuals, and built a broad, diverse community to save this forest for wildlife and the public.
At the celebration a month later, speakers reflected on the amazing accomplishment. The economy made the effort difficult and the conclusion all the more remarkable. Yet, it was the economy that created this opportunity and gave the community the chance to save what it valued. Everyone’s effort mattered; each contribution made a difference. The land is now saved for clean water, for quiet recreation, and to make sure that wildlife has a home.
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]]>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Tim Seifert, President
Phone: 360) 468-3202
Bonnie Sutherland, Board member
Phone: (902) 425-5263
Website: http://www.nsnt.ca/af/
SEATTLE, WA -- The American Friends of Canadian Land Trusts (American Friends) announced today the launch of its ‘Cross-Border Land Conservation Program” to address a longstanding barrier to Canadian land conservation. Tim Seifert, president of the board of American Friends and executive director of the San Juan Preservation Trust in Washington, said that the Canadian Cabinet’s recent approval of key legislation makes the new program possible and will allow American Friends to work with land trusts in Canada to increase the pace and amount of protection for Canada’s unique natural legacy. The legislation provides tax incentives for US residents to donate their ecologically and culturally significant lands located in Canada to American Friends.
Land Trusts are private, non-governmental organizations that are recognized by the Canadian government as charitable entities. Canada’s land trusts work to conserve the country’s most treasured natural, scenic and working landscapes. Every province has a land trust, each striving to protect what makes its area special. Some focus on small geographic areas while the missions of others such as the Nova Scotia Nature Trust encompass entire provinces. In general, land trusts accomplish their conservation goals by working with private landowners who want to ensure that their properties are permanently conserved, usually using conservation restrictions referred to as conservation easements.
Until American Friends began its Cross-Border Land Conservation Program, Canadian land trusts had been unable to protect many unique and significant conservation lands - from pristine coastline in Nova Scotia and British Columbia, to extensive lakeshore and island habitats in southern Ontario - due to a twist in tax laws. Many of Canada’s most scenic and sensitive lands are owned by Americans. Unlike Canadian landowners, American owners of Canadian land are generally subject to significant Canadian capital gains tax if they wish to protect their properties through donation to Canadian conservation organizations of either their land or easements. even though they receive no money in return.
Thanks to leadership by Canada’s Finance Minister James Flaherty, and strong support from the Environment Minister, Jim Prentice, the Government of Canada approved an amendment to the Income Tax Act regulations to encourage these gifts, for the benefit of all Canadians. The amendment changes the regulations so that gifts of Canadian conservation lands and easements made by American taxpayers to the American Friends will receive the same tax exemptions as those received by Canadians donating to other land trusts. This legislation makes American Friends’ cross-border program operational.
“We are delighted to formally launch our cross-border land conservation program today” said Bonnie Sutherland, Executive Director of the Nova Scotia Nature Trust and a founder of American Friends. “With this decision by the Canadian government, many of Canada’s most significant natural areas can now be protected, forever, not only for the benefit of all Canadians but their neighbors to the south as well. Many American owners of important conservation land in Canada would like to preserve their land permanently for everyone’s benefit, and now such ‘cross-border’ conservation is possible.” Sutherland’s land trust is already working with American Friends to protect three ecologically important properties in Nova Scotia. The U.S. owners have been waiting for decades for this opportunity, according to Sutherland.
Bill Turner, Executive Director of The Land Conservancy of British Columbia foresees an increased pace for conservation in British Columbia and throughout Canada as a result of the legislation. “The capital gains tax has been a significant obstacle for Americans wishing to conserve their Canadian property and therefore was a problem for land trusts trying to work with those landowners. We are very glad Minister Flaherty recognized this impediment to conservation and moved to correct it.” Turner adds, “American Friends, American owners of land in Canada, and conservationists across the country enthusiastically welcome the government’s recent decision, and the formal launch of American Friend’s Cross-Border Land Conservation Program.”
The government of Canada recognizes the critical role of land trusts and private landowners in Canadian wildlife, habitat and landscape conservation. “Working with private landowners in protecting Canada’s unique natural heritage is a laudable goal our government fully supports,” commented Minister Flaherty. “We believe this recent legislative amendment will give private landowners and conservation groups across the country more tools to accomplish their goals.”
American Friends is a unique charity whose mission is to support Canadian land conservation organizations that protect ecological and historic lands. It achieves that mission by working with conservation-minded American landowners. American Friends, based in Seattle, Washington, makes grants to Canadian conservation organizations using funds donated by both Americans and Canadians who wish to support natural resource protection. The board of American Friends is composed of professional land conservation experts from the U.S. and Canada who are working together across political boundaries to protect Canada’s premier landscapes. American Friends of Canadian Land Trusts is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a publicly-supported, Section 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
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]]>Contact:
Jill Arango,
Kittitas County Conservation Director,
509-962-1654 or jilla@cascadeland.org
Kittitas County unanimously approves far-reaching Transfer of Development Rights Program
Commissioners make Kittitas County the first in Eastern Washington with an extensive ordinance to conserve resource lands
Ellensburg - With strong technical support from the Cascade Land Conservancy, the Kittitas County Board of Commissioners Tuesday unanimously approved a Transfer of Development Rights program, the first in Eastern Washington. The new program is one of the most powerful, long-term tools available to conserve farm and forest lands in the county.
Commissioners Paul Jewell, Mark McClain and Alan Crankovich voted to establish the TDR program and accompanying ordinance as part of annual amendments to the county’s comprehensive land-use plan. The TDR program will apply to irrigated farms and forest lands throughout the county.
"The establishment of the Transfer of Development Rights program in our county is a major achievement on behalf of the farming and timber community and will provide landowners the opportunity to conserve their land, keep it available for resource production in the future and receive market-value for selling their development potential," said Jill Arango, CLC Kittitas County Conservation Director.
"This program provides a critical tool for reaching our challenging Cascade Agenda goals in Kittitas County," said Skip Swenson, Managing Director of the Conservancy’s Policy Department. "We worked on this project for several years and we’re thrilled to see it come to fruition."
Kittitas County hired the Conservancy in 2007 to study how TDR could work in the county and to provide recommendations for a program. As part of that work, the Conservancy talked with a wide range of stakeholders—including landowners, developers, civic leaders, tribal government and special interest groups—and proposed a detailed set of TDR recommendations for consideration by the County Commissioners.
Support for the ordinance came from a surprisingly wide array of community groups and organizations ranging from the City of Ellensburg to the Central Washington Homebuilders Association to the Washington Farm Forestry Association, as well as many private landowners in the county.
"As this has been a priority of mine, I am thrilled that this program was unanimously supported," said Commissioner Paul Jewell. "Together with the assistance of countless local citizens, we have created an innovative option that will have a positive and lasting impact in all of Kittitas County."
"The Kittitas County Commissioners showed great leadership with this action," said Gene Duvernoy, President, Cascade Land Conservancy. "Kittitas County now has one of the most complete TDR ordinances in the country. The action by the commissioners shows that the Cascade Agenda works effectively in rural as well as more urban parts of the region."
Three keys driving the success of the ordinance include:
• It represents the voice of many involved in the public hearings and employs best practices
• It represents a fair approach to conservation that respects property rights
• It aligns the county’s growth management and working land conservation goals
Over the past two years, the program has been presented publicly six times and has been officially available for public review and comment four times. The adopted ordinance incorporates not only CLC’s recommendations, but also refinements made by the county. All told, input from over 100 county residents drove the TDR proposal, "This ordinance is balanced, locally relevant and positioned for long-term success," said Swenson.
One key aspect of the new TDR ordinance is that it aligns two, often (though unnecessarily) competing county objectives: growth and conservation. Kittitas County grew by 20% between 2000 and 2009, with more than 80 percent of that growth due to migration into the county. While growth holds many benefits, it also puts pressure on the county’s working landscape, which remains important both economically and socially.
The TDR program provides an important connection between growth and working lands conservation. It allows the market to determine where and how much development should occur to accommodate growth, and it uses market demand for more housing in both the urban and rural areas to conserve important resource lands.
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Contacts Gene Duvernoy, President Steve Dunphy, Vice President Communications 206-905-6901 206-905-6933
]]>Jon Rose,
Pope Resources,
360-697-6626,
jon@orminc.com
Aaron Toso,
Washington State Department of Natural Resources,
360-902-1023,
aaron.toso@dnr.wa.gov
Nicole Hill,
Cascade Land Conservancy,
360-250-3978,
nicoleh@cascadeland.org
Bremerton, WA -- More than 2,100 acres of commercial forestland in the Hood Canal Watershed will be permanently protected from residential development through the cooperation of the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Pope Resources and the Cascade Land Conservancy.
DNR has entered into a Purchase and Sale Agreement to acquire a Forest Legacy Conservation Easement from Pope Resources on Kitsap and Mason County forestland, creating a contiguous block of working forest between the Green Mountain and Tahuya State Forests to the north and south and backing up to the Bremerton watershed to the east.
Cascade Land Conservancy worked with DNR and the Washington congressional delegation to secure the Federal Forest Legacy grant. DNR will use the grant money to purchase the Conservation Easement from Pope Resources for approximately $3.3 million. Working together, all three organizations have collaborated to facilitate the transaction and develop the terms of the easement, ensuring working forest lands and habitat for wildlife.
The Forest Legacy program is a nationwide program designed to prevent the conversion of working forests to non-forest uses, such as conversion to residential lots. In Washington State, the program’s focus includes retention of forest management opportunities, preservation of wildlife habitat, and protection of water quality. The Legacy program in Washington State is one of the most active in the nation, counting over 31,700 acres of forest land protected from future conversion to other uses.
“Cascade Land Conservancy is a national pioneer in the conservation of working forests working with progressive organizations like Pope Resources and the Washington Department of Natural Resources,” said Gene Duvernoy, President, Cascade Land Conservancy. “We know that when conservation makes economic sense, we are able to save more critical landscapes and make sure that they stay conserved over the long-run. Hood Canal is a regional icon and a national treasure. It will have a stronger future because of the conservation of these 2,100 acres of working lands today and the redoubling of our work to conserve the surrounding working forestland in the years ahead.”
David Nunes, president and CEO of Pope Resources, added “This project is a great example of partnering with conservation and government to deliver the potential value of development to our unitholders without having to disturb a landscape that has traditionally been utilized for growing trees. We are pleased to see these lands remain as working forest and look forward to working with the Cascade Land Conservancy and the Washington Department of Natural Resources again in the future.”
“This project puts a solution into action that will protect working forestland from conversion. It also puts DNR in a better position to continue managing nearby state lands for trust revenue, wildlife habitat, recreation, and to provide clean water,” said Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark, who leads DNR.
This project is one of the five successful Forest Legacy projects Cascade Land Conservancy has recently undertaken in partnership with DNR – in Hood Canal, Yakima River, the Skykomish River, Green River, and Carbon River areas. CLC and DNR will continue collaborating on additional Forest Legacy projects in the future.
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About the CLC: Cascade Land Conservancy fills a unique niche as Washington’s largest land conservation, stewardship and community building organization dedicated solely to this region. For over 20 years, The Conservancy has led efforts to conserve more than 160,000 acres of forests, farms, shorelines, parks and natural areas. It has partnered with dozens of communities across the region to protect and restore our neighborhood trails and parks and helped cities make smart choices about future growth. For more information please visit: Cascade Land Conservancy fills a unique niche as Washington’s largest land conservation, stewardship and community building organization dedicated solely to this region. For over 20 years, The Conservancy has led efforts to conserve more than 160,000 acres of forests, farms, shorelines, parks and natural areas. It has partnered with dozens of communities across the region to protect and restore our neighborhood trails and parks and helped cities make smart choices about future growth. For more information please visit: www.cascadeland.org.
.About Pope Resources: Pope Resources, a publicly traded limited partnership, and its subsidiaries Olympic Resource Management and Olympic Property Group, own or manage nearly 140,000 acres of timberland and development property in Washington. In addition, we offer our forestry consulting and timberland investment management services to third-party owners and managers of timberland in Washington, Oregon, and California. We also manage, co-invest in, and consolidate two timberland investment funds that we manage for a fee. The company and its predecessor companies have owned and managed timberlands and development properties for more than 150 years. Additional information on the company can be found at www.poperesources.com. The contents of our website are not incorporated into this release or into our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Pope Resources, a publicly traded limited partnership, and its subsidiaries Olympic Resource Management and Olympic Property Group, own or manage nearly 140,000 acres of timberland and development property in Washington. In addition, we offer our forestry consulting and timberland investment management services to third-party owners and managers of timberland in Washington, Oregon, and California. We also manage, co-invest in, and consolidate two timberland investment funds that we manage for a fee. The company and its predecessor companies have owned and managed timberlands and development properties for more than 150 years. Additional information on the company can be found at www.poperesources.com. The contents of our website are not incorporated into this release or into our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. www.poperesources.com. The contents of our website are not incorporated into this release or into our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
About DNR: DNR manages about 3 million acres of state-owned trust lands for revenue to trust beneficiaries including public schools, universities and services in several counties. The agency also manages about 2.6 million acres of aquatic lands, including the bedlands under Puget Sound. Peter Goldmark, who administers DNR, is Washington’s 13th Commissioner of Public Lands since statehood in 1889 and the first commissioner from Eastern Washington.
DNR manages about 3 million acres of state-owned trust lands forrevenue to trust beneficiaries including public schools, universities and services in several counties. The agency also manages about 2.6 million acres of aquatic lands, including the bedlands under Puget Sound. Peter Goldmark, who administers DNR, is Washington’s 13th Commissioner of Public Lands since statehood in 1889 and the first commissioner from Eastern Washington.
]]>Contacts:
Joanna Nelson, Cascade Land Conservancy Green Seattle Partnership Project Manager, 206.905.6913, or Joannan@cascadeland.org
John Floberg, Vice President of Stewardship and Conservation Policy, Cascade Land Conservancy, 206-905-6916, or Johnf@cascascadeland.org
Mark Mead, Urban Forester, Seattle Parks and Recreation, 206-684-4113, or mark.mead@seattle.gov
Cascade Land Conservancy’s Green City Partnerships boost Cascade Agenda’s on-the-ground work
Fourth Annual Green Seattle Day draws hundreds to parks around the city. Green Seattle Partnership wins silver in the National League of Cities' 2009 Awards for Municipal Excellence
Seattle, WA – The Fourth Annual Green Seattle Day drew more than 700 volunteers on Saturday, Nov. 7, to events around the city today despite frequent rain and wind while the Cascade Land Conservancy’s Green City Partnerships around the region got a tremendous boost from Congress.
Representative Norm Dicks said Congress has approved $1 million for the Tacoma-Seattle Green City Partnerships, part of the Green City program at the Conservancy that also includes the cities of Kirkland, Redmond and Kent. The funds were part of the Interior Department’s budget.
“We are so appreciative of Congressman Dicks’ leadership, and with this grant we will truly be able to bring the Green Cities effort to a regional scale,” said John Floberg, Stewardship Vice President at the Conservancy.
“One of the important goals of The Cascade Agenda is to work to make cities livable and attractive,” said Gene Duvernoy, President, Cascade Land Conservancy. “Restoring forested parklands goes a long way toward that goal. And the Green Seattle Partnership and other Green City programs in the region show what can happen when we all work together to make this a great region worthy of our children.”
Representative Dicks said Green Seattle Day represents how volunteers, the Conservancy, the City and other groups work to “help make our region a better place.” Dicks said the Green Seattle Partnership and the four other Green City Partnerships that have been established link the larger region in a network of green, livable spaces.
“With that vision in mind,” Dicks said in a letter to the Conservancy, “I have been proud to secure federal resources for this effort. I am honored to serve as Chairman of the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee with jurisdiction over the budget for important land management agencies, including the Forest Service and National Parks Service. Just last week, the President signed into law my subcommittee’s legislation that designates an additional $1 million for this regional restoration effort. I think the Green City Partnerships are a sterling example of our national commitment to environmental restoration and protection buoyed by the efforts and energy of committed local leaders like you.”
The Green Seattle Partnership also won a prestigious national award, taking Silver in the National League of Cities' 2009 Awards for Municipal Excellence for cities of more than 500,000 population. The NLC said the awards “recognize city programs demonstrating community determination, individual commitment, outstanding collaboration and creativity toward improving the quality of life in local communities.
Weather does not slow volunteers at Green Seattle Day
The Fourth Annual Green Seattle Day was held at 15 parks around the city with the “hub” park this year at Cheasty Greenspace in the Rainier Valley. About 900 trees and shrubs were planted at eight sites in the Greenspace, which is part of the original boulevard and greenspace plan for Seattle developed by the Olmsted Brothers 100 years ago.
Throughout the city, about 4,000 trees and shrubs were planted on Green Seattle Day, making it one of the largest volunteer planting efforts in the region.
Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin helped get the day’s efforts under way describing the volunteers at the park as “passionately committed to making Seattle a better place.” He said Seattle “works best when we work together,” adding that volunteers are what makes it happen.
“We can save our forests,” Conlin said. “We can restore our parklands. We can make Seattle a beautiful city. We can provide those green places that make a city livable and sustainable.”
Other speakers included Duvernoy and Jim Greenfield, of the David Wright Tremaine law firm and a member of the Green Seattle Partnership Executive Committee. For the second year, Davis Wright Tremaine sponsored Green Seattle Day.
The Green Seattle Partnership was formed in 2004 between Seattle and the Conservancy. The partnership works in close collaboration with Seattle Parks and Recreation as well as with other groups such as EarthCorps.
“Seattle Parks and Recreation has been overwhelmed by the support the GSP has received from our partners and donors, and more importantly by the ongoing dedication of our citizen volunteers,” said Chris Williams, Deputy Superintendent of Seattle Parks and Recreation. “Restoring our forests proves we can all contribute to making Seattle - and the region - a healthier and better place.”
The Green Seattle Partnership evolved from the hard work of dedicated volunteers and outstanding visionary planning by Seattle Parks which paralleled the creation of The Cascade Agenda by the Conservancy. The Partnership was formed in 2004 as a concerted effort to restore 2,500 acres of Seattle’s forested parklands by 2025. It has become a model for the advancement of The Cascade Agenda in cities and towns throughout the Puget Sound area. Green City programs now operate in Tacoma, Kirkland, Redmond and, beginning just recently, in Kent.
Tacoma held its Second Annual Green Tacoma Day in September.
For 100 years, Seattle’s grand deciduous trees and towering evergreens have quietly helped Seattle grow into one of America’s most livable cities. Now, Seattle trees and parks need our help. Experts predict that without substantial restoration efforts, 70 percent of forested park lands would become ecological dead zones within 20 years.
Seattle residents are taking action to reverse this trend by joining in the partnership, one of the largest public-private forest restoration programs in the United States. Cascade Land Conservancy, the City of Seattle, community groups, schools, businesses and thousands of volunteers have been working together throughout the year to restore Seattle’s forested parklands. In 2008 alone, volunteers logged nearly 80,000 hours of their time through Green Seattle restoration events. Through September of 2009, nearly 60,000 hours have been volunteered. That’s equal to about 40 full-time workers.
Volunteer restoration events not only protect our forested parks but also foster a strong sense of civic pride and community and provide urban youth and adults with opportunities to work and learn outdoors, become more engaged in their neighborhoods and cultivate a lifetime ethic of community volunteerism. They help clean the air and water, prevent erosion, retain storm water runoff and provide habitat for urban wildlife. Urban forests are essential elements of a vibrant, livable and safe neighborhood.
The Green Seattle Partnership is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to protect our city’s natural legacy for future generations. It is also an opportunity to do something positive about climate change.
Stimulus funds to boost partnership
Floberg also announced yesterday that the Conservancy will be involved, starting next year, in managing a $900,000 stimulus project for the Pacific Northwest Station of the U.S. Forest Service with partners including King County, the University of Washington and others.
“In addition to job creation, this project will have a number of benefits for Green City Partnership programs,” said Ara Erickson, Green Cities Director for the Conservancy. “It will assess volunteer engagement and motivation to help expand capacity, it will evaluate ecosystem services of King County and other lands using cutting-edge forest assessment techniques and it will apply our triage methodology to forest condition of County lands.”
This work could be used to initiate a Green King County Partnership effort in the model of the Conservancy’s Green City Partnerships.
Volunteers who want to become involved with Green City Partnerships around the region can find upcoming events at parks in their areas. Contact the partnerships at www.greenseattle.org, www.greentacoma.org, www.greenkirkland.org, www.greenredmond.org and www.greenkent.org.
About the Cascade Land Conservancy: The Cascade Land Conservancy is a regional land trust, land stewardship provider and policy center operating in Washington State with headquarters in Seattle and principal offices in King, Kittitas, Mason, Pierce and Snohomish Counties. Founded in 1989, the Conservancy has protected more than 150,000 acres of working forests, farmlands and natural areas as well as estuary lands on the Olympic Peninsula and along the Washington Coast. It provides stewardship services, caring for more than 10,000 acres of land. Since 2005 it has been the host organization of The Cascade Agenda, which links conserving great lands with creating great communities. For more information please visit www.cascadeland.org
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