Contact: Rob Aldrich
Director of Communications
202-638-4725 | raldrich@lta.org
Photos available; email pressroom@lta.org

Advocate For Community Collaboration and Investment

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Audrey C. Rust, president emeritus of the Peninsula Open Space Trust based in Palo Alto, Calif., was announced as the winner of the Land Trust Alliance’s prestigious Kingsbury Browne Conservation Leadership Award. Rust was selected for the award for her vision and dedication that have resulted in extraordinary results for land conservation and for the land trust community. Rust has raised more than 325 million dollars – grew her staff seven fold while helping to protect more than 53,000 acres, and her fundraising is unparalleled with a 33.5 million dollar campaign and a 200 million dollar campaign to her credit.

Rust is the sixth recipient of this honor awarded by the Land Trust Alliance to recognize outstanding leadership, innovation and creativity in land conservation.  

Rust was also named to serve in the Kingsbury Browne Fellowship at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy for 2011.  In her role in this fellowship, named after Boston attorney Kingsbury Browne (1922-2005), Rust will engage in researching, writing and mentoring associated with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, a Cambridge-based think-tank with a focus on land policy. Both awards were presented in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the Land Trust Alliance’s Rally 2011: The National Land Conservation Conference, the largest annual gathering of professional and volunteer conservation leaders in the US.

In her acceptance remarks, Rust said: "I believe the work that we do is of the utmost importance. I used to feel that if I got one wish, I’d wish for world peace. Probably everyone thinks that. But today I don’t think that any longer. Today I think that if I could have only one wish, instead I would wish for an end to global warming, and for a way to protect our biodiversity. It’s the most important thing that can happen for our planet, our people, and ourselves.  I am so proud to be a part of the land trust community – it is this group of people making my wish come true.”

When presenting the award, David Anderson, Land Trust Alliance chairman of the board, said: “Audrey’s passionate dedication of 24 years protecting the San Francisco peninsula including San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties has created an absolutely incredible legacy of open space for generations. Her unwavering mentorship and leadership on the California Council of Land Trusts, as well as a number of other boards, highlights her volunteerism and commitment to others, which has enabled an amazing achievement of conservation.”

Wentworth added, “Her sense of humor keeps all of us remembering not to take ourselves so seriously that we forget to love life – and find the joy in what we do each day – she is an amazing leader."

Under Rust's leadership, the Peninsula Open Space Trust partnered with public agencies and private landowners to protect more than 53,000 acres of open space lands in San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties. The achievements ranged from Cowell Ranch, 1,200 acres of coastal bluff and agricultural soils just south of the city of Half Moon Bay, Calif.; 20,000 acres on the San Mateo Coast; and 1,623-acre Bair Island, one of the South Bay’s largest restorable wetlands, now part of the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

The Saving the Endangered Coast campaign is the largest land protection initiative ever completed by any local U.S. land trust. Launched in 2001 with two $50 million gifts from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the campaign protected spectacular open lands, including 4,262-acre Rancho Corral de Tierra, near Montara, Calif., now slated to transfer to the National Park Service for inclusion in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Before coming to POST, Ms. Rust served as the director of development and membership for the national Sierra Club; directed west coast capital giving programs for Yale University; and served in various development capacities for Stanford University and Vassar College.  She graduated from the University of Connecticut at Storrs with a B.A. in English and education.  

Ms. Rust has served on the boards of numerous local, state and national organizations, primarily in the conservation and housing arena. She has received the Times Mirror-Chevron National Conservationist of the Year Award; the League of California Voters Environmental Leadership Award; the Garden Club of America’s top environmental honor, the Cynthia Pratt Laughlin Medal; the Jacqueline Kennedy Award from JFK University for her achievements in land conservation; and the 2010 ATHENA Award from the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce for demonstrating excellence and creativity in business, contributing to the quality of life in her community, and helping other women to realize their leadership potential.

Residing in Menlo Park, Calif., Rust is an avid gardener, knitter and painter, and takes every opportunity she can to hike on lands she helped protect.

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy began the Kingsbury Browne Fellowship in association with the Land Trust Alliance offering its first Kingsbury Browne Conservation Leadership Award in 2006. Winners are chosen from a group of their peers, honoring lifetime contributions to the field of land conservation and work reflecting the values that Kingsbury Browne brought to his own seminal achievements. The fellowship has previously been awarded to Jay Espy, executive director of the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation; Jamie Williams, director of The Nature Conservancy’s Northern Rockies Initiative; Laurie A. Wayburn, co-founder of the Pacific Forest Trust; Mark Ackelson, president of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation; and Darby Bradley, president of the Vermont Land Trust. In the fellowship, Rust will engage in researching, writing and mentoring.

Armando Carbonell, senior fellow and chairman of the Department of Planning and Urban Form at the Lincoln Institute, said he looked forward to having Audrey Rust serve as the Kingsbury Browne Fellow, as her expertise can enhance many ongoing initiatives in regional collaboration and fundraising.

About The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy is a leading resource for key issues concerning the use, regulation, and taxation of land. Providing high quality education and research, the Institute strives to improve public dialogue and decisions about land policy. As a private operating foundation, whose origins date to 1946, we seek to inform decision-making through education, research, policy evaluation, demonstration projects, and the dissemination of information, policy analysis, and data through publications, our Web site, and other media. By bringing together scholars, practitioners, public officials, policymakers, journalists and involved citizens, the Lincoln Institute integrates theory and practice and provides a nonpartisan forum for multidisciplinary perspectives on public policy concerning land, both in the U.S. and internationally. Visit www.lincolninst.edu.

About The Land Trust Alliance

The Alliance is a national conservation organization that works in three ways to save the places people love.  First, we increase the pace of conservation, so more land and natural resources get protected.  Second, we enhance the quality of conservation, so the most important lands get protected using the best practices in the business. And third, we ensure the permanence of conservation by creating the laws and resources needed to defend protected land over time. The Land Trust Alliance is based in Washington, D.C., and has several regional offices.

###

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Russ Shay
Public Policy Director
202-638-4725, ext. 305 | rshay@lta.org

Congressmen Jim Gerlach and Mike Thompson
Champion Bipartisan Measure

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, Congressmen Jim Gerlach (R-PA) and Mike Thompson (D-CA), with a remarkable 251 original co-sponsors, introduced the Conservation Easement Incentive Act.  This bill is critical for the protection of millions of acres of the nation’s agricultural lands and natural areas that support the economies, health and cultural fabric of communities throughout the U.S.  It makes permanent an incentive due to expire at the end of this year that allows modest-income landowners to receive significant tax deductions for donating conservation easements that permanently protect important natural or historic resources on their lands.

“The conservation easement tax credit is a tremendously practical way to provide tax relief to property owners while helping preserve natural resources and open spaces that enhance the quality of life in our communities,” Congressman Gerlach said. “As co-chair of the House Land Conservation Caucus, I will continue working with the Land Trust Alliance and other groups to ensure that the conservation easement tax credit continues to be an option available to family farmers, moderate-income property owners and others.”

“Tax incentives can be a powerful tool to help green our economy and protect our natural resources,” said Congressman Thompson. “Conservation easements have been particularly effective, encouraging landowners to conserve millions of acres of farm lands and scenic open spaces. By making this important conservation tool permanent, this bill would help preserve even more land for future generations.”

When donating a conservation easement, landowners maintain ownership and management of their land and can pass the land on to their heirs, but forego their rights to develop the land in the future.  Congressmen Gerlach and Thompson expect their bill will make it possible for more families to afford to conserve their land.  A survey shows that this incentive boosts the land saved by conservation easements by a third – to over one million acres per year.

The 251 Representatives from 47 states who have signed on as original co-sponsors include the Chairman, Ranking Democrat, and majorities of both parties on the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over tax measures.  A broad coalition of sportsmen, outdoors enthusiasts, farmers, ranchers and national conservation groups are working together to make this incentive permanent in the 112th Congress.  

Land Trust Alliance President Rand Wentworth praised the work of Congressmen Gerlach and Thompson.  “In this era of partisanship and discord, it is encouraging to see these two leaders step up and fight to enact this bill.”  He added: “Their efforts to make this important conservation tool permanent are welcomed by the nation’s 1,700 land trusts, their two million supporters, and the countless local communities seeking to protect the clean air and water, scenic landscapes, recreational places, and wildlife habitat that are central to their lives.”

The enhanced tax incentive allows working family farmers, ranchers and forest owners, to deduct up to 100% of their income for as many as 16 years in order to deduct the full value of their generous gift.  First passed in 2006 and extended twice, this incentive is set to expire on December 31, 2011.  The Conservation Easement Incentive Act will make this valuable conservation tool permanent.

See the list of 251 original co-sponsors here: www.lta.org/easementincentive/cosponsors.

About the Land Trust Alliance

The Land Trust Alliance is a national conservation group that works on behalf of the nation’s 1,700 land trusts to save the places people love by strengthening conservation throughout America.  The Alliance works to increase the pace and quality of conservation by advocating favorable tax policies and training land trusts in best practices, and working to ensure the permanence of conservation in the face of continuing threats.

###

Contacts: Ethan Winter
Land Trust Alliance
518-587-0774 | ewinter@lta.org

Michael Bopp
NYS DEC
(518) 402-8000

Communities Across New York State to Benefit

ALBANY, NY -- The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the Land Trust Alliance (the Alliance) joined members of the state Legislature and land trust representatives today to announce $1.4 million in Conservation Partnership Program grants. The grants, funded through New York State’s Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), will enable local nonprofit land trusts to increase the pace, improve the quality, and ensure the permanence of voluntary conservation of private lands, resulting in significant environmental and economic benefits for communities across the state.

"The New York State Conservation Partnership Program advances Governor Cuomo's agenda for A Cleaner, Greener New York," said Joe Martens, Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation. "New York State’s financial support for the Partnership Program is critical to the important work of land trusts who, in partnership with communities across New York, provide vital protection of open space for its environmental and economic value.”

“New York State has demonstrated its support of local land trusts and their vital mission to save the places New Yorkers cherish and depend on for clean air and water, food, and recreation,” said Rand Wentworth, President of the Land Trust Alliance. “I commend Governor Cuomo, Commissioner Martens, Senator Grisanti, Assemblyman Sweeney, and other members of the Legislature for their support of this pioneering initiative. The EPF and the Conservation Partnership Program are cost-effective investments that pay dividends for public health and New York’s economy.”

The competitive state grants announced today will be matched by more than $1.82 million in private and local funding. Since the program’s inception in 2002, the Conservation Partnership Program has leveraged over $12 million in additional funding, creating employment and advancement opportunities in the conservation field and helping local communities permanently conserve approximately 15,000 acres of farmland, wildlife habitat, recreation areas, and urban open space.

Since 2002, the Conservation Partnership Program has awarded matching grants for 350 projects benefitting 75 different land trust organizations across the state. The grants announced today will help local land trusts sustain and expand community and landowner outreach, land conservation, stewardship, and education programs. The grants will create new land trust jobs and strengthen partnerships with local and state governments, advancing efforts to preserve prime farmland, municipal watersheds and green infrastructure around the state. Land trusts will also apply funds to prepare for national accreditation, supporting New York land trusts’ commitment to best practices and rigorous standards for organizational excellence.

State Senator Mark Grisanti (R-Buffalo), Chair of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee, said “By working together and connecting the work of land trusts in communities from Buffalo to Long Island, we are helping New York be a national leader in conserving and protecting working farms and private lands that support local jobs and businesses. This partnership benefits Grassroots Gardens of Buffalo and is a model for the EPF, and I look forward to its continued success.”

Assemblyman Robert Sweeney (D-Lindenhurst), Chair of the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee, remarked, "This is a challenging time for homeowners, charities, and businesses across New York State. Empowering local communities through the Conservation Partnership Program is one proven way to give New York's citizens a voice in their future. It is also an effective way for New York to get the most out of the Environmental Protection Fund. We applaud the work land trusts do on Long Island and across the state and look forward to supporting the program in the coming years.”

Recent research underscores how investments in land conservation and open space boost property values, support local businesses, save taxpayer dollars, and protect public health, for example, by preserving watersheds and aquifers that provide clean drinking water for millions of New Yorkers. A report last year from the Trust for Public Land found that parks and open space on Long Island generate $2.74 billion in direct economic benefit from tourism, reduced government costs and public health. A 2010 report from the New York State Comptroller recommended the Conservation Partnership Program as a model for public-private collaboration because it leverages substantial resources for local efforts to preserve clean air and water resources, agriculture, and outdoor recreational opportunities close to home.

In all, 57 nonprofit land trusts across New York will receive grant funds announced today, including the North Shore Land Alliance, Hudson Highlands Land Trust, Columbia Land Conservancy, New York Agricultural Land Trust, Finger Lakes Land Trust, Tug Hill Tomorrow Land Trust, Genesee Land Trust and Western New York Land Conservancy. Grant funds are intended to assist land trusts in advancing goals set in the New York State’s Open Space Plan and state wildlife action plan.

The grants will also support urban open space programs administered by the Manhattan, Bronx and Brooklyn-Queens Land Trusts, Yonkers Land Conservancy, Kingston Land Trust, Capital District Community Gardens, and Grassroots Gardens of Buffalo.

More than 150 land trust representatives and environmental advocates were on hand for the announcement, held in conjunction with the Friends of New York’s Environment Lobby Day in the State Capitol. Earlier in the morning, land trust leaders thanked Governor Andrew Cuomo for avoiding additional cuts to New York’s Environmental Protection Fund in his proposed Executive Budget. Environmental leaders urged the Legislature to consider the economic benefit of EPF investments in local communities, including projects funded through the Conservation Partnership Program.

“The Conservation Partnership Program is an example of an EPF initiative that has demonstrated impressive state-wide success by supporting and investing in land trusts in our communities,” said Becky Thornton, president of the Dutchess Land Conservancy and chair of Land Trust Alliance’s New York Advisory Board. “This program unites the goals of New York’s Open Space Plan, the needs and desires of local municipalities, and the energy and enthusiasm of private landowners and grassroots land trust partners to protect the land. When we work together, we can make a huge difference for communities across New York State.”

“Conserving productive farms benefits New Yorkers by ensuring the availability of fresh, local food and also by supporting the agricultural industry, an important contributor to the state’s economy,” said Teri Ptacek, executive director of the Agricultural Stewardship Association. “The Conservation Partnership Program is allowing us to dramatically accelerate the pace and quality of farmland conservation in Washington and Rensselaer counties while enhancing our capacity to support farmers and agricultural businesses in our community.”

“North Shore Land Alliance is increasing local land protection efforts by building relationships between land and people throughout our community,” said Lisa Ott, president of North Shore Land Alliance. “We have been fortunate to receive several grants through this very important program, enabling us to engage stakeholders throughout Nassau County. Examples include our new Small Farm Initiative and a youth stewardship program in Hempstead, an under-served community. These programs would not have been possible without support from the New York State Conservation Partnership Program and the Land Trust Alliance.”

“Community gardens are the lifeblood for many New Yorkers,” said Demetrice Mills, board president of Brooklyn Queens Land Trust. “The 37 community garden properties managed by the Brooklyn Queens Land Trust provide for nutritious local food production, quiet contemplation, social and cultural events, youth and adult programs, and appreciation of nature and the environment. Our 500 gardeners treasure the opportunities provided by these permanent urban open spaces. Support from the Conservation Partnership Program and the Environmental Protection Fund gives us this opportunity.”

“Preservation of forests, working farms, rivers and natural open space is crucial for maintaining the character of our rural communities and protecting irreplaceable natural resources,” said Gregory Belcamino, board president of Delaware Highlands Conservancy. “The Conservation Partnership Program is providing critical funding for the Conservancy to prepare for accreditation, expand the scope of its private land protection activities in Sullivan and Delaware counties and connect with more landowners and citizens through educational programming, for the benefit of all New Yorkers.”

###

About the Land Trust Alliance

The Land Trust Alliance is the national leader of America’s land trust movement, serving 1,700 non-profit land trusts nationwide, including 90 organizations in New York. The Alliance works to accelerate the pace, increase the quality, and ensure the permanence of land conservation in New York and across the country.

The Alliance administers the Conservation Partnership Program in coordination with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. For information about the Land Trust Alliance and the Conservation Partnership Program, please visit www.landtrustalliance.org or contact Ethan Winter in the Alliance’s Northeast office at (518) 587-0774 (ext. 207) or at ewinter@lta.org.

Contact: Russ Shay
Director of Public Policy
202-638-4725, ext. 305 | rshay@lta.org

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Voluntary conservation of private land received a boost yesterday when President Obama mentioned the work of land trusts in his remarks introducing the landmark America’s Great Outdoors Report at a reception in the East Room of the White House. The collective voice of land trusts was reflected in the report, which proposes to extend the enhanced tax incentive for conservation easement donations beyond 2011, fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), and focus a portion of LWCF on innovative projects that support urban parks, community green spaces and large-scale land conservation.

Mr. Obama said that “at a time when America’s open spaces are controlled by a patchwork of groups, from government to land trusts to private citizens, it’s clear that conservation in the 21st century is going to take more than what we can do here in Washington…Meeting the new test of environmental stewardship means finding the best ideas at the grassroots level, it means helping states, communities and nonprofits protect their own resources, and it means figuring out how the federal government can be a better partner in those efforts.”

The report draws inspiration from hundreds of land trust participants at America’s Great Outdoors listening sessions around the country. “I am proud of the nation’s 1,700 land trusts for pioneering the voluntary conservation incentives and locally driven partnerships embraced in this report,” Land Trust Alliance President Rand Wentworth said. “This initiative will significantly reorient federal conservation efforts to emphasize working lands and to embrace local governments and land trusts as effective partners in conserving the places that give meaning to our lives.”

The report’s vision statement describes a future in which “Rural lands—our working farms, ranches and forests—are conserved and restored through local partnerships.” The president’s  Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Request makes a down payment on that vision by providing $200 million for the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program and $900 million for the LWCF, some of which “will be competitively awarded to address priorities and leverage resources for urban parks and public-private conservation projects.”

In communities across America, nonprofit land trusts are working with private landowners to keep farm, ranch and forest lands in productive use, create community parks and open space, protect important fish and wildlife habitat, and conserve our scenic and historic heritage.  With the help of more than 100,000 volunteers and 2 million members, land trusts have conserved more than 37 million acres, including more than 12 million acres protected by voluntary conservation agreements with private landowners.

About the Land Trust Alliance

The Land Trust Alliance is a national conservation group that works on behalf of America’s 1,700 land trusts to save the places people love by strengthening land conservation throughout America. The Alliance works to increase the pace and quality of conservation by advocating favorable tax policies, training land trusts in best practices and working to ensure the permanence of conservation in the face of continuing threats.

###

Download a printable PDF (100KB).

Contact: Russ Shay
Director of Public Policy
202-638-4725, ext. 305 | rshay@lta.org

Deduction That Boosted Conservation by a Million Acres Gets New Life

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- After a year-long lapse that left many important conservation donations in limbo, Congress renewed an enhanced tax incentive for conservation easements that increased private land conservation by a third—to over a million acres a year. The renewed incentive will be in effect through December 31, 2011 and retroactive to January 1, 2010.

Land Trust Alliance President Rand Wentworth gave special credit to the sponsors of legislation to make this incentive permanent, Senators Max Baucus (D-MT) and Charles Grassley (R-IA), and Representatives Mike Thompson (D-CA) and Eric Cantor (R-VA). “These leaders have worked hard to make sure we can continue the success this incentive has already had, protecting special places and productive working lands in hundreds of communities across the country,” Wentworth said. “The land this incentive helps protect is an investment in clean water, fresh, local food, wildlife habitat, and scenic beauty.”

A broad coalition of sportsmen, outdoors enthusiasts, farmers, ranchers and national conservation groups worked together to renew the incentive and will push to make it permanent in the 112th Congress. Bills to do just that (H.R. 1831 and S. 812) have 274 House and 41 Senate co-sponsors from all 50 states, including majorities of Democrats and Republicans in the House.

By helping modest income landowners deduct the full value of their contributions, this enhanced easement incentive has increased the pace of private, voluntary land conservation by about 250,000 acres a year nationwide, and is especially important now that the latest reports show that America is losing land to development at the rate of 1.5 million acres per year.

The enhanced incentive, which applies to a landowner’s federal income tax:

• Raises the deduction a donor can take for donating a voluntary conservation agreement from 30% of their income in any year to 50%;
• Allows farmers and ranchers to deduct up to 100% of their income; and
• Increases the number of years over which a donor can take deductions from 6 to 16 years.

Read more at: www.lta.org/easementincentive. Landowners interested in conserving their land under this provision should contact a land trust in their community: www.findalandtrust.org.

About the Land Trust Alliance

The Land Trust Alliance is a national conservation group that works on behalf of America’s 1,700 land trusts to save the places people love by strengthening conservation throughout America.  It works to  increase the pace and quality of conservation by advocating favorable tax policies, training land trusts in best practices and working to ensure the permanence of conservation in the face of continuing threats.

###

Contact:
Vanessa Vaughan
The Conservation Fund
(703) 908-5809

Prominent Minnesota Businessman and Conservationist David Hartwell
Receives National Conservation Honor

Washington, DC — David Hartwell, president and founder of Minneapolis-based Bellcomb Technologies Incorporated, was one of four honorees to receive national recognition for outstanding achievement in greenways and open space preservation at the 21st annual Kodak American Greenways Awards, presented at the National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C.

“On behalf of the Kodak American Greenways Program, I am particularly pleased to present David Hartwell with an award for his vision of a dedicated source for land and water conservation funding and his tireless leadership in seeing a citizen-led initiative through to success for the benefit of all Minnesotans present and future,” said The Conservation Fund’s president and CEO, Larry Selzer.

Alarmed by Minnesota’s diminishing waters and natural lands, concerned citizens advocated for dedicated funding for land conservation and freshwater protection.  Led by Hartwell, this citizen initiative was overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2008 and incorporated into Minnesota’s constitution as the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.  With Hartwell’s vision now etched into the state’s constitution, the provision is expected to raise over $6 billion over the next 25 years for land and water conservation, cultural heritage protection and park and trail enhancement.

The amendment has already succeeded in preserving miles of trails and river corridors, hundreds of thousands of acres of wildlife habitat and encouraged Minnesota’s residents and visitors to experience the beauty of their natural environment.  Overseen by the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, which Hartwell was appointed to after passage of the amendment, the Outdoor Heritage Fund of the amendment provided 80 percent of the funding needed for the largest Minnesota land conservation effort ever undertaken, the 187,000-acre Upper Mississippi Forest Project.

“In 2001, the perspective of what qualified as conservation success in Minnesota was rooted in the acceptance of the lack of apparent resources to adequately address the pressures from development,” said Hartwell.  “By simply realizing that with a broader and more comprehensive vision of what we could and should accomplish, an alternative future was possible.  That vision was ultimately embraced by the voters of the state but along the way, there were so many people who worked and contributed greatly to this effort.  The conservation community came together and did something amazing that will change the landscape in our state forever and it was an honor to have their confidence and work shoulder to shoulder with so many dedicated and wonderful people along the way.”

Established in 1989 by Eastman Kodak Company, National Geographic Society and The Conservation Fund, the Kodak American Greenways Program honors leading individuals, organizations and corporations whose ingenuity and creativity have made a significant contribution to creating a national network of open space, trails and greenways.

“Kodak values and is pleased to support local community grassroots initiatives in preserving our nation’s great outdoor heritage,” said Charles Ruffing, Kodak’s director of Health, Safety, Environment and Sustainability.  “These local initiatives and individuals recognized in the Kodak American Greenways Awards are visible, valuable and never more vital.”

“Greenways not only improve the nation’s ecological health, these natural corridors provide vital opportunities for all Americans to get out, exercise and improve their physical health,” said Gilbert M. Grosvenor, chairman of the National Geographic Society.  “With the help of companies like Kodak, the greenways network has linked city streets to parklands and other open spaces.  The program still enjoys robust growth as we celebrate 21 years of cooperation.”

# # #

About The Conservation Fund
The Conservation Fund is dedicated to advancing America’s land and water legacy.  With our partners, we conserve land, train leaders and invest in conservation at home.  Since 1985, we have helped protect more than 6.5 million acres, sustaining wild havens, working lands and vibrant communities.  We’re a top-ranked conservation organization, effective and efficient.  www.conservationfund.org

** Note: David Hartwell is an honored member of the Land Trust Alliance Board of Directors.

Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy
Receives National Land Trust Excellence Award

WASHINGTON, DC – Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy (SWMLC) has been presented with a national conservation award for its pioneering work in the land trust field in developing and implementing conservation management plans for important natural areas and setting the example for effective collaboration in conservation.

The SWMLC was selected by The Land Trust Alliance of Washington, DC, from more than 1,700 land trusts across the country, to receive its National Land Trust Excellence Award, which was presented at Rally: The National Land Conservation Conference in Hartford, Connecticut, on October 3, 2010.

SWMLC’s Stewardship staff members are recognized as both regional and national leaders in conservation management. They have developed partnerships with organizations such as the Stewardship Network, Natural Areas Association (NAA), and Defenders of Wildlife to provide workshops and seminars across the country. They have been sought after to share their expertise at numerous conferences and training events for the Land Trust Alliance, Center for Collaborative Conservation, Stewardship Network, NAA, Heart of the Lakes Center for Land Conservation Policy, and several other conservation organizations.

“Our long-term viability, and our ability to create meaningful work in perpetuity, whether it’s scenic or cultural or protecting natural landscapes, is only going to be effective if we become part of this broader community’s fabric,” said SWMLC Executive Director Pete Ter Louw, who accepted the award for the Conservancy.

SWMLC created an innovative model for prioritization that incorporates broad stakeholder involvement and geographic information systems analysis to identify areas with critical conservation values for protection and management. The long list of stakeholders involved in these projects include federal agencies, state agencies, county officials, conservation districts, township and city officials, community foundations, private conservation organizations, universities, nature centers, community leaders, and private landowners.

The Land Trust Alliance recognized the success of this model and provided SWMLC a Strategic Conservation Planning grant to use to prioritize conservation actions in and around the 25,000-acre Barry State Game Area. Implementation of the resulting plan began immediately as a private family foundation, engaged in the planning process, stepped forward to make its core mission be the protection and restoration of priority lands. The same family foundation, the USFWS, MDNRE, Ducks Unlimited, and SWMLC have begun a long-term relationship coordinating restoration management between adjacent but separately held parcels in the same region. These partners also brought together several additional conservation organizations to receive a $1 million North American Wetland Conservation Act grant.

Rand Wentworth, President of the Land Trust Alliance, said in bestowing the award that “As a direct result of their willingness to seek out regional expertise, intergovernmental cooperation, and coordination with all of the regional members and the neighbors, the SWMLC has been able to make incredible conservation happen.”  He added, “Together with fellow consevationists, the members of the SWMLC have found an effective way to preserve the quality of life and unique character of their community — now and forever."

About The Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy (SWMLC)
SWMLC was founded in 1991 to protect the wild and scenic areas in the nine counties of southwest
Michigan. The 3.5 million acre service area, covering an expanse the size of Connecticut, is a crossroads of ecological regions. Eastern deciduous forests meet the Midwest prairies while southern mesic woodlands border northern coniferous forests and bogs. Large river systems wind throughout the countryside on their way to Lake Michigan and the largest freshwater dunes in the world. It is home to rural farms, urban centers, Great Lakes shoreline destinations, and Michigan’s largest State Game Areas – all within a short drive from Chicago, Indianapolis, and Detroit. Visit www.swmlc.org.

About The Land Trust Alliance
The Alliance is a national conservation organization that works in three ways to save the places people love.  First, we increase the pace of conservation, so more land and natural resources get protected.  Second, we enhance the quality of conservation, so the most important lands get protected using the best practices in the business. And third, we ensure the permanence of conservation by creating the laws and resources needed to defend protected land over time. The Land Trust Alliance is based in Washington, D.C., and has several regional offices.  Visit www.landtrustalliance.org.

# # #


Anne Codey Honored with National Conservation Service Award

WASHINGTON, DC – Every year, one land conservation leader is selected to receive the Land Trust Alliance’s prestigious National Conservation Service Award for making a significant contribution to the advancement of land conservation.  Ms. Anne Codey, an indefatigable volunteer for her local conservation community in Port Washington, New York, was presented with the award this year at Rally: The National Land Conservation Conference in Hartford, CT, on October 3, 2010.

Rand Wentworth, Land Trust Alliance President, said “Anne's tireless engagement with youth and the connections she makes with communities is the link between project implementation and its successful permanence through stewardship. It is our hope that presenting Anne with this award will send an important message to the land conservation community that we value this kind of humble, consistent service that is not always recognized but is always needed and appreciated.” He added, “We congratulate Anne on her tremendous dedication to the conservation efforts underway in this country and personally working to make a difference.”

When presented with the award, Codey said, “Growing up on suburban Long Island during the 1950's, I watched with dismay as the land where I explored and rode horses, from estates to farmland and wetlands, was plowed under and built into housing developments, universities, golf courses and shopping malls.  Spaces that had been open to all for walking, hiking or horseback riding were no longer available. I decided to dedicate my time to volunteering on conservation projects to make a change in my community.”

Codey's first conservation project began in 1994 when she assumed management from her siblings and cousins for her family's 72 acre woodlot in central New Hampshire.  She had become bothered by the results of previous logging by the method known as "take the best and leave the rest" and began working with a local forester and with New Hampshire Cooperative Extension to develop and implement a forest plan. The woodlot is now a certified New Hampshire Tree Farm, open to the public for hiking, fishing and hunting.

When Codey retired in 2006, she began volunteering at The Nature Conservancy (TNC) doing presentations on invasive species, and monitoring the boundaries of TNC properties on Long Island. While monitoring properties for TNC, she was introduced to Jane Jackson, Associate Director of Stewardship for North Shore Land Alliance (NSLA), and began assisting her with monitoring NSLA preserves and easements, and maintaining the trails as well as assisting with education programs for children. "Having worked with children and families throughout her career, Anne is adept at communicating a love of nature to almost any audience, largely because she practices what she preaches. She is a genuine role model," said Jane Jackson, Associate Director of Stewardship, North Shore Land Alliance.

In 2007, Codey began volunteering weekly with a horticulturist at Planting Fields Arboretum, a New York State Park, planting, pruning, weeding and learning about plant care.  While working on the grounds of the Arboretum, she learned about a series of outdoor education classes the Arboretum offered to local preschool and elementary school groups.

"I had loved teaching my own children about gardening and nature. Seeing my grandchildren picking up worms, identifying birds, and running through forests reminded me how vital it is that we introduce the excitement of nature to urban and suburban children, who are far too often cut off from the natural world," Codey said.

Currently Codey works at the Planting Fields Arboretum in the education department, teaching seed germination and planting in the spring and leaf and tree identification in the fall. In addition, she volunteers for a group called PW Green in her hometown of Port Washington, NY. PW Green leads field trips for all local 4th grade classes at a Port Washington preserve. In this capacity Codey helps the children discover the wonders all around them in the woodlot and field habitats of the preserve.

“While members of PWGreen have only had a brief working relationship with Anne, it has been beneficial to both the students with whom we work and to our adult leadership. She seamlessly stepped in as a volunteer leader for an outdoor education program PWGreen provides for fourth grade students in the Port Washington School District, and she immediately captured the attention of a large group as she prepared them for their adventure as scientists and naturalists,” said Holly Byrne, Education Coordinator, PWGreen, Inc., Port Washington, NY.

A new project she's also involved in calls for working with New York State Audubon to bring their unique program called "For the Birds," which uses birds to connect elementary school children to the environment where they live, to three low/moderate income communities in Nassau County, Long Island.

Conservation needs abound all year long, and Codey has also been volunteering for the last three years with US Fish and Wildlife to monitor piping plover nesting at two sites, and she volunteers with North Shore Audubon for the Christmas bird count. “Anne loves to lead children through the natural world showing them how to reveal its wonders for themselves,” said Peggy Maslow, President, North Shore Audubon Society.

"Through my work with the Land Trusts (TNC and NSLA) I have discovered special and important places, watersheds, fields and woods that are preserving habitat for plants and wildlife.  Some have been neglected, overrun by invasive vegetation with trails no longer usable, but we are working with these sites, setting goals to restore the land and make it friendly for both people and wildlife, seeing progress little by little," Codey said.

About The Land Trust Alliance
The Alliance is a national conservation organization that works in three ways to save the places people love.  First, we increase the pace of conservation, so more land and natural resources get protected.  Second, we enhance the quality of conservation, so the most important lands get protected using the best practices in the business. And third, we ensure the permanence of conservation by creating the laws and resources needed to defend protected land over time. The Land Trust Alliance is based in Washington, D.C., and has several regional offices.  Visit www.landtrustalliance.org.

# # #


Contact: Rob Aldrich
Director of Communications
202-431-8848 | raldrich@lta.org

Photos available; e-mail pressroom@lta.org

Jay Espy, Collaborative Land Conservationist and Capacity Builder,
Receives National Conservation Award

WASHINGTON, DC – Jay Espy, executive director of the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation, and former president of the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, was announced today as the recipient of the Land Trust Alliance’s prestigious Kingsbury Browne Conservation Leadership Award. Espy was selected for the award for the way he has pioneered a collaborative approach to land conservation, set the trend for other land trusts, made an impact across the land conservation movement, and has served as a mentor. Espy is the fifth recipient of this honor awarded by the Land Trust Alliance to recognize outstanding leadership, innovation and creativity in land conservation.

Espy was also named to serve in the Kingsbury Browne Fellowship at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy for 2010.  In his role in this fellowship, named after Boston attorney Kingsbury Browne (1922-2005), Espy will engage in researching, writing and mentoring associated with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, a Cambridge-based think-tank with a focus on land policy.

Both awards were presented in Hartford, Connecticut at the Land Trust Alliance’s Rally 2010: The National Land Conservation Conference, the largest annual gathering of professional and volunteer conservation leaders in the US.

“Having invested more than twenty years in the effort to conserve land on a large scale, I am proud to have shared in the successful conservation of thousands of acres of our cherished landscapes," Espy said. "I am honored to be a part of a wonderful community of people from all walks of life, willing to stand up and work together to conserve land that fosters healthy communities for all to enjoy for generations."

Rand Wentworth, president of the Land Trust Alliance, said: “Jay is a generous leader and philanthropist who has an amazing ability to see beyond the local level, and impart a vision for a larger good. In his role at the land trust, he gathered collaborators through the Maine Land Trust Network to conserve land on a much larger scale." Wentworth added, "With more than 125,000 acres protected by their partnership efforts, Jay was vital to keeping everyone focused and engaged in the long-term process which bore an immense conservation legacy."

Espy joined the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation as its first executive director in January 2008.  The Sewall Foundation is a private, grant making foundation focusing on conservation, animal welfare and social needs, primarily in Maine.  For the prior two decades, Jay served as president of Maine Coast Heritage Trust, a statewide land conservation organization.  During his tenure, Maine Coast Heritage Trust accelerated its land protection efforts along Maine’s entire coast, conserving more than 125,000 acres and establishing the Maine Land Trust Network, which helps build capacity of local land trusts throughout Maine.  He also led the Trust’s successful Campaign for the Coast, raising more than $100 million for conservation and doubling the amount of protected land on Maine’s coast and islands.

Espy is a graduate of Bowdoin College and holds Master’s degrees from the Yale School of Management and Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.  He serves on the boards of the Maine Philanthropy Center and the Canadian Land Trust Alliance, and is a former chair of the Land Trust Alliance, a national organization serving land trusts throughout the United States.

Kingsbury Browne and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy had a long history together.  In 1980, as a fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Browne first envisioned a network of land conservation trusts, and convened conservation leaders through the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, which ultimately led to the formation of the national Land Trust Exchange (later renamed the Land Trust Alliance) in 1982.  Browne is considered the father of America’s modern land trust movement, a network of land trusts operating in every state of the nation.  Together these land trusts have conserved more than 37 million acres, an area the size of New England.
The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy began the Kingsbury Browne Fellowship in association with the Land Trust Alliance offering its first Kingsbury Browne Conservation Leadership Award in 2006. Winners are chosen from a group of their peers, honoring lifetime contributions to the field of land conservation and work reflecting the values that Kingsbury Browne brought to his own seminal achievements.

Armando Carbonell, senior fellow and chairman of the Department of Planning and Urban Form at the Lincoln Institute, said he looked forward to having Jay Espy serve as the Kingsbury Browne Fellow, as his expertise can enhance many ongoing initiatives in regional collaboration and development.

About The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy is a leading resource for key issues concerning the use, regulation, and taxation of land. Providing high quality education and research, the Institute strives to improve public dialogue and decisions about land policy. As a private operating foundation, whose origins date to 1946, we seek to inform decision-making through education, research, policy evaluation, demonstration projects, and the dissemination of information, policy analysis, and data through publications, our Web site, and other media. By bringing together scholars, practitioners, public officials, policymakers, journalists and involved citizens, the Lincoln Institute integrates theory and practice and provides a nonpartisan forum for multidisciplinary perspectives on public policy concerning land, both in the U.S. and internationally. Land conservation is a major theme of the Institute’s Department of Planning and Urban Form, chaired by Armando Carbonell.

About The Land Trust Alliance
The Alliance is a national conservation organization that works in three ways to save the places people love.  First, we increase the pace of conservation, so more land and natural resources get protected.  Second, we enhance the quality of conservation, so the most important lands get protected using the best practices in the business. And third, we ensure the permanence of conservation by creating the laws and resources needed to defend protected land over time. The Land Trust Alliance is based in Washington, D.C., and has several regional offices.  Visit www.landtrustalliance.org.

# # #