Contact: Nina Nowak
Director of Communications
Phone: (650) 854-7696
E-mail: nnowak@openspacetrust.org
Palo Alto, CA— Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) has become one of the first land trusts
nationwide to be awarded accredited status by the Land Trust Accreditation
Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance, based in
Washington, D.C.
“Accredited land trusts meet national quality standards
for protecting important natural places and working lands forever,” said
Commission Executive Director Tammara Van Ryn. “The accreditation seal lets the
public know that the accredited land trust has undergone an extensive, external
review of the governance and management of its organization and the systems and
policies it uses to protect land.”
POST was one of several land trusts
across the country selected in 2006 by the Land Trust Alliance, a national
conservation group representing more than 1,700 land trusts across the United
States, to develop its new accreditation program. As part of the pilot program,
POST helped shape the accreditation process and set an important example for
other land trusts to follow.
“POST’s accredited status demonstrates our
continued commitment to permanent land conservation," said POST President Audrey
Rust. “POST has been going strong for 31 years and has established itself as a
leader in local land protection. During that time, the land trust movement has
matured and the time was right to establish accreditation as a goal for all land
trusts. Now that we have gone through this rigorous program, our organization is
all the stronger for it.”
POST joined 38 other land trusts awarded
accreditation at a special ceremony earlier this month at “Rally: The National
Land Conservation Conference” in Pittsburgh, Pa. The event, hosted by the Land
Trust Alliance, is the largest gathering of land conservationists in the
country.
In 2005, POST completed a $200 million campaign called “Saving
the Endangered Coast” to preserve open lands along the San Mateo Coast. More
recently, the nonprofit land trust raised $29.7 million to protect Mindego Hill,
a prominent landmark and historic ranch along Skyline Ridge on the San Francisco
Peninsula. POST is also intensifying its efforts in the western hillsides of
south Santa Clara County, where the need for land conservation is especially
urgent.
Local citizens and communities come together to form land trusts
to save the places they love. Land trusts throughout the country have worked
with willing landowners to save more than 37 million acres of places people care
about, including forests, beaches, parkland, farms and wildlife habitat. Strong,
well-managed land trusts provide local communities with effective champions and
caretakers of their critical land resources, and safeguard the land through the
generations. Conserving land helps ensure clean air and drinking water, food
security, scenic landscapes and views, recreational places, and habitat for the
diversity of life on earth.
Accredited land trusts are able to display a
seal indicating to the public that they meet national standards for excellence,
uphold the public trust and ensure that conservation efforts are permanent. The
seal is a mark of distinction in land conservation.
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About
POST
POST is a leading private, nonprofit land trust
dedicated to preserving the beauty, character and diversity of the San Francisco
Peninsula and Santa Cruz Mountain range. Since its founding in 1977, the
organization has been responsible for saving 60,000 acres as permanent open
space and parkland in San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties. For more
information about POST, please visit
www.openspacetrust.org.
About the Land Trust Accreditation
Commission
The Land
Trust Accreditation Commission awards the accreditation seal to community
institutions that meet national quality standards for protecting important
natural places and working lands forever. The Commission, an independent program
of the Land Trust Alliance established in 2006, is governed by a volunteer board
of diverse land conservation and nonprofit management experts from around the
country. More information is available on the Commission’s website,
www.landtrustaccreditation.org.