Today, on Feb. 22, the Land Trust Alliance turns 40 years old. I am well past that age, but I remember that people expected me to be solemn and even dejected about that milestone. I didn’t see it that way for me personally at the time, and I certainly don’t see it that way for the Alliance.

Next month, members of Congress will return to their home states and districts to meet with constituents and discuss their policy priorities. This annual tradition, known in Washington as August recess, comes at a critical time for our community.

Following the reintroduction of the Charitable Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act in Congress, we’re one step closer to halting abuse of the federal conservation easement tax incentive. But we still need to get it across the finish line.

I have long touted the opportunities and challenges of a national goal to protect 30% of the nation’s land base by 2030.

The Charitable Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act — legislation that would halt abuse in the federal conservation easement program — was reintroduced today in Congress.

Today, the Biden administration provided more clarity on its commitment to conserve 30% of our nation’s lands and waters by 2030 with the release of the Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful report. It is good news for land trusts.

We should all applaud President Biden's executive order calling for conservation of 30% of the U.S. land base by 2030. This bold "30x30" vision is firmly rooted in science, given that protected land is key to a healthy and secure future for all Americans.

While we are disappointed that the Charitable Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act did not pass this Congress, our efforts to enact this important legislation will continue in the new year.

With the introduction of an updated version of the Charitable Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act in the U.S. House of Representatives, we are one step closer to halting the abuse of conservation easement donations.

Like many people in the land trust community, I have had a lifelong fascination with the world’s biodiversity. The abundance and variety of lifeforms is both mind-boggling and inspiring.

Abuse of the conservation easement tax incentive has ballooned in recent years from $6 billion in illicit claimed deductions in 2016, to $6.8 billion in 2017 to $9.2 billion in 2018 — for a total of $36 billion since 2010.

The Land Trust Alliance and our 1,000 member land trusts welcome the U.S. Senate Finance Committee's thorough and revealing report today on abuse of the federal conservation tax incentive.

And with the stroke of a pen, it became official: The Land and Water Conservation Fund now has full and dedicated funding. That means that $900 million will be committed each year to protecting important land, water and recreation areas that benefit all Americans.

For the past few months, the Land Trust Alliance has collected online statements from land trusts around the country affirming their commitment to end the structural racism that puts Black lives in danger every day.

While the history books may best remember 2020 as the year of a global pandemic, it also could well be remembered for the realization of a 50-year-old dream across the conservation community: securing full and dedicated funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

With all that is occurring in our world, we could all use a bit of good news these days. Today, we received some courtesy of the U.S. Senate.

The stresses on Americans in these difficult times have revealed the need for people to access and use the outdoors for respite and recreation.

Over the past weeks, all of us in the land trust community have scrambled to respond appropriately to the coronavirus pandemic. While we all have crisis plans for our organizations, few of us anticipated the unprecedented situation like the one in which we find ourselves.

At the start of this new decade, I thought it would be fitting to publish my call to action to the land trust community to markedly increase the rate of land conservation from 1 million acres a year now to at least 10 million acres a year by 2030.

Everyone needs the land — for food, health, clean water and air, a stable climate and access to outdoor recreation and refreshment. Yet, many Americans still do not understand the vital role land trusts play in their daily lives.

The newly introduced Protecting Our Conserved Lands Act would give communities enhanced security and stability that the lands they have come together to protect will remain as intended permanently. This legislation is as needed as it is timely — and it has our full support.

A new United Nations’ report demonstrates how critical land conservation and sustainable land management is to protecting the world’s food supply from the ravages of climate change. Land trusts and the Land Trust Alliance are ready to meet this challenge.

We received some welcome news today about the Charitable Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act. According to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Tax, the legislation to end abusive conservation easement tax shelters will generate $6.6 billion in federal revenue.

Yesterday, the IRS and U.S. Treasury Department issued final regulations that will drastically erode state tax incentives for landowners who donate land or conservation easements to land trusts.

I wanted you to be among the first to know: The U.S. Senate Finance Committee announced today a probe of conservation tax benefit abuse.

Land conservation tax incentives should inspire charitable giving, not loopholes.

On behalf of the Land Trust Alliance and our 1,000 members, I'm pleased to applaud the U.S. Senate's early reintroduction of the Charitable Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act.

I come to you today with three major updates on items of great consequence to the Land Trust Alliance and the land conservation community.

UPDATE: Building on the U.S. Senate's vote to pass the Farm Bill, the U.S. House of Representatives voted Dec. 12 to approve the legislation, 369-47. This completes the bill's journey through Congress.

Several major reports in recent weeks have predicted cataclysmic results without a prompt, meaningful and universal commitment to tackling climate change.

As I reflect on this week's election activity across the country, I am struck by the resounding call by Americans to protect our lands and waters through ballot measures funding conservation.

As I reflect on my career in conservation, I can say definitively that I would not be where I am without the mentorship that I received from exceptional women.

When land trusts pursue community conservation, they build broad and deep support for land conservation, and, ultimately, ensure the permanence of it.

As we have done for 35 proud years, the Land Trust Alliance continually considers its impact on land trusts and the nation — and ways in which we can work together to save the places that people need and love.

We know now that abusive conservation easement tax shelters are nothing more than a get-rich-quick scheme.

Land trusts do tremendous community-based conservation every day that improves the quality of life for residents in their communities.

We envision a reenergized, more relevant conservation movement in which land trusts join with partners that have not traditionally identified as conservation organizations around our shared interest in protecting special places.

To ensure our member land trusts do not intentionally or inadvertently participate in abusive syndicated easement transactions, the Land Trust Alliance is publishing today a revised Tax Shelter Advisory. All land trusts should become familiar with the document.

I want to make sure you see an investigative article published recently by ProPublica and Fortune magazine.

Getting legislation passed on Capitol Hill is no easy task. It takes many people — all working together — to build momentum for even the simplest bills.

On November 28, 2017, Congress introduced the bipartisan Charitable Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act of 2017. This crucial legislation addresses an urgent concern for our community and requires your support.

Land conservation offers a critical solution as activists and diplomats meet this week in Bonn to identify how nations will avoid a 2-degree Celsius increase in global average surface temperature (with a far preferable threshold being 1.5 degrees).

The IRS has published a welcome supplemental Notice complementing an earlier Notice that made conservation easement tax shelters "listed transactions."

Many of us are concerned — if not alarmed — about the impacts of political changes in Washington, D.C., on federal environmental policies, especially those that affect land trusts and land conservation. These include the Farm Bill, the Land and Water Conservation Fund and tax reform legislation.

This year, the Land Trust Alliance is celebrating a legacy of leadership on behalf of the land trust community.

After investing decades of hard work and billions of dollars in conservation — and now looking to expand efforts to permanently conserve important landscapes — land trusts are increasingly concerned about the impacts of climate change.

The IRS notice is good news for land trusts and all who care about land conservation.

The IRS took today the important, anticipated step of making conservation easement tax shelters a "listed transaction."

In this season of celebration, I'm extremely pleased to share with you some news we can all cheer.

When I set out to hire the Land Trust Alliance’s next executive vice president, my priority was to find a recognized leader from within the land trust community.

Among its many roles, the Land Trust Alliance works with land trusts to address threats to our community. It is my belief we are facing a serious and urgent threat we all need to work to thwart: promoters using hyper-inflated conservation donations as a tool for selling tax deductions to wealthy investors.

The Land Trust Alliance and its members are delighted following the U.S. Senate’s vote Wednesday to pass — for the first time — permanent authorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

One of the reasons I enjoy being part of the land trust community is there’s a collaborative spirit here that allows our community to thrive.

Early in my life, I was fortunate to learn what it meant to have a love of place.