Conservancy: The Land Trust Movement in America

Preface

PREFACE More than a decade ago, several citizens concerned with the loss of open space, natural land, and farmland in southwestern Michigan began to talk about starting an organization to counteract that unfortunate trend. We met through the summer of 1991 and incorporated in October. All over the nation , others with similar thoughts were banding together. The Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy (SWMLC) was one of 53 land trusts that formed in 1991. In the three years between 1990 and 1992, 181 new land trusts formed. When we began meeting to talk about saving land, I knew something of the ecological and conservation biology basis of land conservation and had some familiarity with The Nature Conservancy. I knew little about local land trusts or the other national trusts. When I tried to read about them, I found a few articles, most of which said almost exactly the same things, and a few books, all written for land trust practitioners. More books have come along since then—good, useful, nuts-and-bolts books on such topics as conservation easements, tax law, and doing deals. Magazine and newspapers articles are now easy to find, though most follow the same repetitive pattern—how many trusts there are, descriptions of a couple of successful trusts, what a conservation easement is, tax advantages to land owners, and a few good recent deals. What was not available to me in 1990 or later was an overview of the land trust movement. No book existed to tell where land trusts came from, exactly what they do, how they vary, how this kind of land conservation fits into the broader conservation movement, where land trusts are going, what they’re doing right, and what they ought to be doing but aren’t. This is the book that I’ve tried to write. I’ve tried to make it informative and also interesting to anyone interested in land conservation. I also hope it will be helpful to people already associated with land trusts—members, volunteers , board, and staff. They get on-the-job training in certain essential operations, but the bigger picture is something they usually have to put together piecemeal and on their own. This book may speed up the process. People interested in land conservation as one part of environmental protection will find the book of interest. Others, who own land that ought to be preserved, will find it of direct practical use. Anyone with such land ought to begin their quest—and probably end it—with a land trust. They will learn in this book the things they need to know about what land trusts do and how they do it. My aim has been to write a book that combines accuracy and readability. In both, I’ve had a great deal of help from many people. Three people read virtually the whole book. These were John Eastman, Emma Bickham Pitcher, and Katy Takahashi. All are excellent writers and editors and are knowledgeable about land trusts, natural history, or both. I profited from their comments. Several other persons gave me much-appreciated comments on one to several chapters: Frank Ballo, Phil Brewer, Steve Brewer, Kim Chapman, Kay Chase, George Cox, Becky Csia, Joe Engemann, Jennie Gerard, Maynard Kaufman, Kenneth Kirton, Robert Pleznac, Stan Rajnak, Ann Schwing, Mary Anne Sydlik, Kim Traverse, and Joan Vilms. I have probably learned something about how land trusts work from everyone I’ve been associated with at SWMLC. Especially enlightening were interactions with Frank Ballo, Becky Csia, Renee Kivikko, George Lauff, Bob Pleznac, Stan Rajnak, Jim Richmond, Nancy Small, Gary Stock, and Kim Traverse. In 1996, I conducted a mail survey of land trusts, which I have referred to occasionally in later pages and described in the notes at the end of the book.1 I’m indebted to the land trust representatives who took time to fill out the questionnaire. Their information formed a valuable picture of what land trusts around the country were doing and not doing. I’m grateful also to those SWMLC land and easement donors who answered a set of questions about their reasons for preserving land. In connection with this project (and many others), members of the Resource Sharing section of Western Michigan University’s Waldo Library have been diligent in providing copies of sometimes obscure publications. I’m grateful. The list of people who provided information is long. All the readers provided information in addition to editorial comments. Sometimes, this information was extensive and...