Land Trust Success Stories

GOGO Funds Rio Grande Initiative with Largest Award in Colorado

San Luis Valley, CO --The Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust (RiGHT), the local land trust in the San Luis Valley, is the recipient of the state’s largest award in the Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund (GOCO) Legacy Grant round, with $7.385 million going towards the Rio Grande Initiative.  Governor Ritter announced the awards Monday, December 3rd  at the Capitol in Denver. GOCO Legacy grants are awarded every few years in order to achieve landscape scale protection efforts in critical areas of Colorado. Read full story. (posted 12/13/07)    

Governor Ritter Announces Preservation of 138,000 Acres with $57M in COGO/Lottery Grants

Denver, CO - Governor Bill Ritter today joined with members of the Lottery-funded Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) Trust Fund Board in announcing the investment of $57 million in Legacy grants to 15 projects that will help preserve 138,000 acres across the state.  Several of the projects receiving funds are based around river corridors including the South Platte River in Adams and Arapahoe counties, Fountain Creek in El Paso and Pueblo counties, the Rio Grande River in the San Luis Valley and in the Crystal and Upper San Juan watersheds in western Colorado.  The projects will expand urban recreational opportunities, provide critical wildlife habitat, protect scenic viewsheds, prevent communities from growing together and result in the construction of 40 miles of new trail. Read full story. (posted 12/13/07)

3,748 Acres Within California's Mono Lake Preserved

View from Cedar Hill Photo courtesy of Wilderness Land Trust

CARBONDALE, CO — The high desert landscape surrounding Mono Lake has moved one large step toward being kept unspoiled with a 3,748-acre gift from The Wilderness Land Trust. The Trust purchased the acreage from a developer in 2005 and donated it July 13th to the Bureau of Land Management, which administers nearby land as Wilderness Study Areas. To further assure that the land will remain in its natural state, the Trust donated the parcel’s mineral and development rights to Eastern Sierra Land Trust. Funding for the original purchase came from Resources Legacy Fund Foundation in Sacramento.

Cedar Hill, as the donated land is known, was the largest privately-owned tract in the Mono basin. It ranges in elevation from 6,800 to 8,500 feet above sea level and includes evergreen forest, sagebrush steppe, perennial streams, and meadows. The entire area offers other outstanding qualities including nationally significant historic and prehistoric cultural resources, and opportunities for solitude and primitive recreation.

During the past three years The Wilderness Land Trust has donated some 10,000 acres within California to the BLM or the Forest Service in 55 different transactions. Based in Carbondale, Colorado, Wilderness Land Trust protects wilderness by purchasing private parcels within wilderness areas and transferring them to public ownership. Since its founding in 1992 the Trust has purchased 264 parcels totaling over 21,000 acres in more than 60 western wildernesses.

Map courtesy of Wilderness Land Trust

The Wilderness Land Trust is based in Carbondale, Colorado, and has staff working actively in Arizona, California and Washington State. Its goal is to transfer wilderness inholdings to federal land management agencies and to assist with the acquisition of inholdings in areas proposed for wilderness designation.  It is the only organization in the nation to focus solely on the issue of inholdings (privately owned lands completely surrounded by public lands) in designated and proposed wilderness areas. Visit the Wilderness Land Trust for more information. (posted 7/24/07)

For more success stories, visit Southwest Success Stories

Texas Land Trust Council 11th Annual Statewide Conference
February 21-23, 2008 | Austin, TX
More information.

Southwest Land Trust Conference
May 15-17, 2008 | Park City, Utah
Yarrow Hotel and Conference Center
For more information, please contact Deana Metz at dmetz@lta.org or 970-245-5811.

The Coastal Bend Bays Foundation’s 2007 Call For Nominations

Great Egret standing in swampland Photo courtesy of Placer Land Trust

Deadline for nomination submissions is October 11, 2007

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX — The Coastal Bend Bays Foundation (CBBF) is pleased to announce the 2007Environmental & Conservation Stewardship Awards Program. The awards program is designed to recognize and honor outstanding Coastal Bend citizens, educators, businesses, governing bodies and other entities that have made significant contributions to the protection of the natural resources, habitats, and native species of the Coastal Bend.

To learn more about the award categories, or to download the required forms, click here: http://www.baysfoundation.org/awards.php.
(posted 8/07/07)

Colorado Governor Signs County Open Space Sales Tax Exemption

On March 30, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed SB-98, the County Open Space Sales Tax Exemption, into law at the Capitol. This bill allows counties to ask voters to approve up to a half-cent sales and use tax to fund an open space program which would reflect local priorities for acquisition and management. This is a critical tool for

Colorado counties to protect water quality, natural areas, working farms and ranches, wildlife habitat, and create new parks and opportunities for outdoor recreation. Local funding is vital to attracting matching funds from state and federal sources and for purposes of pursuing land conservation projects with interested and willing landowners. (posted 4/4/07)

Water Rights Handbook for Colorado Conservation Professionals

The Water Rights Handbook for Colorado Conservation Professionals is available for purchase now through Bradford Publishing. Prepared and reviewed by accomplished Colorado water and conservation attorneys, engineers, and appraisers, this book presents essential information that will allow Colorado's land conservation professionals to sensibly evaluate, pursue, and protect the water resources necessary to preserve conservation values year after year. The retail price is $45 and it can be purchased online at www.bradfordpublishing.com or by calling their customer service line at 800-446-2831. Those in the Denver area can also purchase it at our retail store located at 1743 Wazee Street in downtown Denver. (posted 3/17/06)

New Mexico Expands State Tax Credit For Land Conservation

In early April, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson signed HB990 - Real Property Transfers Tax Credit - into law. The tax credit goes into effect January 1, 2008, and will expand the existing state tax credit currently allowed under the New Mexico Land Conservation Incentives Act for New Mexico taxpayers who donate land or easements for conservation purposes. Read more... (posted 9/5/06)

Photo courtesy of McDowell Sonoran Land Trust

Conservation Funding in Colorado: A Guide to Federal and State Programs

The Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts has just released "Conservation Funding in Colorado", a unique guide examining the history, funding limits and eligibility requirements for more than 45 state and federal conservation programs. View or download the guide at www.cclt.org. (posted 3/28/05)

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