A01. Do You Have Insurance to Cover Your Risks?
Having the right insurance is a key part of good risk balancing for land trusts. Terrafirma helps cover threats to the lasting conservation, but there are many other types of insurance you may need. We will present real life stories of how insurance plays into all land trust activities. Do you own buildings? Is your board covered against hostile legal actions? What about employee owned vehicles used for work? We will cover basic types of insurance, as well as some that may be unique to land trusts, and using a land trust example we discuss how a board goes about assessing what insurance to purchase and how much.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
A02. Countdown to 2020: Tips and Pointers for Land Trusts Preparing for First-Time Accreditation
Offered to any organization preparing to apply for first-time accreditation in 2020 or beyond. Attendees will leave with an understanding of how the accreditation program works, what they need to apply, and an action plan for their organization that maps out the steps they need to complete to successfully apply for accreditation.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
A03. Fundraising Metrics and How to Use Them
Metrics matter. Period. But not the metrics that many people think of and not the way in which many people use them. For example, metrics shouldn’t be used to justify our existence. They should be used to change our behavior – adapt to our changing environment. They should be used to help predict what will happen in the coming months and years. Join fundraising expert David Allen as we explore the world of what to measure, how to measure it, and how what you learn can be used to change your organizational behavior.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
A04. Pushing the Envelope: A Fundraising Letter Writing Workshop
Writing successful fundraising letters is both an art and a science. What cues do you put on the envelope to get it opened and not "recycled?" How do you spark a reader's interest and sustain it? What are the key elements of a reply form to "close the sale" and secure a gift? What to test, when to test and how to test? We will spend the first half of this session examining and discussing direct mail fundraising best practices and work together as a group during the final 45 minutes applying what we discussed to write a sample land trust fundraising letter. This fun, practical and fast-paced session conducted by strategic and creative expert Nelson Checkoway, founder and principal of Rising Tide Direct, was inspired by the many questions and comments offered during Checkoway's session on high touch mail at Rally 2017. We'll talk design and budget and postage and style and more! You will emerge from this session with 10 Key Takeaway Points that you can put to work immediately in your fundraising program ... along with hands-on experience creating a sure-to-be-effective fundraising letter--the "write" way!
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
A05. Pulling Off a Multichannel Communications Campaign to Broaden Support
Through the lens of “Earth Week” – the Leelanau Conservancy’s annual week-long multichannel communication and fundraising campaign – we’ll discuss strategies we used to build and broaden support for our land trust. We’ll describe why a multichannel campaign was the best choice for us based on our audiences and the communication and fundraising goals we wanted to achieve. We’ll also talk about our experience with the specific tools and techniques we used, including partnerships, peer-to-peer social media fundraising and activities for millennials. We hope by sharing our experience, other land trusts will get ideas and be inspired to create their own multichannel campaign to meet their communication and fundraising goals.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
A06. Where Do We Go From Here? Mapping Your Landowner Engagement Strategy
Where do we go from here? Land trusts understand the need to engage landowners and members of the community, but is your outreach portfolio structured in a way that supports your mission and project goals? Do you lack the time, capacity, or direction to keep things progressing after you’ve gotten a landowner’s attention? This workshop will encourage participants to plan out their outreach activities from start to finish using the concept of a “Ladder of Engagement,” developed by The Sustaining Family Forests Initiative’s Tools for Engaging Landowners Effectively. Case studies from the Hudson to Housatonic Regional Conservation Partnership will depict lessons learned about follow-up and setting the stage for meaningful relationships with landowners. Participants will have a chance to apply this tool in small breakout groups and map out a series of steps and touch points that will guide landowner action towards change they want to see on the landscape.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
A07. Greening the Urban Landscape
The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy's community gardens and green space work engages neighborhood groups, service and environmental clubs, local school students, clubs and faculty, and corporate employees that want to improve the neighborhoods where they live and work. This program, with volunteer-tended community garden sites, street and restoration tree plantings, green streetscape elements, school grounds greening and green storm water infrastructure projects, throughout Western Pennsylvania, improves the environment, beautifies the urban landscape and intern spurs economic development. Most of the projects are on previously litter strewn vacant lots in highly visible areas in the midst of the built environment and along well-traveled corridors in the region. These projects address the importance of improving community landscapes with a strong community outreach and volunteers to help transform public eyesores into appreciated natural assets. This workshop will highlight some of the successful urban greening projects WPC has implemented, and discuss the challenges in doing so within the urban environment. It will be a good opportunity for organizations considering expanding into urban greening work to hear about the lessons learned over the past 25 years of greening work in the city of Pittsburgh and the surrounding region. It will also be a great opportunity for organizations already implementing greening work in the urban setting to share their experiences.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
A08. Community Forest Program: Partnerships, Federal Funds & Communities
The Community Forest Program authorizes the US Forest Service to issue financial assistance grants to eligible non-profits, local governments, and federally recognized Tribes to establish community forests that provide community benefits. This session will provide information about the program and discuss the successes, lessons learned, and the creative partnership methods successful applicants have used to create their community forest. It will also discuss the application process and what makes a successful application and means to meet the 50% cost-share requirement. Those that participate will understand the history of program creation and accomplishments, eligibility, community benefits as outlined in the law and rule, how to apply to the program, and current availability of funds.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
A09. Peb Tiv Thaiv – Fostering Equity Through Conservation with Local Partners
In an increasingly complicated world, the problems communities face are interwoven and the solutions to solve those problems take teamwork, creativity, tenacity, and flexibility. Come learn about how land trusts can collaborate with unlikely allies to use conservation solutions to address community problems. The Milwaukee area is facing multiple challenges with water quality and urban flooding; providing everyone access to fresh and healthy food; and ensuring affordable land is available for beginning and immigrant farmers who produce that food. In 2015, a land trust, a watershed protection agency and a community-based nonprofit joined forces to become the Making Allies for Healthier Communities Partnership, dedicated to finding creative solutions to these issues. We will use the Making Allies example to illustrate how you can replicate this process in your own community to address your unique issues.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
A10. Title is Important! It’s Not Just a Name
Two seasoned land use/legal professionals will endeavor to help you navigate what you and your organization should be considering with respect to examining title and addressing the inevitable title issues that arise in your projects. Title can sometimes feel like a maze, leaving you with questions like: “I have insurance on my car, but do I really need it for my conservation project?” and “Uh oh, the person I have been meeting with all these years doesn’t really own all of the property, now what do I do?” Come learn strategies for dealing with these complicated questions as these experienced practitioners help you become a more informed conservationist when it’s time to request, review, and understand “title” on your next project.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
A11. Addressing Ephemeral Land Management in a Perpetual Conservation Case
Conservation easements are a good tool for telling landowners what they can’t do, especially when it comes to the built environment: no houses, no roads, etc. However, when it comes to addressing what landowners should do (or even must do!) in regards to vegetation management, the limits of an easement becomes tested. Many land trust funders and easement holders are becoming more interested in the “performance” of private lands to meet certain societal goals such as organic farming, climate change, or invasive species. In the eyes of many, it’s no longer enough just to keep land from being developed through a negative covenant. When we demand certain management regimes on private land through an easement, it stretches the legal and practical relationship between easement holder and private landowner. This session will explore the range of options for addressing the ephemeral nature of land/vegetation management in a perpetual document and include case studies to help the discussion.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
CLE: CLE
A12. Trending Topics in Fee Land and Conservation Easement Stewardship
This session will focus on three trending topics relating to fee land and conservation easement stewardship: 1) dealing with trespass encroachment and mitigating adverse possession risk (and what exactly is adverse possession, anyway?); 2) tips and tricks for efficiently getting land management plans done on time with limited resources; and, 3) ways to handle relationships with neighbors (with violations, proactively, or otherwise). We will review specific how-to tools, suitable for both small and large land trusts, including sample language, templates, processes, and monitoring field practices, many emerging out of lessons learned from the presenters’ Terrafirma claims. Specific focus will be given to compliance with Land Trust Standards and Practices Standard 12, and common issues arising nationally on these trending topics, including: how to value and enforce trespass tree cutting from a neighbor, with different processes for a minor cut/limbing vs. a major timber harvest encroachment; what to do to minimize adverse possession risk if a land trust is okay a small neighbor encroachment for the sake of neighbor relations; and, communication and risk-managing tools for neighbors.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
A13. Real Estate Fundamentals: A Primer for New Land Trust Staff
Land conservation projects are, at their core, sophisticated real estate transactions. This workshop is intended for non-attorneys new to the field and will acquaint participants with basic real estate concepts, legal elements of real estate transactions, and outline the acquisition process from property identification through title searches and related due diligence to closing. Emphasis will be placed on basic legal terminology, possible pitfalls and areas of concern, and practical advice. The topics will include: types of ownership and how interests in property can be held by different people; title searches and title insurance; liens and encumbrances; legal descriptions and surveys; environmental and other due diligence; letters of intent, purchase contracts, options, and rights of first refusal; basic information on deeds and conservation easements; and closing and recording.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
CLE: CLE
A14. Conservation Finance 101: Where’s the Money?
The term "conservation finance" is popping up everywhere, but it can be difficult to understand what it means let alone how it applies to your work. This interactive session will run through the range of innovative--or just plain effective--funding and financing tools and strategies, including examples of how each has been put into practice. We will use a hypothetical acquisition opportunity to explore different pathways to success. The session will attempt to demystify conservation finance, and to provide attendees with a practical resource library of toolkits to continue their exploration.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
A15. Untrammeled: The Case for Wild Places in a Changing World
With all the challenging conservation issues facing us, and all the important and creative strategies for confronting them, the need for truly wild places may seem irrelevant. But the original concept of wil-der-ness (literally “will of the land”) is as radical and beautiful as the land trust movement itself. Self-willed land. Land where plants and animals are free to make their own choices, and free to form the rich communal fabric of a mature ecosystem. Evidence shows that old self-managed forests and grasslands have greater resilience, store more carbon, and provide unique ethical and spiritual values to people. With stewardship redefined as participating in and contributing to the community of life, new questions arise about why and how we care for land. In this workshop we will look at the compelling case, and growing need, for wild places from three perspectives: Science, Philosophy, Culture. Dr. Mark Anderson is the Director of Science for The Nature Conservancy’s Eastern Region and developer of TNC’s climate resilience analysis. Tom Butler is Vice President for Conservation Advocacy at Tompkins Conservation and editor of “Keeping the Wild”. Tom and Mark are board members of Northeast Wilderness Trust, a regional land trust focused exclusively on preserving forever-wild landscapes
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
A16. Restoring Indigenous Landscape Management Practices
For centuries California Indians managed and sustained cultural ecosystems that coevolved with traditional resource and environmental management (TREM) practices, such as fire, selective harvesting, digging, and seed scattering. California’s coastal prairies have greater species richness than any other grassland type in North America and are culturally important ecosystems, which provide traditional food, fibers, and medicines. Today, after a period of colonial dispossession, the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band is fulfilling their obligation to the Creator, and working to restore their native food plants, by relearning their traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) to return to their traditional territory to steward and care for Mother Earth. Amah Mutsun Tribal Chairman Valentin Lopez will discuss the history of the tribe and how the Amah Mutsun Land Trust (AMLT) was developed as a means to assist the tribe in their relearning efforts and also gain access to lands within their tribal territory. Rick Flores, Research Associate for AMLT, will discuss TEK and the implications for this Indigenous science to collaborate with Western Science to restore cultural ecosystems and promote biodiversity.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
A17. Stronger Staff = Stronger Impact
The ability of land trusts to have a positive impact in their communities and local landscapes depends upon the effectiveness of their staff. As land trusts grow, our impact grows. Yet, often Executive Directors and Director level positions are more focused on strategies to increase the pace of land conservation or on the nuts and bolts of Standards and Practices, than they are on developing and managing staff. The adage is that “employees join companies, but leave managers.” A Gallup poll of more 1 million employed U.S. workers concluded that the No. 1 reason people quit their jobs is a bad boss or immediate supervisor. This workshop will turn attention to the important question of staff relations, and how to create the most organizational impact with your staff while creating a culture that supports and mentors them.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
A18. Energy Sprawl: Pipelines, FERC and Eminent Domain
Energy infrastructure is the new sprawl and a major threat to preserved lands. Several regions of the country are facing a proliferation of gas pipelines that often target preserved lands. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is the primary federal agency that reviews pipelines, and confers the power of eminent domain that pipeline developers can use to seize preserved lands. Hear how three different land trusts are fighting to protect preserved lands from interstate gas pipelines. This workshop will include a legal overview of the federal and state policies governing pipelines, and lessons learned from land trusts working to defend preserved lands from eminent domain and damage to natural resources.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
A19. Act On Climate: Using Land Conservation to Capture Carbon
With every passing day the impacts from global warming become more apparent and the role land conservation can play in mitigating them more important. The role and value conserved lands play in carbon sequestration is an important element in the future or our climate and in demonstrating the value of land conservation. The Trust for Public Land, in partnership with American Forests, is developing a first of its kind decision support tool focused on land conservation and forest carbon sequestration. The Carbon Mapping Decision Support Tool is envisioned to help policy makers and planners at state government agencies, non-profits, and foundations assess and differentiate forest-based opportunities to protect and enhance carbon sequestration and uptake. The tool will also help organizations and individuals looking to make investments in carbon sequestration optimize and track their investments and quantify return on investments. This tool is needed to help users understand the diverse nature and existing and potential volume of forest-based carbon sinks within geographies of interest, which can vary significantly on a national, regional, and even state basis. Further, users need to be able to understand how these carbon sinks might be impacted negatively by forest stressors and positively by forest management, restoration, and permanent land conservation. This workshop will provide the policy and business cases that support, and are supported by, Carbon Map.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
A20. Working with Educational and Nonprofit Landowners
Nonprofit institutions are often large landowners that own real estate assets of significant conservation value. Sometimes these lands are being used for conservation related purpose such as educational programming, sustainable forestry, or research. Other times they are held as part of an endowment or as a fiduciary asset. This workshop will engage participants in how to work with universities, secondary schools, hospitals and other non-profit institutions to conserve important land. Case studies from New England including Dartmouth College, Middlebury College, University of Vermont, Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Hospital and the Northfield Mount Hermon School will be used to explore the different motivations, fiduciary obligations and processes involved in working with a non-profit landowner in either a fee or conservation easement acquisition. The workshop will focus on how to engage the administration, faculty and community members in the process. It will also include how to successfully apply for conservation funding despite a common perception that non-profit lands are not vulnerable to subdivision or development. Time will allow for brainstorming on your project in your community.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
A21. Story Maps for Land Trusts
Great stories about the places your land trust conserves are one of the best tools available to engage the public and for garnering support. Esri’s Story Maps are web-based apps that provide maps, images, video and text to present place-based narratives. Stories can be anything from quick, seasonal items relevant to your lands (like wildflower spots, fish or bird migration, or tales of ranchers working during calving season), or perhaps self-guided tours around your preserves or the locations of annual accomplishments. Story Maps are templates that enable authors to develop an engaging experience within a well-designed interface. Many templates can be used “out-of-the-box”, but they also allow customization with special formatting and features, without requiring heavy technical expertise. This presentation will cover a hands-on demonstration of Story Maps, walking you through how to set up a Story Maps web account and then taking you through the creation of three separate Story Map applications (Tour, Journal, Cascade templates), with time for Q&A along the way. We'll also bring in some new information about how and where to include Calls to Action in your stories.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
B01. Be Prepared, Don’t Be Scared: How Terrafirma Helps Meet Risk
Terrafirma has been helping member owner land trusts defend their public liability for their conservation portfolios for over five years with over 515 claims and payments of over two million dollars. Two land trust senior staff will share their trial stories involving Terrafirma. We’ll also discuss practical takeaways and have an open conversation about results, claims trends, forecasts, financial stability, premiums and anything else on your mind about the world’s only conservation defense liability insurance company. This session qualifies for the 2018 Terrafirma risk management discount.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
CLE: CLE
B02. Tackling Land Trust Accreditation Requirements through the 2018 Requirements Manual
Offered to any organization interested in land trust accreditation. Attendees will leave with a basic primer on the construct of the Requirements Manual and pointers on how to use it to implement accreditation indicators and prepare for land trust accreditation.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
B03. Directors of Development Forum
Development Directors, Vice Presidents of Philanthropy and others holding the responsibility for effective fundraising at their land trust are invited to join in this session for facilitated discussions on your unique challenges and opportunities and networking with your peers.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
B04. Demystifying Grants for Land Trusts
While most not-for-profit organizations receive grant funding in some form, grants are often the most woefully misunderstood aspect of an organization's financial support. This presentation addresses the fundamentals of what grants are and what they are not, and explores how they can and should be used to support organizational capacity and financial stability. Specific attention will be paid to developing grant project budgets that help rather than hurt the organization's bottom line, and to hearing directly from both grant writers and grant funders about what makes a successful funding proposal.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
B05. An Engagement Toolkit: Modernizing Your Website and Interactive Maps
This workshop will detail the process and outcome of Essex County Greenbelt’s 2017 website overhaul, which improved user experience, incorporated responsive design, and integrated new interactive mapping technology. We’ll get into the nitty gritty of the project details from the planning stage through development and deployment to ongoing lessons. Topics such as how people use websites today, the design process, data analytics and the interactive mapping journey will be covered. We’ll take a tour of the new ESRI mapping platform and the updated website. You’ll walk away with concrete examples you can use to inform your organization’s redesign process and what to avoid.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
B06. This Land is Our Land: Making a Stronger Case For Conservation
This workshop invites participants to take a deep dive into the way that we communicate about land conservation and what we can learn from other sectors, movements, and advocates. The first part focuses on building a bridge to the urban populace that is primed to get outside but doesn't make the connection to the work of land trusts. The second part explores the rhetorical ground conceded in the past decades and explores how to recapture some of that lost ground to make a stronger case for land. Part three looks at lessons from collective action movements and their successes and risks. These include the Civil Rights, Women's Rights, and Gay Rights movements. The final part gets real about the problem of diversity (geographical, ethnic, economic, etc.) and land ownership and preservation. This workshop will be highly interactive with the presenter giving context, posing questions, and framing discussion. Participants should be motivated to experiment, brainstorm, and take risks. There are no easy answers to these challenges, which is why we need to confront them head on.
This Land Is Our Land - Making a Stronger Case for Conservation - LTA Rally 2018
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
B07. Urban Agrihoods: A Primer for Healthy City Renaissance
The session will begin with a case study of a property in New Jersey's Capital of Trenton. The acquisition and transformation of a two acre garbage strewn lot into a green oasis in the midst of one of Trenton's challenging neighborhoods. The project - "Capital CIty Farm" was initially conceived as a place that could provide fresh produce to the adjacent Soup Kitchen but turned into a project that not only transformed the space but served as the cornerstone for a much larger contextual discussion and influence. Partnering with others the project turned into a focal point for another discussion and project being worked on by a local Public Policy Institute who partnered with 'Designing the We' who have been working to change the way communities feel about themselves through and understanding of historic Redlining practices. Redlining urban neighborhoods resulted and a long disastrous decline in many communities. The Watson Institute and Designing the We have collaborated to engage local communities about this fundamental disinvestment policy as a beginning point for community strategy and engagement. The nexus to the Capital City Farm is to use space transforming public open space / farm projects to "Undesign the Redline".
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
B08. Opening Nature to Everyone
Nearly one in five Americans self-identify as having a disability; many cannot use traditionally designed outdoor spaces. Fortunately, some land trusts found ways to design (and redesign) trails and recreational spaces so that everyone can use them. This workshop will cover the basic tenets of Universal Design. You’ll learn what organizations ranging in size from Mass Audubon to an all-volunteer land trust, through hard work and partnerships, did to create accessible trails. If these groups can do it, so can yours! You’ll leave with the practical knowledge needed to build accessible trails, and more importantly, you will be inspired to embrace Universal Design so that everyone can access and enjoy Nature’s healing powers.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
CLE: CLE
B09. Tackling Trespassers
Land trusts can and should tackle trespassers. Trespass is the fastest growing class of conservation easement violations and encroachments on fee land. Using a participatory format the presenters will address the legal bases for reaching violators who are not parties to the conservation easement, encroachers on fee land as well as apply practical and drafting lessons to their own situations. Attendees will take away sample easement language anticipating third party violations and lessons learned.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
CLE: CLE
B10. Building Provisions in Conservation Easements
This session will use actual examples of building provisions to highlight drafting and stewardship issues such as location of building envelopes, types of buildings and uses often permitted, restrictions that are difficult to monitor, and potential commercial uses. We will identify key information points to collect from landowners before drafting and also address critical stewardship challenges that can arise from these permissible use areas.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
CLE: CLE
B11. Drafting Easements to Promote Stewardship
This participatory session will discuss drafting tips to address the increasingly common stewardship questions of economic hardship, land and ownership division, and transfer notice provisions. For example, does your land trust’s commercial use or recreation clause prohibit Airbnb style camping, mud runs, or yoga in the barn? What are the practical implications of a subdivision clause to the land trust, multiple heirs, and family farms? Should easements be referenced in conveyance documents? Are there best practices when drafting transfer notice provisions to avoid enforceability issues? Presenters have both drafting and enforcement experience and will provide excerpts of relevant easement clauses to critique and discuss.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
CLE: CLE
B12. Tax Issues in Conservation Easements; Decades of Experience in 90 Minutes (CLE)
After several decades of practice in the field, representing both land owners and land trusts, there are certain recurring tax issues that send even the most experienced professionals searching through statutes, regulations, and other dust-collecting books. These tax issues are challenging to master, both because the answers are not apparent and there is no single comprehensive text book. In this session, we will share our experiences of practicing for over 37 years at this crossroads of tax, real property, and contract law to walk participants though some of the most annoying, arcane, and recurring tax issues, using real world hypotheticals. We’ll cover topics including what property to appraise and what to analyze for enhancement, basis limitations and allocation, and capital gain verses ordinary income. We are not promising we have all of the answers, but hopefully we’ll have a few and a little bit of humor along the way.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
CLE: CLE
B13. Carbon Finance Frontiers: Forests, Grasslands, Wetlands & Carbon Funds
A new carbon investment fund and recently developed carbon project protocols have expanded the range of carbon project types available to land trusts. Come learn about carbon funding opportunities that may be available to your organization. This workshop will explain the differences between carbon credit markets, delve into the details of forest carbon projects and present exciting new developments in grassland and wetland carbon projects as well as carbon finance. TerraCarbon will discuss a pioneering wetland restoration carbon project developed with the USFWS and TNC in coastal North Carolina. The Climate Trust will share its cutting-edge work aggregating grassland carbon projects and present its new carbon investment fund that can reduce carbon project development barriers and help land trusts finance new conservation acquisitions. The workshop will include a Q&A brainstorming session to allow land trusts to pose potential projects to the experts.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
B14. Innovations in Invasive Species Management
Invasive species are one of the greatest threats posed to our natural areas. Unfortunately invasive species are something almost all land trusts have in common. Invasive species are a major threat to the land we are charged to protect in part because they can change habitats and alter ecosystem function, crowd out or displace native species and inhibit human activities, costing the economy millions of dollars. Costs to agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and other human activities in the US by introduced species are estimated by some to be $137 billion per year. During this session, Steven Manning will introduce several of the most prolific invaders land trusts must consider followed by an systemic solution which starts with the newest educational tools, an introduction to the most popular on the ground management solutions followed by mechanisms for funding and managing invasives for the long term.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
B15. Land Trusts and Birds: Partners in Strategic Conservation
Land trusts are an increasingly popular mechanism to protect private lands and conserve birds and their habitats. At the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, we believe land trusts can help birds, and birds can benefit land trusts. To develop mutually beneficial partnerships between land trusts and the bird conservation community, in collaboration with the Land Trust Alliance, we developed the Land Trust Bird Conservation Initiative (www.birdtrust.org), which provides: 1) resources and tips on bird-focused funding opportunities; 2) access to science-based information about birds to inform strategic conservation, prioritization of easements and acquisitions, aid in grant writing, and help with facilitating landowner engagement; 3) ideas to cultivate new members and volunteers by connecting with birdwatchers, bird organizations, and bird conservation advocates; 4) guidance for habitat management on easements and fee-owned lands; 5) connections with science-based bird conservation resources and success stories from other land trusts; and 6) assistance with monitoring birds and visualizing data through eBird.org. Workshop participants will explore each of these six topics through presentations and expert-led discussion. The primary objectives are to: 1) teach land trust staff why birds are useful in making decisions about conservation investments, 2) demonstrate how to use birds for strategic conservation and partnership building, and 3) ultimately increase the pace, delivery, and scale of bird conservation on private lands. An eBird.org training session will teach land trusts how to use this important and free science and conservation tool to monitor birds, engage the birding community, and make planning and investment decisions.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
B16. Saving Yourself While Saving the Day
We all have those days: the land transaction you’ve been pursuing is suddenly exploding, your best fundraiser quits, and your spouse is getting fired. Sometimes the stress builds over time as you wrap up one difficult transaction just to be faced with another. The fact is that all of us are trying to do great things, but how do we push the boundaries of the possible without pushing ourselves over the limit? This session will validate your need to take time to care for yourself and provide you with insights on what that care looks like. We’ll discuss the costs of burnout, both to an organization and to people. Participants will have time to discover both what saps their energy and what gives them the strength to keep going.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
B17. When Board Behavior Turns Ugly
This workshop will support staff members and board members as they consider how to address a range of destructive behaviors that use power to harass, bully or treat others with disrespect. Participants will be equipped with the knowledge of the origins of destructive behaviors, and to name the range of those behaviors. Destructive board behavior can take a huge toll on both individual executive directors and other board members, as well as a potential negative impact on a land trust’s effectiveness and the community’s confidence in the organization. Participants will explore specific strategies for how to address, manage and stop destructive behaviors, and actively apply those strategies to specific issues and scenarios they may have experienced. The workshop will allow participants time for creating their own next steps to prevent or address destructive behaviors in their organization.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
B18. Using Communications Strategies to Cultivate Legislative Champions
A sound communications strategy can help your team develop relationships with lawmakers and elected officials to gain support for your organization’s legislative goals. Members of Conservation Trust for North Carolina and Scenic Hudson will showcase how they use content marketing and media relations strategies to build public awareness for conservation issues and policies, and cultivate partnerships with local, state, and federal government officials. The session will show attendees how to build a legislative media strategy, re-purpose content across a variety of mediums, and use effective communications to achieve public awareness and legislative goals.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
B19. Mini Collaborative Conservation Partnership Bootcamp
Not for the faint of heart, this Mini Collaborative Conservation Partnership Bootcamp is a fast-paced peer exchange event where you and your fellow attendees in collaborative landscape or regional conservation are just the right kind of expert: the one with first-hand knowledge! Listen to and provide and receive feedback on what is currently challenging you and your peers most. Come discuss the nature of what's challenging you in getting a collaborative or partnership started; keeping partners engaged; creating a collaborative strategic map of priorities; finding funding for activities and land protection; strengthening the capacity of partner groups like land trusts; and engaging new partners. Or, come with a different challenge to discuss at your table. The timing and sequence of sharing and feedback are such that each attendee will have three minutes to describe their challenge. Following their sharing, they will then receive around eight minutes of feedback, questions, and input about their specific problem from five of their peers each of whom care about the same set of challenges. After everyone has received feedback, the table group will debrief. That's it. The session is not about the presenters and their activities. It's not about coming up with a consensus on the best solutions. It's about you, your challenges, the answers and new friends you leave with, and what you have to offer your peers.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
B20. iNaturalist.org: A Land Stewardship Tool Use and Application
Land stewardship is defined as the wise care of the land entrusted to our organizations. Wise management requires knowing and understanding what is on the land so that we can track changes and evaluate the impacts of our management actions. For many reasons, gathering this crucial data is difficult, and unfortunately, having species lists and biological data becomes a luxury. In this session we describe a tool that equips volunteers to help us gather this valuable biological data. It is a citizen science web-based platform called iNaturalist.org, but iNaturalist is more than a website, more than an app, and more than just a tool for gathering data on the critters using our lands. iNaturalist is also a community conservation initiative, a network of nature lovers, and a place for environmental education and communicating about our lands and their diverse flora and fauna. This session will introduce you to the iNaturalist database and network and the breadth of options available for a land trust to utilize the power of the platform. Learn how to set up an account, how to use iNaturalist in a Bioblitz, how to easily gather observational data from iNaturalist users visiting your lands, and other tips and ideas as we share our experiences using iNaturalist.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
C01. Countdown to Renewal: It’s Never Too Early to Start Planning
Offered to any organization accredited by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission. Attendees will leave with information on staying compliant with accreditation requirements during the accredited term. Topics to be covered include addressing expectations for improvement, systems for reviewing revisions to the Requirements Manual, understanding the types of “critical requirements” that are challenging to fix, and how to create systems to ensure compliance. Attendees will also leave with a timeline and countdown customizable to their organization's renewal.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
C02. How to Make Your Website Your Most Powerful Marketing and Fundraising Tool
In this interactive workshop we will use real world examples to help you understand how to leverage web technologies to make dramatic improvements in fundraising, growing members and engaging constituents. How websites are being utilized, how communication occurs, how institutions and people donate, and how data can be stored, accessed, and analyzed is fundamentally changing. We will analyze how different generations are impacted by shifts in web technology and how this should be impacting your fundraising and communication strategy. After the workshop, you'll have a much better understanding of how to use your website and other web technologies to help meet your fundraising, membership, and engagement goals.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
C03. Assessing Campaign Readiness
The timing for a major operating or capital campaign is ripe for many land trusts. Giving is up, relationships are strong, and people are excited – is this the time to launch that campaign we've anticipated? This session will help groups assess their fundamental readiness for a big leap forward. In doing this analysis, groups will also explore their overall development efforts and understand what they can do to make all of their fundraising/friend-raising more successful.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
C04. Quick and Easy Strategies to Get Media Attention
The press release use to be the “king” of an organization’s strategy to disseminate news and information. Not anymore. In a changing and challenging news environment, reporters are looking for press releases plus web- and social media-ready content to make them more relevant to their employers, readers and followers. Your members also want relevant, engaging content. The session will show you how to prioritize and use no- or low-cost strategies to build trust and interest with the media. You will also learn strategies to provide reporters with ready-to-go content so that they can effortlessly write and highlight your conservation projects and accomplishments. Tactics include using one of the most powerful multimedia tools most of us have in our purses or pockets: a smartphone.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
C05. Nature4Climate: Messaging Solutions
Public opinion, financial feasibility and policy research are crucial to demonstrate the value of larger investments in natural climate solutions. Natural climate solutions—the concept and the terminology—are foreign to most U.S. decision makers and members of the public. Without research on the best ways to talk about how the land sector could be a major player in addressing the threat of climate change, we are ill-equipped to achieve the same gains as we have for habitat protection. Over the course of six months, The Nature Conservancy and The Trust for Public Land have contracted with the bi-partisan polling firms of Public Opinion Strategies and FM3 to test public opinion and decision-maker opinion on the issue of using nature to help address the climate change. This extensive qualitative and quantitative research is guiding the two organizations in how we communicate on this issue. During this session, we will hear from the pollsters on the research and how to apply our newfound understanding of terminology and messaging in work in the field. Additionally, representatives of The Nature Conservancy and The Trust for Public Land will discuss how they are using this data to bolster their efforts on natural solutions for climate at the national level. Finally, we will open the discussion with the audience to see how this research and programmatic work might be applied to work of land trusts across the country.
Rally2018_C05 Language of Nature-Based Solutions
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
C06. What’s the Best Community Conservation Strategy for Your Land Trust?
What strategy makes the most sense for your land trust to approach community conservation? This workshop will provide examples of how land trusts are approaching community conservation to both find, and implement, projects and programs, based upon their goals and capacity. We will focus on small land trusts in particular while exploring approaches from larger land trusts. Highlights will include how to develop authentic relationships; identify and serve those who need you most; determine what level of engagement to ask of community partners; and decide where to start and when to branch out. We will summarize on what community conservation has meant to the land trusts in these examples.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
C07. Cultural Conservation Easements: A Public Agency and a Tribe Partnering in Stewardship of Ancestral Tribal Lands
This panel will discuss a cultural conservation easement between the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band and the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District on Mount Umunhum in California. The easement grants to the Tribe perpetual rights of access to and stewardship of important ancestral lands within a publicly owned open space preserve. A related memorandum of understanding launches an implementing strategy, in an adaptive partnership between the Tribe and the District. This is a groundbreaking conservation easement, one which emphasizes the renewal and reconnection of tribal culture and knowledge to land stewardship and public education.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
C08. Land Trusts and the Developmentally Disabled Working Together
The Land Trust Alliance and the Developmental Disability Council both have the important goal of community integration. This workshop will explore a working program that integrates the two models by providing volunteer opportunities for adults who live with a developmental disability to be involved with their local land trust. The results will create a systematic change in how people understand, work and accept each other for who they are, not how they are perceived to be.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
C09. Practical Pointers on IRS Form 8283 and Gift Letters
Correctly completing Form 8283 can make or break a conservation easement deduction. The IRS has fully denied deductions because of improperly completed forms or the lack of required documentation. A contemporaneous written acknowledgement from the donee is not required to be attached to the Form 8283, but is required to be received by the donor for the donation to be deductible. Knowing what transaction expenses are deductible is also critical, as many are unaware that reimbursing a landowner for such expenses could render the donation a "bargain sale." While donors are legally responsible for substantiating donations, land trusts may assist donors to understand the forms, so long as they don't provide legal advice. The session will also discuss how a donee organization should review a donor's appraisal, what to do if the claimed value is so high as to "shock the conscience," and recent changes to Land Trust Standards and Practices and recent court cases related to Form 8283 and gift letters.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
CLE: CLE
C10. Federal Tax Issues: The Latest and Greatest
There’s a lot going on at the Tax Court and at the IRS. We’ll bring everyone up to speed on the latest developments in case law, IRS rulemaking on amendments, anything happening in Congress, and actions to curtail conservation easement syndicated deals. Please note there is a repeat session of this workshop on Saturday - Workshop E07.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
CLE: CLE
C11. What’s it Worth? Appraisal of Conservation Easements
A well-supported estimate of value of a conservation easement is of critical importance for the substantiation of a donor’s tax deduction and for the land trust’s procuring grant funding for an acquisition. This workshop will introduce the fundamentals of the appraisal process as it relates to conservation easements and discuss: relevant Treasury Regulations and “Yellow Book” standards, methods of appraising conservation easements, the importance of Highest and Best Use, how encumbrances affect market value, and how to work with an appraiser to ensure the process goes smoothly.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
C12. Conservation Easements: Drafting an Enduring Amendment Clause
Session will provide an overview of the amendment controversy, with focus on why land trusts support conservation easements with clear and effective amendment clauses to guide stewardship. IRS position against amendment clauses will be explained, together with efforts by the Land Trust Alliance to ensure that deductible easements include responsible amendment clauses.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
CLE: CLE
C13. Not Red or Blue But Green: How to Get Billions for Conservation
The upcoming mid-term election promises to be highly partisan and down-right ugly. But there’s one thing voters of all political stripes seem to agree on: local and state funding for parks and conservation. Since 1988, voters in cities, counties, and states both Blue and Red have approved over 2,000 ballot measures, creating $78 billion in new funding for conservation. And local land trusts have been involved in many of these successful ballot measures, developing their advocacy chops and, in some cases, truly transforming their organizations. This workshop provides land trusts with the tools needed to lead or support ballot measures. Learn from successful campaign experts and case studies from land trust colleagues.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
C14. Tools, Tips and Techniques for Determining and Tracking Land Management Costs
Many land trusts own land, and for those that do, it is essential to ensure the conservation values of these lands are managed in perpetuity. Standard 12 of the Alliance's Land Trust Standards and Practices outlines the core elements of having management plans, determining the stewardship needs, tracking the costs of management, and monitoring of management plans. The course will focus on giving participants practical examples of how to implement the practices of determining land management costs, creating management plans, and how to set up financial management systems to track management costs. Having these essential elements of Standard 12 in place enables the land trust to support vibrant site communities of staff, volunteers, and engaged public participation with the management of the sites. The course leaders will share learned strategies and practical examples of recruiting core leadership for site communities, the support mechanisms needed to engage land trust members and members of the public, and to strategically align the work of site communities that directly benefit the goals of successful land management of land trust properties.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
C15. Clean Water Act Tools and Funding to Advance Watershed Protection
Watershed protection presents an opportunity for land trusts to better serve their communities and access new funding and support for their work. The US Clean Water Act’s (CWA) goal to restore and maintain the integrity of the Nation’s waters can be a powerful tool for land trusts across the country focused on addressing water quality through land protection and management. Collaboration across programs, from the federal to local level, can help align efforts and resources to achieve greater success in protecting water quality. This session will provide an interactive opportunity to share how existing tools and resources, like those available at EPA, can enable strategic protection of watersheds at the local level. The EPA presentation will highlight CWA authorities and programs, EPA funding opportunities, and national water quality datasets/tools most relevant to watershed protection. The session will then feature two presentations by local land conservation partners who have integrated watershed assessment and protection in their work. These partners will provide insights into how landscape assessment can be used to proactively target lands most critical in protecting water quality. They will also share local perspectives on how federal and other funding sources have been leveraged to support watershed protection. Throughout these presentations, the session moderator will prompt short discussions to encourage attendees to consider how the concepts and examples being shared may be implemented in their own programs.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
C16. Forest Certification: Protecting Conservation Values
In this workshop, you will learn about useful tools that help land trusts ensure long-term conservation. Participants will learn from experiences of three land trusts who use forest certification as a tool to meet and communicate stewardship goals, craft easement language, and monitor requirements. The panel will share lessons learned and highligh opportunities and challenges of using certification.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
C17. Leaders Are Made Not Born: The Art of Good Governance
Time – Talent – Treasure. Doer – Door Opener – Donor. Work – Wisdom – Wealth. If you are a board member or executive staff member, you’ve probably heard at least one of these three timeless descriptions summarizing the role of a “good” Board member. Simply put, a land trust cannot excel beyond the well-directed skills, highly-toned muscle and commitment of its board. Keeping individual board members on the right track, out of the (invasive) weeds, and offering appropriate levels of “care and feeding” to empower Board members to new levels of success and engagement requires great skill, muscle and commitment as well. In this interactive session, we’ll “unpack” what it means to govern a land trust with distinction. Board leaders and executive staff will get some new tools and tips to ensure Board member expectations and goals align with the organization, Board members are energized and empowered by the experience, and their leadership shines. Focused – Fulfilling - Fun.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
C18. ALE Hot Topics
Have a question(s) regarding federal programs conserving working agricultural land? Hear from national program managers at NRCS and a panel of experienced land trust farmland managers discuss the finer points of the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) and Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) especially as it relates to the predecessor Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP). This session is geared for those who already have a working knowledge of ACEP-ALE and will not include a basic overview. This session will foster and continue the cooperative working relationship between NRCS and land trusts participating in ACEP-ALE. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions and discuss relevant program issues and topics with a panel of land trust users and NRCS staff about RCPP and other Farm Bill conservation programs.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
C19. Energized Conservation: A Primer on Land Trust Engagement in Solar
Markets for solar energy are maturing rapidly around the country. According to the US Department of Energy, solar panels on just 0.6% of the nation’s total land area could supply enough electricity to power the entire United States. While solar comprises a fraction of current generation, several states have recently set ambitious goals to generate electricity from renewable resources. In general, surveys indicate strong public support for solar, which can range in scale from onsite generation to distributed-scale generation (known as “community solar”) and to large, utility-scale projects. Land trusts are thus grappling with a set of challenges: 1) intensifying threats from climate change alongside general public acceptance of strategies that support renewable energy; 2) insufficient understanding of the underlying public policies, market drivers and public opinion that influences how (and where) solar energy is generated, accessed, valued, and distributed; 3) need to better anticipate and creatively align solar development with local land conservation efforts. Understanding how solar energy is developed and sited can have important implications for land trusts, including potential for new partnerships and community engagement. This timely session will highlight examples and practical insights on smart solar siting from four conservation organizations who are engaging on this front.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
C20. Going Public: Creating a Strategic Conservation Plan to Share
Strategic Conservation Planning is a critical process and tool for land trusts serious in achieving conservation goals. Sharing the strategic planning process and outcomes with supporters and communities can build understanding and support, increase transparency, and aide in effective communication. However, strategic plans based on technical analyses can be overwhelming and dry for a lay audience, and plans that identify priority parcels and strategies for working with specific landowners may not be appropriate to share externally. In this workshop, Stowe Land Trust will share its story of taking the plunge to create and share a public plan. We’ll discuss the process we used to create and share our plan, as well as practical tips and lessons learned. Participants will have an opportunity to think about and discuss how they would approach creating a public strategic conservation plan for their own organization.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
C21. Finding Hidden Gems: Using GIS to Find and Prioritize Land to Protect
This session will introduce you to using GIS to incorporate various objective criteria you choose (e.g., presence of specific landforms, elevation, slope, soils, proximity to water, and more) to identify potential lands for conservation. We will demonstrate how you can use readily available, consistent, nationwide data as well as data developed for a specific trust, to find lands that meet a trusts project selection criteria. You will then see how you can adjust the weights of these criteria interactively to see how varying those weights affects prioritization, and thus "test" the resulting priority areas. Finally, we will show how local land records can be incorporated into the process to translate identified priority areas into parcels to be targeted.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
D01. Transformation Through Land Trust Accreditation
The accredited land trust network is now more than 400 strong! Each land trust makes a significant investment of time and money in the accreditation process which benefits the individual land trust and the entire land trust community. Be among the first to see findings from a new independent report demonstrating accreditation’s positive impact on public confidence in land trusts and on the permanence of conservation. Hear an accredited land trust’s story about how accreditation served as a catalyst for change and made their organization stronger. Plan how you can describe the impact of accreditation to your supporters.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
D02. Hacks and Wrongful Acts: Do you Have Insurance to Cover Your Risks?
Did you know that at least 80% of the Employment Practices Liability Insurance claims handled by one broker originate with conservation nonprofits as a whole? Did you realize that these are rare claims for most businesses but not for the non-profits? Do you know that the greatest cyber threat are your own volunteers and employees? Did you realize that Directors & Officers insurance can protect you in a conservation enforcement fight? Having the right insurance is a key part of good risk balancing for land trusts. We will present real life stories of how Cyber, Directors & Officers and Employment Practices insurance plays into land trust risk balancing. Is your board covered against hostile legal actions, wrongful acts and hack attacks? We will cover these three basic types of insurance and using a land trust example we discuss how a board goes about assessing what insurance to purchase and how much.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
CLE: CLE
D03. Sporting Circle: Strategically Engage the Hunting/Fishing Community
Western Reserve Land Conservancy's Sporting Circle provides exceptional experiences and expanded opportunities to hunters and anglers throughout northeast Ohio. This engagement program has solidified foundations with new donors, bolstered relationships with elected officials and introduced men, women and children to a hunting and conservation ethic. Learn strategies to engage hunters and anglers using land trust resources, diversify membership through experiences and incorporate programmatic development tools to grow your donor base.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
D04. Lights! Camera! Action!: Let’s Make a Video
In this highly interactive, hands-on workshop, we will make a three-minute video from start to finish. The subject of the video will be determined by a survey of registered participants in advance of the workshop. We will work in teams to create talking points for the video. Then we will tape the video right in the room, supplementing what we shoot with some prerecorded footage and images. Then we will edit the video in iMovie, projected on the room's screen so that everyone can participate or see how editing decisions are made. Participants will learn how to get the best results with the least investment of up-front resources. Content includes tips on staging, directing, recording, lighting, and making staff comfortable in front of the camera. Participants will receive a tip sheet covering the techniques and tools we use so they can focus on hands-on learning.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
D05. Closing the Deal With Rural Landowners
“Closing the Deal With Rural Landowners” is a unique research project and training course to help conservation practitioners successfully recruit and negotiate landowners’ participation in CREP, conservation easements, agricultural best practices, manure and forest management plans, habitat restoration projects, etc. to improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Our approach will be different from past efforts which have explored and provided insights into this challenge from the landowners’ perspective. Instead, we will pick the brains of the region’s most successful conservation field staff and package their advice and tips into a short course designed for entry level and mid-career field staff.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
D06. Three Ways to Start on Community Conservation
Know yourself. Know your community. Take action. These are the three steps in community conservation. The steps can be taken in any order, and as you engage, one step will to the next and the next. If you are curious about community conservation and are wondering what your next step should be, come join a lively discussion about how and why three land trust leaders took three different pathways to their community conservation work. Hear stories from veteran practitioners of how it worked for them and get tips on how it might work for you, too.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
D07. Little Hands on the Land: Engaging Youth in Conservation
What if future generations aren’t passionate about nature and the importance of conservation? Who will support the work of our land trusts? Who will do that work? Land trusts can play an important role in developing the next generation of conservation leaders. Engaging youth today fosters tomorrow’s stewards, advocates and nature lovers. And in the age of technology when children are spending upwards of seven hours a day on screen media, children need opportunities to connect with nature more than ever to build that life-long love of the outdoors. This interactive workshop will guide land trusts through the process of building successful programs that connect youth to the land in their communities. Discussion will be focused on: 1) how engaging children can be an integral piece of a land trust's conservation strategy; 2) how to garner internal, donor, and community support; 3) what are effective programs and strategies for engaging K-12 youth; and 4) how to build partnerships within communities to help launch youth conservation action, learning, and environmental stewardship for years to come.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
D08. Smart Drafting to Reduce Cost; Maximize Enforceability
Smart easement drafting requires taking a fresh look at easement documentation to try to foresee what kinds of trouble may like ahead. What can do now to minimize opportunities for future disputes? How can we best position the easement holder for success when a dispute arises? What strategies can we implement in the easement document to minimize the stewardship costs of of handling disputes? This workshop adopts a unique cost-benefit perspective: to maximize easement holder's benefit from easement provisions and minimize its future investment risk in stewardship cost, time and expense.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
D09. Baseline Documentation Report: Starting Easement Stewardship Right!
Two experienced land trust practitioners will delve into the details of Baseline Documentation Reports (BDR) for conservation easements, sharing the collective wisdom of two larger land trusts which have held many easements for decades. You’ll come away learning what a BDR is, what information it should contain, and the reasons why. We’ll also discuss practical issues such as when to prepare and sign a BDR, who should prepare it, what equipment to have in the field, software for facilitating your work, storage of the document, potential formats (especially for photos and maps), and legal defensibility. You’ll also learn how to deal with seasonally changing on-site conditions, the later discovery of conditions not included in the original BDR, and no BDR ever having been prepared. Throughout the workshop, we’ll refer to relevant Land Trust Standards and Practices, Accreditation requirements, and IRS rules.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
D10. Easement and Preserve Violations: When to Turn Off the Nice Switch
The presenters of the land conservation department at Waller Smith & Palmer will discuss the issues faced and the case that was filed - Lyme Land Conservation Trust v. Platner. They eventually prevailed in the Connecticut Supreme Court and a second appeal has been filed. Learn about the progression of property into what was a meadow into essentially a manicured lawn. You will also hear about multiple timber trespass cases on preserves and easements and their policy on when to engage outside counsel.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
CLE: CLE
D11. Impact Investing – Goldmine or Landmine? Everything You Need To Know
Impact investing. Everyone is talking about it, but what exactly is it? How do you do it? Who’s doing it? Is it right for my organization? In this engaging and interactive session, participants will learn about the investment world, how to define impact investing, and determine if pursuing this conservation finance tool makes sense for their organization.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
D12. How ACEP-ALE and REPI Funds are Being Used in Arizona
Join this facilitated discussion and learn more about how USDA-NRCS and Arizona's local conservation partners were able to increase easement participation from $900,000 for one agricultural conservation easement project to $12,000,000 to fund five conservation easement projects using USDA programs such as Regional Conservation Partnerships Programs (RCPP) and Agricultural Conservation Easement Program -Agricultural Land Easements (ACEP-ALE). We will also discuss how local partners are able to use DOD's Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) and other sources of funds. Learn more about how to tie REPI funds with USDA's RCPP and ACEP-ALE programs. Arizona Land and Water Trust, The Nature Conservancy and a Fort Huachuca spokesperson will also be present to talk about their success stories towards utilizing the programs together to help purchase agricultural conservation easements.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
D13. Climate Change: From Planning to Management How Land Trusts Can Engage
Climate change creates uncertainty about the future. One thing we can be sure of is that changes will impact the places and resources we care about. During this session, we will introduce the Alliances Land and Climate Program and present how land trusts can address climate change adaptation in their work. Walking through real-life examples from leading organizations like Kestrel Land Trust, participants will be introduced to climate actions through the lens of a conservation project life cycle including project scoping for acquisition, project development (including conservation easement drafting with climate change in mind), outreach and long-term land stewardship. We will introduce characteristics of climate resilient lands and the tools to help you evaluate resilience in your landscape. We will also introduce tools and strategies for accessing climate vulnerability and the development of sound climate-informed management actions.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
D14. Land Trusts, Farmland Preservation, Farmers and Land Access
This session will discuss the role that land trusts can play in conserving farmland, managing it sustainably, and securing access for the next generation of farmers as part of the growth of interest in local food systems. Presenters will share their experiences with shared-ownership models, buy-protect-sell, traditional leasing arrangements, unusual licensing arrangements, and easements intended to keep agricultural lands affordable. Management plans that incorporate natural features and sustainable agriculture will be discussed. Attendees also will hear ideas for how land trusts can translate their networks of relationships with landowners into valuable roles in the farmland access movement. The farmland/food system/land trust interface is a new place for many land trusts to be. Insight and candid lessons from the front lines will be shared.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
D15. Your Future: Financial Modeling for Long-Term Sustainability
As stewards of the land, we must plan for long-term financial sustainability as we fulfill our obligation to oversee and enforce our conservation projects. But how do we know what we’ll need and how to get there when reality doesn’t match best laid plans? With financial modeling we can develop informed contingency plans to address a variety of future outcomes: What does your organization look like if your donor base disappears or potential for big projects drives an influx of funding? This interactive session will allow participants to insert a variety of variables into the DLC-created model to yield organization-specific outcomes. Each model will outline optimal paths to financial stability across a variety of scenarios, creating a plan for sustainability. Moreover, a definitive financial model supports the case for raising capital for specific needs, generating broad community support and building stronger relationships with current and potential donors to ensure future longevity.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
D16. Finding Common Ground: Can Conservation Bridge Society’s Divisions?
Americans live in a polarized society. This is causing gridlock on a wide range of important issues that affect land conservation. At Rally 2017, Andrew Bowman asked if the willingness of people with differing political views to work together on land conservation can be the starting place for them to find common ground on other issues? The proposed workshop will explore three related questions: 1. Where are people of different political orientations thinking similarly or working together on land conservation? ; 2. Are there strategies for facilitating their working collaboratively to accomplish conservation objectives? ; and 3. Can these processes be a starting point for Americans to re-discover common ground on other issues? The presenter will explore these questions and then engage the audience in a discussion. The results of the workshop will be summarized in a paper for broader distribution.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
D17. The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF): What’s the Latest?
As the campaign for permanent reauthorization and full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) ramps up this year, with possible expiration on September 30, 2018, session presenters will provide an update on legislative action and provide an overview of opportunities for advocacy in the land trust community on behalf of LWCF in order to safeguard future federal investments in land conservation at the federal, state and local level. The presentation will include an overview of the fund and component parts including the Forest Legacy, Section 6, state and local parks and competitive grants programs, and the land management agency acquisition programs. The team will also provide latest legislative updates, specific opportunities for advocacy, the ways land trusts can use LWCF funds and the importance of local land protection stories to the #SaveLWCF campaign. Presenters will highlight tried and true engagement strategies with the goal of leaving participants with skills that they can use to advocate for LWCF as well as other priority conservation issues.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
D18. Rural Historic Districts: A Conservation and Land Use Planning Tool
Rural Historic Districts are a designation on the National Register of Historic Places, which encompass cultural and historic landscapes, and the sites and buildings therein, that still retain their basic historic integrity. They are arguably one of a land trust’s strongest tools because of the public process required for putting them in place. Educating the community of their surrounding history during the course of creating a rural historic district leads to greater appreciation and understanding of the historic resources in the district and in turn, greater levels of conservation. Since The Piedmont Environmental Council’s founding in 1972, we have worked to create rural historic districts throughout our nine-county service area in Virginia and actively use them as a tool for community engagement, land conservation efforts, and fighting incompatible development and infrastructure. The result is that, while only 16% of our region is in historic district, those historic districts hold 41% of the region’s easements. This session will provide an overview of the process required to create rural historic districts and share numerous case studies where PEC has been able to use the presence of rural historic districts to protect natural and cultural resources. Participants will come away with a better understanding of how to create and use rural historic districts in their own communities as a tool to achieve their organizational goals.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
D19. New Jersey’s Conservation Blueprint: Prioritizing the Last Million Acres
New Jersey's Conservation Blueprint is the most comprehensive prioritization mapping project ever undertaken in the state. Starting in 2015, the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, The Nature Conservancy and the GeoLab at Rowan University led a steering committee of 20+ organizations working within the state to create Priority Land Models for each of the Blueprint's four Themes: Water, Ecology, Agriculture and Community Green Space. This session will provide attendees with the opportunity to learn about the successful state-wide multi-stakeholder collaboration between funders, land trusts, state, county and municipal governments. In addition to sharing the history of the project, an introduction to the technology and an overview of the priority models, the presenters will also share specific conservation success case studies from users within New Jersey. New Jersey's Conservation Blueprint showcases how collaboration within the land conservation community can result in accelerating the pace and quality of preserving the best of the state's remaining lands.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
D20. Using Drones to Enhance Land Trust Monitoring and Outreach Programs
Land conservation technology is improving rapidly and land trusts have the opportunity to increase efficiencies, collect better data and enhance fundraising and outreach efforts. Drones are on the forefront of these emerging technologies. Both small and large land trusts are looking toward aerial monitoring with drones for annual monitoring, but the possibilities don’t end there. The ability to explore inaccessible terrain, get a bird’s eye view of the land and create exciting videos for promotional purposes are all benefits of incorporating drone technology. This session will briefly cover new applications which allow an iPad to be used for annual monitoring with no other gear necessary, thus eliminating paper waste and increasing the speed of post data processing and report creation. In addition, drone technology takes beautiful photographs that can be used to tell compelling stories of the land. Learn how BYLT uses drone images to create content for fundraising campaigns, social media, websites, eNewsletters and traditional printed collateral.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
E01. Sneak Peek into the New Accreditation Management System
Attendees will leave with an understanding of how the new accreditation management system helps both first-time and renewal applicants navigate the accreditation application process intuitively, efficiently, and effectively.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
E02. Building a Culture of Philanthropy
As organizations grow capacity and conserve for the future, they commit themselves to building a sustainable base of funding. Nothing defines conservation success better than adequate, stable revenue. Yet groups struggle to achieve this elusive goal. Most trusts have created internal cultural barriers to their own success, including the notion that some people are good at fundraising but most are not. This session will challenge that notion straight on – everyone can play an important part in a broad culture of philanthropy.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
E03. Redefining Conservation with Millennials and Communities of Color
In North Carolina and across the country, land trusts are exploring ways to reach non-traditional audiences such as millennials and communities of color. CTNC, in partnership with local land trusts, have developed a statewide public awareness campaign that seeks to engage members of these communities and redefine what it means to be a supporter and advocate for conservation issues and policies. Through the campaign, land trusts developed messaging recommendations and tools to create a connection between the benefits of conserving land and its impact on clean water, outdoor recreation, farmland preservation, and climate change to diversify our base of support and build deeper and more meaningful relationships with millennials, communities of color, and community conservation advocates. Members of the land trusts will walk through how the campaign was built and detail the phases of research, utilizing community partners, messaging development, and creating cohesive marketing strategies to connect with target audiences and build a stronger and more diverse base of advocates and supporters in North Carolina.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
E04. Investing in Nature
Having a good estimate of nature's value allows communities to make informed land management decisions and effectively advocate for land protection. Local economies are associated with natural resources through tourism and jobs, drinking water quality, health care costs, storm protection, and more. This session will teach participants to recognize the benefits associated with natural resources, provide tools for evaluating economic returns, and engage participants with a hands-on example of how to identify and communicate the benefits of nature to target audiences. Participants will receive a holistic approach to evaluating the connections between natural resources and saving money for communities. Protecting nature makes good financial sense and we will help participants learn to identify and communicate the benefits of investing in nature.
01 - TPL Rally 2018 - Investing in Nature
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
E05. For the People: Building Equity with Local Park Partners
Learn how park and recreation agencies and land trusts are working together to protect land, engage communities, and ensure that local conservation goals reflect the needs and cultures of diverse residents. Close-to-home access to parks and open space benefits mental and physical health, increases community cohesion, and provides critical green infrastructure to help meet environmental challenges. Often small towns and urban areas with the most limited access to parks also face the biggest challenges with poverty, health inequity, and risks from environmental disasters and climate change. Presenters will discuss the valuable role that land trusts can play in helping to meet park equity goals and will share lessons learned from two projects: (1) An effort led by the Taos Land Trust to create a new community park that will provide opportunities for cultural education and recreation, restore wetlands and a traditional acequia, and bring together diverse community members; and (2) An ambitious community-based and equity-driven park planning process taking place in Harris County, Texas in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. Throughout this interactive session, participants will learn about and use innovative engagement strategies for reaching diverse and underserved community members. This session will provide attendees with a strong foundation in the importance of park equity and toolkit full of techniques assess opportunities to protect land for parks and to deepen their approach to community engagement.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
E06. Getting Your Board on Board with Community Conservation
You get community conservation. You’re ready to start doing community conservation with your organization. Or maybe you’ve already started doing community conservation projects and programs. But your board either doesn’t understand community conservation, is apathetic to it, or may even be fighting it. What’s a practitioner to do? Come to this session and listen to stories from the trenches from leaders who have engaged their boards in community conservation. Even the presenters will admit they don't have it all figured out. And it’s not all sweetness and light. But with perseverance and a bit of strategery, you too can get your board on board with community conservation.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
E07. Federal Tax Issues: The Latest and Greatest
There’s a lot going on at the Tax Court and at the IRS. We’ll bring everyone up to speed on the latest developments in case law, IRS rulemaking on amendments, anything happening in Congress, and actions to curtail conservation easement syndicated deals. Please note there is a repeat session of this workshop on Friday - Workshop C10.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
CLE: CLE
E08. Avoiding the Storm: Navigating the Shoals of Discretionary Approvals
The focus of this workshop is new Practice 11 F., “Approvals and Permitted Rights”, and the quandaries Land Trusts face when requested to exercise discretion to approve activities, improvements, or uses on or of conserved property. The can occur where the easement holder is given authority in the deed to grant or withhold consent, often in its sole discretion. More problematically, it can be where the proposed activity or use is neither expressly prohibited or allowed in the easement deed, or when faced with a possible violation. Using case studies, we will explore the issues involved in facing those decisions, including easement drafting considerations in light of IRS scrutiny, the interpretation and implementation of discretionary approvals, when a request for approval should be treated as an easement amendment, and the development of policies and procedures. These issues also address the interplay of discretionary approvals and private benefit and private inurement prohibitions.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
CLE: CLE
E09. Private Benefit in Everyday Practice
Your worst nightmare is preparing for a transaction and then having the words "private benefit" injected into the conversation. This session will help demystify the concepts of private benefit, private inurement, self-dealing, Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT), and commerciality. The session will introduce the legal topics and then work through hypotheticals covering scenarios commonly faced by land trusts. In this interactive and dynamic workshop, participants will learn from each other and gain tools to avoid or mitigate legal risk when encountering potential private benefit issues.
LTA Rally 2018 - Spotting Private Benefit - Handout
Rally 2018 - Private Benefit - Scenario Handout
Spotting Private Benefit in Conservation Activities - 10.13.18
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
CLE: CLE
E10. Impact Investing – The ‘Real’ Deal
This workshop will focus on an actual transaction that included the Palmer Land Trust, The Lyme Timber Company, Great Outdoors Colorado Trust and the Colorado Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. It will commence a state of the field overview of natural resource impact investing including a description of references and resources that might be useful to practitioners. The majority of the time will be devoted to a detailed role and responsibilities 'unpacking' of the BX Ranch transaction in SE Colorado.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
E11. Recovering Together: Building Resilient Communities and Habitats
Hurricanes Irma and María had a devastating impact in all aspects of Puerto Rico’s existence. In the first days after the storm, we created the Para la Naturaleza Community Fund in order to fund relief, recovery, and rebuilding efforts in our neighboring communities, assist sustainable agriculture projects harmed by the storm, and jumpstart reforestation and habitat restoration across the islands. Since then, teams of Para la Naturaleza staff and volunteers have shifted their work to areas never explored before by our land trust, and the results have been really unexpected. A new alliance has been forged, moving conservation in 30 communities to new levels.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
E12. Stewardship of Public Access to Protect Wildlife and Biodiversity
Many protected lands operate under a dual mandate to allow public access for outdoor recreation while also protecting native wildlife species and their habitats. Outdoor recreation provides important human health and economic benefits to local communities, but a growing body of scientific literature links recreation, including quiet, non-consumptive activities such as hiking, to negative effects on wildlife populations and communities. The overall goal of this session is to provide land and wildlife managers with science-based guidance for how to balance public access and wildlife conservation goals of protected lands. We will summarize current science on the effects of outdoor recreation on wildlife, share evidence-based recommendations for how to incorporate wildlife conservation values in public access plans, and highlight a case study of a local land trust that is planning for public access to be compatible with protecting wildlife values of a regionally significant habitat linkage. Through facilitated discussions and small group activities, participants will examine challenges, opportunities, and practical strategies for implementing best practices for balancing public access and wildlife conservation values in protected land planning and stewardship.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
E13. Bring Back the Brook Trout: Prioritize Conservation through Restoration
Water connects all of us, and as a shared value, land trusts can engage local landowners in conservation with work on the ground to bring back the brook trout, the willow flycatcher, or even restore flows to backyard streams. Learn how to connect with your community on habitat protection, water quality improvement, and land stewardship through the lens of stream restoration efforts. The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) is working to improve stream health and habitat connectivity by replacing culverts in the Upper Rappahannock watershed (part of the larger Chesapeake Bay watershed) with more fish-friendly designs. In order to prioritize projects efficiently, PEC has created the Piedmont Stream Restoration Prioritization model that integrates data related to water quality, habitat, transportation infrastructure, and land conservation, into an interactive, GIS-based online model. This model will be used to strategically plan and invest in future collaborative restoration projects that reconnects habitat for wildlife and brings clean water to communities. PEC partners with national and state agencies to work more collaboratively with public and private landowners to improve road-stream crossings throughout the Piedmont. Since 2013, PEC has been working with partners to survey the Piedmont’s headwater streams and identify barriers to fish passage, and has completed two pilot projects for trout stream restoration, reconnecting seven miles of habitat and improving water quality.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
E14. Board Summit
The Board Summit will be an interactive forum where land trust board members can share ideas, inspiration and practical tips on leading their land trusts. The format of the workshop will be a facilitated discussion and networking session. As suggested in the 2017 Board Summit, discussion will focus on items that keep board members awake at night. These topics may include: Fundraising for the long-term, building a solid board, creating a culture that is welcoming and supportive to all staff/volunteers – a culture that in which sexual or other harassment is not tolerated
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
E15. Developing the Millennial Leaders that Land Trusts Need
It's time to cultivate Millennials as the next generation of land trust leaders. Join us for an interactive session led by Millennial land trust staff members, designed for board members, executive directors, supervisors, and other Millennials. We'll focus on what young staff members need and can offer (based on over 400 responses to the recent Land Trust Alliance Millennial Career Survey), learn how other conservation- minded professions are using mentorship programs to develop young leaders, and consider what a mentorship program could look like for the land trust community. You'll have several chances to get out of your seat, share ideas, and connect with others.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
E16. Restoring Trust: Strategies to Counter Government Attacks on Our Community
This session will explore some of the legislative and administrative challenges that have been directed at land trusts across the country to reduce tax exemption eligibility for land trusts, place limitations on easements, subject land trusts to greater governmental scrutiny, and other efforts. Participants will learn about the misinformation that is at the base of these efforts, as well as how land trusts can effectively counter these efforts through communications and advocacy campaigns.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
E17. Climate Roundtables: A Peer to Peer Exchange
Join fellow practitioners in sharing expertise, lessons, and challenges involved in integrating climate change principals into land conservation work. The land trust community is now a leader in addressing climate change and hundreds of organizations have developed climate inclusive conservation plans, easements, management plans and communications. This interactive session will provide the opportunity for structured discussion on 1) Conservation Planning 2) Easement drafting 3) Management Plans and 4) Communications relative to climate change best practices. This session is an advanced session designed for land trusts actively engaged in integrating climate science into their work. The session will offer the opportunity for land trusts to join two breakout sessions with your peers to develop a detailed list of lessons and challenges that will then be shared back with the entire group at the end of the session.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
E18. Using Social Science for Engaged Communities and Advanced Conservation
Successful conservation means both a deep understanding of conservation priorities and the ability to successfully work with communities to achieve those priorities. The exploration of human and social relationships (the social sciences) can inform organizational activities, smooth engagement efforts, and increase the potential for sustained conservation outcomes. This session will introduce participants to conservation related social science concepts and practices, offer examples of application of social science methods in land trust decision making, and help identify additional local resources that might be available. Materials will include a land owner readiness assessment tool that is intended to help identify barriers to completion of a land protection projects early in the process and a case study highlighting social science findings applicable for land trust operations. Participants will have the opportunity to practice using the readiness tool and to modify for their needs.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
E19. Take your Land Trust GIS Program to the Next Level
Land trusts are increasingly adept at GIS, using it to support work in acquisitions, monitoring, communications, and more. But if you work with GIS at a land trust, chances are you wear many other hats as well. This session is designed for people already frequently using GIS in their work, who could use some practical tips to continue to maximize their efforts. We'll help you manage the chaos of field data collection using Esri tools; we'll cover best practices for maintaining your own properties and easement database; and we'll share advanced cartographic techniques for making consistent, professional-looking maps.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
F01. Land Trust Accreditation Office Hours
Attendees will be asked to sign up in advance for 15-minute time slots with Commission staff to discuss questions and issues pertinent to their individual organization
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
F02. Grow Fundraising, Community Outreach and Membership: Build a Marketing Mindset
Social media strategy got you down? Fundraising not growing as fast as you’d like? Communication and outreach efforts just don’t seem to be connecting with your members or the larger community? If you’re a growing land trust, that’s an exasperating place to be. Ready to leave that frustration behind and take your fundraising, marketing, and community outreach work to the next level? You don’t need a better website or just the right fundraising appeal letter. You need a marketing mindset. A marketing mindset hones your observational, critical thinking, and empathy skills to help you more deeply understand your donors, volunteers, and community members. What motivates them, what they care about, the language they use. And that understanding is the key to developing long-term, engaged relationships your land trust needs to meet its goals and become more sustainable. During this fast-paced workshop, use real market research from land trusts around the country to practice building market profiles and applying your understanding of those markets to create stronger, more effective fundraising, marketing, and outreach strategies. Learn how to take these skills and techniques into your daily work. And learn how to share what you’ve learned with other staff and board members – because connecting with supporters is everyone’s job!
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
F03. Creating Newsletters that Inspire, Connect and Help with Fundraising
Are you looking to leverage your print newsletter to become a stronger outreach and fundraising tool? Something that can connect with more and different people and inspire greater community trust and enthusiasm? Join us as we discuss practical strategies, with before and after examples, on how to write in a welcoming and compelling way for donors and new readers, including Stories of Change; create a story-board and design mock-ups that connect with your readers; clarify images you should use and where to find them; consider pros and cons of using and outside designer. Learn how to position your land trust in a way that builds trust and enthusiasm for the conservation work underway among a wider audience and how this approach takes practice, but can make a big impact on the bottom line.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
F04. Growing Together: Creating Collaborative Women-Centered Programming NEW SESSION
Women comprise a large and growing portion of U.S. landowners. Although research indicates women show greater environmental concern than men, women are less likely to participate in stewardship and conservation activities on their land. Female landowners are not being served by existing programs and outreach efforts, but how do we meet their needs and engage with them in a way that drives action? This workshop builds on existing research and the experiential knowledge of professionals advancing women-centered landowner engagement and programming. It will showcase lessons learned by Pennsylvania’s Women and Their Woods program over a decade of women-centered woodland owner programming. Participants will gain hands-on experience with best practices for engaging women landowners, and will have opportunities to work through small group exercises for developing appropriate programming that integrates collaborative learning techniques. (This session replaces the previously scheduled F04 workshop on Youth Skills Training)
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
F05. Measuring the Unmeasurable: Selecting Community Conservation Projects
How do you compare one community conservation project with another? Or know which land protection project(s) are the best fit for your community? As a three- month project, Allison Smith interviewed land trust professionals and consultants across the country to help Maine Coast Heritage Trust answer these questions. Working with the land trust, she created a tool to measure how well community conservation projects align with the land trust’s mission and goals. The tool is simple, user-friendly, and most importantly, adaptable. Over the last year, MCHT has been adapting the tool and using it to prioritize possible projects, and is incorporating its results into the board approval process . This tool serves as a template for how other land trusts can evaluate their own goals and community work over time, and assess changing strategies and techniques. In this session, you will learn about the findings of Allison’s research, Maine Coast Heritage Trust’s process for developing and implementing this tool, and how to adapt this process for your own land trust and for the communities you serve.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
F06. If You Can’t Be a Good Example, Be a Horrible Warning! A Play Inspired by Actual Future Events
Litigation is inevitable and Murphy's Law applies whenever a land trust is in court. Lawyers and nonlawyers alike will visit every litigator’s worst nightmare: A hotly contested trial where everything that could ever go wrong has and the other side exploits every bit of it. We will present an otherwise straightforward conservation easement violation, but one that spawns horrific litigation not totally divorced from today’s reality. It will show the impact of actions and inactions before the infraction is discovered and as it is reviewed and decisions made; when the attorney-client privilege is misunderstood; when the perils of digital communications are ignored in an age of invasive e-discovery; and when a board and management actions jeopardize a case and permit damage to conservation values and the land trust’s reputation. Lessons learned will be described in a fashion to assist the audience as to how to respond – and how not to respond – when - not if - litigation ensues.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
F07. Conservation Easement Stewardship Roundtable
We’re at it again! The Conservation Easement Stewardship Roundtable is entering its 11th iteration at Rally! This session is ideal for conservation easement stewardship staff and experienced volunteers. Via peer-to-peer, lightly structured discussion, this session provides key opportunities to network with colleagues across the country, discuss pressing and emerging issues for stewardship, and introduce further engagement with stewardship practitioners via The Learning Center resources and online forums. Bring troubling questions for objective feedback as well as success stories to provide examples to colleagues! Themes covered may include technology options, recordkeeping challenges, landowner relationships, second- and third- generation landowner issues, violations across the spectrum, staffing and organizational challenges, and new monitoring ideas.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
F08. Making Memorial Programs Generate Real Revenue and Community Impact
Land trusts have explored memorial gifts, tree dedications and even green burial for years as a way to generate revenue and reconnect people to the land and to nature, but viable approaches that generate meaningful revenue and real community impact have been hard to find. This session will explore partnerships that land trusts are crafting with Better Place Forests to generate meaningful revenue by providing a values-aligned way for people to spread ashes on protected land trust properties. We will describe several examples of land trusts partnering with Better Place Forests pursuing different strategies at various stages of development, and the strategic benefits (unrestricted revenue from land trust assets, connections with a wealth of new potential donors that are thinking about estate planning and more) and social impact these partnerships make possible.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
F09. Fee Land Stewardship Round Table
This special roundtable session is ideal for land stewardship staff and experienced volunteers. This peer-to-peer learning opportunity provides time and space for you to discuss preserve management matters. Come meet colleagues, discuss common and emerging issues with fee land stewardship, share stories of preserve management issues you are facing, help solve problems, and celebrate successes. Be prepared to be inspired and to laugh with others! This is your chance to wrap up Rally with a roundtable session especially for people who devote time and energy to managing land for their land trust.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
F10. Forest Carbon: How Land Trusts can Promote Climate Smart Forestry
The goal of the panel is to help land trusts understand the current opportunities and barriers to utilize forest carbon for private landowners and their fee owned lands. The panel will highlight the benefits of natural climate solutions and the role forests can play to achieve the Paris Agreement goals. Participants will hear on the ground experience from the Nature Conservancy’s Working Woodlands Program experts over the last decade. The Program started in Pennsylvania in 2009 and recently expanded to New York, Michigan and Tennessee with other geographies joining soon. Examples of projects will include the Albany Water Board and a partnership between a local land trust and The Nature Conservancy.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
F11. Turn Your Strategic Plan Into an Operating Plan
At Rally 2017 we presented on finding your organization’s “why”, why finding your “why” as a land trust is important, how to incorporate the “why” into a strategic planning process, and how to create a strategic plan through an internally-lead process. The feedback we received was very positive, and people told us they wanted a second version sharing our tricks and tips to crafting an Operating Plan and developing effective tracking and reporting tools. In this session we will help you to turn your vision and strategy into action. We will share personal anecdotes and examples, and engage in exercises to assist participants with creating an Operating Plan to ensure the successful implementation of their organization’s Strategic Plan. We will share our tracking and reporting documents and tips to using them to inform and engage both board members and staff. When done well, an Operating Plan is a tool to ensure not only the successful implementation of the Strategic Plan, but also to provide guidance and set expectations with the staff and board, inform annual budgeting and budget forecasting, and enable staff and board to understand how the vision of the Strategic Plan is conceptualized operationally and organizationally. Ultimately, a good Operating Plan is a living road map to ensure and optimize mission impact and bring an organization’s vision and “why” to full fruition.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
F12. ACA, HRA, POP, OMG: How Land Trusts Can Provide Affordable Insurance for Employees
There are a lot of land trusts - especially small land trusts - out there offering substandard benefits to their employees because they're unable to pierce the constantly shifting, poorly documented fog of health insurance regulations and systems. This session will provide these organizations with the knowledge they need to make affordable health insurance available to their employees, even if they're too small to purchase a group plan and can't afford to pay the full cost of insurance premiums. Learn about the surprisingly simple tax plans you should be using, and give your employees a raise without spending another dollar!
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
F13. Energy Sprawl: Protecting Treasured Landscapes
Hear the story of how a land trust and a coordinated group of citizens (David) turned back two large utilities and $250 million (Goliath) by combining advocacy, fundraising and effective communications to defeat a 192 mile high voltage transmission line through the heart of New Hampshire, with 1200 towers well above natural tree canopies to bring electricity from Quebec to greater Boston.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
F14. Enhancing Coastal Resilience using Natural Infrastructure
This session will present a suite of NOAA products that can help land trusts and local planners: visualize coastal hazards and climate change impacts to natural resources; consider climate impacts in coastal land conservation planning; identify the effectiveness of various green/natural infrastructure techniques for reducing impacts; gather key talking points to gain support; and identify lessons learned from land trusts and others implementing green/natural infrastructure projects to reduce hazard and climate impacts. Although this is geared primarily for coastal audiences, including the Great Lakes, some of the resources are relevant to non-coastal geographies as well.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
F15. Land Acquisition and Management for the NYC Water Supply
New York City’s watershed is one of the largest unfiltered surface water supply systems in the world. At over one million acres, the watershed itself supplies water to 9 million consumers in New York City, which comprises half the population of New York State. The City acquires conservation easements and land in fee simple under programs specifically tailored to protect targeted land including farms, stream buffers, forestland, and flood-prone properties. Together the programs seek to establish a fair and functional framework for an effort that must satisfy myriad stakeholders in the context of a working landscape. The vast majority of land acquired in fee has been opened for compatible public recreational uses and forest management. This workshop is being led by the "architects" of this model effort and will offer lessons learned and new directions.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
F16. Leveraging GIS Technologies in Chesapeake Conservation and Restoration
The Chesapeake Conservancy is working with land trusts across the Chesapeake Bay watershed to identify and prioritize locations where restoration and conservation efforts can maximize ecological benefits, particularly for water quality improvements. Leveraging GIS technology, web-based mapping, high-resolution land cover, and concentrated flow data, the Conservancy finds areas with the greatest potential for mitigating impacts of stormwater runoff or avoiding land use conversion. These analyses are designed to amplify the efficiency and effectiveness of partner organizations, in addition to elevating the environmental benefits of their work. Three pioneering Chesapeake Bay watershed land trusts are incorporating these and other innovative GIS-based approaches in their planning: Harford Land Trust, Virginia Eastern Shore Land Trust, and Maryland Environmental Trust. Each organization is utilizing data or novel tools in their work, such as in their evaluation of potential easement properties, selection of parcels for restoration, and collection and management of monitoring site visit data. Attendees in this panel-style session will learn about different datasets, analyses, and tools for conservation and restoration planning, hear from land trust staff about strategies for integrating them into workflows, and get tips on resources for building internal GIS capabilities.
Session Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center