2015Regional Land Trust Board Summit Series

October 21, 2015

The Workshop at Holcomb Farm

113 Simsbury Road

West Granby, CT 06090

7:00 - 8:30pm

Co-hosted by the Granby Land Trust

and the Farmington River Watershed Association

Attendees:

Barkhamsted Conservation Commission - Deborah Simon

Burlington Land Trust -- Tom Finan, Paul Rochford

East Granby Land Trust -- Cathy Delasco, John Erbland, Jennifer Frank

Farmington Land Trust -- Deborah Carey

Farmington River Watershed Association -- Aimee Petras

Granby Land Trust -- Put Brown, Rick Orluk, David Russell,

Hartland Land Trust -- Sue Murray

Wintonbury Land Trust -- Chip Caton, Vikki Reski, Nancy Trail, Jim Trail

Facilitator: Amy B. Paterson, CT Land Conservation Council

Discussion: After brief introductionswe listed off the topics we hoped to discuss:

1. Leasing Land Trust land to farmers

2. Board Diversity

3. Identifying landowners

1. Farmland Leasing(Note: Neither Kip Kolesinskas nor Rachel Murray were able to join us. The following are notes from previous summits with respect to information on leasing land trust land to farmers.)

  • Land for Good – contact Rachel Murray is available to give presentations to land trust boards on leasing land trust land to farmers (Note: Land for Good)
  • Kip Kolesinskas – consultant with Dept. of Agriculture (DoAg), UConn Extension, American Farmland Trust and retired Assistant State Soil Scientist for NRCS. Kip is also available to meet with land trust boards, conduct site visits and otherwise provide advice on all issues related to working lands. Email:
  • Resources to help match farmers with landowners willing to lease their land: New England Farmland Finder and CT Farmlink (recently improved).
  • Monetary resources are available for restoration and acquisition of farmland. See: Conservation Options for Connecticut’s Farmland (AFT et. al.)
  • Rachel and Kip are available to assist with leases/language. Templates are posted on CLCC’s website HERE.
  • Land for Good Toolbox provides resources to learn about and take action on farmland access, tenure and transfer issues.
  • UConn Extension – Resources available to help including tenant selection
  • Easements/Infrastructure: DoAG will fund infrastructure;DEEP Open Space & Watershed Land Acquisition Grant Program (OSWA)will not.
  • Obstacles
  • Zoning: Work to have Planning Zoning regulations be more farm friendly
  • Cost of land/accessibility
  • Land trust should consult with legal and financial counsel before entering into a lease agreement.

2. Board Diversity

  • Farmington Land Trust asked whether other land trusts have had success in building a more ethnically diverse board of directors.
  • Group noted that age diversity is also an issue, as it is challenging to attract younger board members.
  • The group shared examples of outreach programs and other ideas for attracting a broader base of support:
  • East Granby Land Trust:
  • Has high school students serve on the Board of Directors
  • Students run an Earth Day program
  • Bylaws provide for a policy for using interns
  • Farmington River Watershed Association (FRWA)
  • Partnership programs to reach urban youth
  • Hartland Land Trust
  • Partners on hikes with Wilderness school
  • Wintonbury Land Trust
  • Lisa Lane Farm Community Garden
  • Partnership with the Bloomfield High School Harris Agricultural Center
  • The group agreed that the issue of building board and membership diversity is complicated and especially challenging to tackle in more homogeneous rural and suburban communities.

3. Identifying Landowners

  • Burlington Land Trust asked how other land trusts target owners of land valuable for conservation.
  • Approximately 45% of the town is “open space”, including a lot of water company land.
  • There is a perception amongst town residents that there is already enough open space.
  • Granby Land Trust
  • Recommended going to the town assessor’s or planner’s office to review maps. Granby, like most towns, has a detailed system of GIS mapping which helps to identify land that may have conservation value.
  • The land trust board should start with strategic conservation planning for the land trust to help identify high priority parcels. From there the board will be able to target landowners for relationship building (it may take years to cultivate a relationship and build trust between the landowner and the land trust). The land trust should have a system of outreach to landowners that may include letters, community workshops, 1:1 meetings, etc.
  • Cultivate your relationship with the town planner.
  • Solicit the assistance of other people in town who know owners of land of interest for conservation.
  • FRWA
  • A couple of years ago FRWA hosted a landowner outreach workshop presented by Dick Davis of the Simsbury Land Conservation Trust.
  • Aimee Petras will try to provide the group with the powerpoint presentation.
  • FRWA will make maps for individual land trusts in the region (not yet undertaking regional mapping).
  • FRWA’s wild and scenic study provides watershed maps
  • Links are HERE.
  • The lower River Wild & Scenic Study also has maps and documents HERE.

4. Proposed Gas Pipeline Impacting MDC Lands

  • Chip Caton and Aimee Petras updated the group on the proposed Tennessee Gas Pipeline LLC/Kinder Morgan which will cross: (1) property of the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) Class I and II Watershed Lands in Hartford; (2) the Wintonbury Land Trust’s Speer Preserve; and (3) the New England Scenic Trail in several locations.
  • The Federal Energy and Regulatory Commission (FERC) pre-application process is closed. (Note: CLCC’s pre-application comments are HERE; Rivers Alliance of CT has up-to-date information on the project HERE; Comments on formal application are due January 15.)
  • Group discussed whether land trusts should get involved in local planning issues. Some felt that a land trust should only involve itself in matters that will impact its own land, while others opined that it is a land trust’s responsibility to speak out against projects that may negatively impact conserved lands and/or other natural resources in their town or region, irrespective of whether they are owned by the land trust.

5.CT Land Trust Listserv and other reminders

  • Amy reminded the group to:
  • Sign-up for CLCC’s CT Land Trust Listserv. More information is HERE.
  • “Like” CLCC’s Facebook HERE.
  • Save the date: CT Land Conservation Conference, March 19, 2016, Wesleyan University

Meeting adjourned at 8:30pm

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