Eighteen hundred participants representing 402 land trusts, including Lake County, attended the annual event sponsored by the Land Trust Alliance ( www.landtrustalliance.org ).
“To successfully conserve and protect important areas of Lake County, we must stay abreast of conservation trends, cutting-edge practices of land conservation, and best professional standards,” said Susanne Scholz, Land County Land Trust executive director.
She noted that America’s land trusts have markedly enhanced their professionalism and increased their ranks to 1,667 in 2005 from 1,263 in 2000.
Conference topics included fundamentals of real estate law, conservation project appraisals and tax benefits, integrating multiple strategic land preservation objectives, and legal and ethical aspects of managing land trusts.
“Knowledge and resources gained in Portland benefit our work preserving Clear Lake’s shoreline, between Clear Lake State Park and Lakeport, and Rodman Slough area,” said Scholz. “These are high priority projects based on known development and land conservation pressures.”
Important legislation discussed at the conference is HR 1831sponsored by US Representative Mike Thompson. HR 1831 will amend the 1986 Internal Revenue Code making permanent the special rule for contributions of qualified conservation contributions.
Representative Thompson and supporters pledge to make conservation easement tax incentive permanent in 111th Congress. This is indeed good news to conservationists everywhere, including Lake County.
The Lake County Land Trust is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the county’s important land resources.
Its stewardship includes Rodman Slough Preserve on Clear Lake and Rabbit Hill in Middletown.
The Land Trust spearheaded the preservation of Black Forest on Mt. Konocti and participated in the acquisition of Mt. Konocti by Lake County.
To support Lake County Land Trust, see www.lakecountylandtrust.org or call 707-994-2024.
