2016Regional Land Trust Board Summit Series

October 4, 2016

Farmington Senior Center, Farmington, CT

7:00-8:30pm

Co-hosted by:

Farmington Land Trust

Representatives from the following organizations were in attendance: Avon Land Trust, Canton Land Conservation Trust,Farmington Land Trust, Farmington River Watershed Association, Harwinton Land Trust, Simsbury Land Trust, Wintonbury Land Trust. Also in attendance: Kip Kolesinskas, farmland consultant.

  1. Introductions and Topics of Discussion: After brief introductions, participants listed off the topics they hoped to discuss:
  • Stewardship – how do you make it work?
  • Collaboration – ideas for shared services and expenses.
  • Farmland access and opportunities for land trusts
  • Community conservation – increasing visibility and relevance by responding to community needs
  • Partnerships, Sharing Projects, Creating Alliances
  • Endowments – how to protect it
  • Board succession – so much to do; so few resources
  • Grants
  • Board membership – serving on more than one land trust board
  • Natural resource management plans – getting them off the shelf and making them dynamic
  • Volunteers and active boards
  1. Discussion:

Stewardship

  • Many of the land trusts are looking for advice on stewardship, in general and on specific topics including: use of management plans, attracting and keeping volunteers, when to use consultants, etc.
  • CLCC: Volunteer Stewardship Manual developed by Weantinoge Heritage Land Trust. Link to manual template is HERE. Link to workshop PowerPoint presentation HERE. Link to more information on CLCC’s On-line Information Resources Library HERE.
  • Aimee Petras, FRWA: Will look into setting up a workshop with Simsbury Land Trust stewardship coordinators (Note: FRWA arranged for that workshop with Sally and Don Rieger onNovember 30th, at 5:30 pm, FRWA office, 749 Hopmeadow Street, Simsbury, CT. RSVP to Aimee at )
  • Invasive plant removal – local corporations have “Days of Caring” and send out crews of volunteers with equipment to help with workdays.
  • USDA-Natural Resource Conservation Service – EQIP program information is HERE
  • Audubon Connecticut Habitat Assessment Program HERE
  • Management Plan information and template HERE
  • Other information on stewardship and management HERE

Collaboration and Shared Services

  • Group discussed the possible benefits of shared staff, including freeing up the board to focus more on governance and less on administration.
  • Stewardship coordinator: Amy described the shared stewardship coordinator position between Cornwall Conservation Trust, Sharon Land Trust and Salisbury Association Land Trust, one of several shared services models detailed in the Feasibility Study on Shared Services prepared by Henrietta Jordan as part of CLCC’s 2014-16 CT Land Trust Advancement Initiative in the lower CT River Valley. Study is HERE. More info from the Initiative is HERE.

Endowment

  • Hartford Foundation for Public Giving – information on their endowment fund HERE.
  • Community Foundation of Eastern CT – Amy went to an interesting information session convened by the CFEC about their Endowment Program. Although not available to land trusts outside of its service area, it is worthwhile to learn about other programs.
  • Group discussed their respective investment strategies, including using private financial managers and foundation endowments.
  • Group discussed legal and financial resources. Pro-Bono Partnership provides free legal services to non-profits. More information is HERE.

Farmland Access and Opportunities for Land Trusts

  • Kip Kolesinskas – consultant with Dept. of Agriculture (DoAg), UConn Extension, American Farmland Trust and retired Assistant State Soil Scientist for NRCS. Kip is available to meet with land trust boards, conduct site visits and otherwise provide advice on all issues related to working lands. Email:
  • Farm Viability Grants – Applications are now being accepted. More information is HERE
  • Additional resource is 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)
  • Resources to help match farmers with landowners willing to lease their land: New England Farmland Finder and CT Farmlink.
  • Monetary resources are available for restoration and acquisition of farmland. See: Conservation Options for Connecticut’s Farmland (AFT et. al.)
  • Lease 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.
  • OSWA – Grant round is open and applications are due on February 2, 2017.
  • Wintonbury Land Trust’s Lisa Lane Farm is a great model of a community conservation project offering active community farming, passive recreation and habitat protection. Read CLCC’s blog on the project and WLT’s info sheet on the project.

Community Conservation

  • Group discussed the concept of community conservation and land trust programs that are responsive to community needs. Information on Community Conservation is HERE.

Shared Projects and Regional Collaboration

  • Regional Mapping would be helpful for facilitating landscape scale projects in the region. FRWA Wild & Scenic maps. Another resource for mapping information is CT Environmental Conditions Online – maps and geospatial data.
  • Northwest Land Trust Days – Amy described a collaborative project in NW Connecticut where the NW Land Trusts are working together to cross promote their October events together. Not only has this helped to attract people to the individual events, but it has raised the collective visibility of conservation efforts in the region as a whole. We help them promote through ourFacebook pageand on ourwebsite.
  • Other ideas shared by the group: Granby, Simsbury and Canton are planning to coordinate indoor movie nights. Hartland Land Trust and the Historical Society collaborated on lecture and hike.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30pm

Respectfully submitted:

Amy Blaymore Paterson

Meeting Facilitator

Executive Director, CT Land Conservation Council

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