Preliminary Draft June 14, 2011 – Bill Labich, Highstead

Wildlands and Woodlands Partnership Meeting:

Pathways to doubling the pace of conservation –How should we measure and track success?

June 1, 2011

Potential Working Groups

Three working groups could represent subjects of interest to partners: Woods & Water; Green Infrastructure; Forest Landowners-Forest Management

A Woods and Water Working Group (strategies taken from June 1, 2011 W&WP meeting break-out group sessions)

  • Join watershed protection interests with land conservation goals
  • Linkages to water (supply surface waters, groundwater)
  • Water Interests and land protection - Separate conferences/information
  • Separate funding sources (need better coordination and more creativity); Different statutes
  • Link land conservation, forest conservation for water
  • New aggregation projects with defined focus areas

Potential New Partners include: Public water suppliers, waterworks associations, foresters, towns, states’ environmental agencies, river and watershed associations, etc.

Potential Outcomes: More acres protected, more acres managed, and more money for conservation.

A Green Infrastructure Planning Working Group

  • Take a “balance the budget” approach to a “balance the conversion-securement budget” idea or initiative
  • Cost of community services message not well-received always
  • Community Preservation Act (CPA) (MA) and sister programs in other states
  • Find a way to engage more citizens in town policy and support
  • Standardized GIS record keeping (cadastre)
  • Transfer of development model – broaden to region
  • Measure progress towards changing land use regulations that get in the way of conservation
  • Launch planning grant initiative to help towns implement Natural Resource Protection Zoning (e.g. Wendell, Brewster, Shutesbury (MA)…)
  • New town/communityforest in every town
  • Eco-tourism grants for businesses linked to land conservation
  • Connect regional municipal structure with green infrastructure for developing sustainably

Potential New Partners include: municipal associations, regional planning agencies, state smart growth programs, community and urban forestry, local open space committees and conservation commissions, urban and regional planners, landscape architects, community economic development councils, etc.

Potential Outcomes: More acres protected, more acres managed; more money for conservation; more town monies used for conservation; more local and regional land use policies that increase the acres protected; more community forests; more businesses linking their brand to forested landscapes; more local and regional plans that incorporate regional conservation goals and targets into their planning.

A Forest Landowners – Forest Management Working Group

  • Outreach to farm community
  • Meet the needs of landowners
  • Proactive outreach to timber investment management organizations (TIMOs)
  • Distribute, adopt, and promote metrics for sound management of forests
  • Increase active [forest] management by municipalities
  • End “short-term” harvests under the MA Forest Cutting Practices Act
  • Launch forestry APR program modeled after Farmland Agricultural Preservation Restriction Program
  • Fully-fund Forest Viability Program (MA) of business grants linked to 20-year no-development covenants
  • State Tax Credits for landowners cost of management plans and estate plans for conservation
  • Massachusetts Easement National Forest on 100th Anniversary of Weeks Act

Potential new partners:Farm bureaus, forest landowner associations, state and private foresters, etc.

Potential outcomes: Common adoption of sound forest management metrics; improved state forest management regulations (where needed); more and improved forest landowner incentives, more acres managed as woodlands, etc.

Two other Working Groups could be organized based on activities: Engagement and New England Policy

An Engagement Working Group- Building a Bigger Team for W&W

-Educational Programming, Communication Tools and Training

  • Small regional informational workshops
  • Involve estate planners and financial advisors in land conservation knowledge building
  • Help the Woods and Water group with a water interests and land conservation conference, if needed
  • Re-package and re-interpret the Cost of community services message
  • Community Preservation Act (CPA) (MA) and local bonding
  • Adult education for conservation
  • Conservation leadership training and defining characteristics, and for land trusts
  • Increase land trust media advocacy with elevated media presence
  • Train young conservationists
  • Guidebook for small woodland owners

-Outreach to new partners

  • Stronger partnerships with historic, hunting, tourism entities
  • Businesses for Wildlands and Woodlands – Private Sector Involvement

-Organizing

  • Strengthening Regional Woodland Councils with Americorps and Partnerships
  • Cooperative for Agricultural Protection within Metropolitan Areas/"Foodshed" Funding
  • Landowner sharing and gathering information
  • Develop a capacity barter-bank and match people with resources
  • Place-based partnerships for conservation and importance of watersheds
  • Build the capacity of local land trusts by expanding Americorps
  • Homeownership communication campaign
  • New England standardized GIS multi-purpose system
  • Increase outreach for Tree City USA with more trees

Potential Outcomes: more regional landowner and municipal workshops; increase in conservation awareness by landowners and municipal officials; more tools downloaded from the web including templates for holding regional workshops and a suite of communication tools on subjects like Cost of Community Services; increased occurrences when water supply advocates work with land protection advocates; more local bonding measures; better trained conservation leaders; more small woodland owners practicing forest management; more effective regional conservation partnerships with staff; more land protection, etc.

New England Policy Group is already focused on a set of shared federalpriorities that in the future could also include:

  • New England federal executive order to focus federal agencies on region
  • Launch forestry APR program modeled after Farmland Agricultural Preservation Restriction Program
  • Use New Market Tax Credits to conserve woodlands, the land businesses depend on.
  • Launch an Estate Planning intensive program (educational workshops, follow-up help)
  • Strive to get fee ownership included in tax incentives
  • Quantify baseline funding at all scales and track annual expenditures

Potential outcomes: More funding from federal sources for forest conservation in New England.

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