Accomplishments

The following lists major actions, accomplishments and/or services provided by, with assistance from or coordinated through the Sierra-Cascade Land Trust Council to benefit its members:

Region-wide Conservation (through our individual members)

• Protection of more than 80,000 acres of important natural and community resources up and down the Sierra-Cascade, including:
• 10,600 acres of wildlife, habitat and riparian areas in fee title
• 33,400 acres under voluntary conservation agreements, where the land stays on the local tax rolls and is still owned and managed by private landowners who have voluntarily chosen to protect their land by curtailing certain types of development in certain locations
• 37,645 acres of valuable habitat acquired and transferred to government agencies.

Sierra Nevada Conservancy

• Primary advocate for expanding Conservancy boundary to include California Cascade, East Side and West Side blue oak woodlands;
• Co-sponsor of six Public Information Forums about the Conservancy, with Sierra Business Council;
• Catalyst for creative thinking on Board structure and governance;
• Recipient of The Sierra Fund award for foresight and leadership in the successful campaign to create a Sierra Nevada Conservancy;
• Strong supporter of a Sierra Nevada Conservancy License Plate;
• Co-sponsor of a Legislative outreach day with Sierra Business Council, The Sierra Fund, Sierra Nevada Alliance and Mono Lake Committee to educate legislators about land conservation issues in the Sierra-Cascade;
• Co-sponsor of celebratory ceremony after first meeting of Conservancy Board;
• Catalyst for important changes in the Conservancy strategic plan, including increased emphasis on conservation and broadened definition of potential partners.

Money in local land trusts’ pockets

• $8,455 paid to members through the Preserving Wild California grant to reimburse travel and lodging expenses for important training workshops;
• $195,855 over two years through Preserving Wild California for marketing, communications and fund development work to help SCLTC and, by extension, individual SCLTC members;
•  $38,000 through Preserving Wild California to cover registration, travel and lodging scholarships for various SCLTC members to attend LTA Rally 2004, 2005 and 2006;
• More than $2,000 dollars’ worth of data collection and GreenInfo Network mapping work through Preserving Wild California to create and distribute SCLTC Sphere of Influence Map and additional maps and data to members.

Peer-to-peer assistance

• Sierra-Cascade information sources;
• Mitigation bank project pricing;
• Organizational merger assistance;
• Liability and Directors and Officers insurance research;
• Transfer fees and transfer fee prohibition law background;
• Mitigation easements for developers guidance;
• Non-profit organization tax and lobbying/advocacy guidance;
• ED compensation and fee for service information;
• Consultant review and recommendations.

Information and action on statewide/national issues

• Governor’s 2006 budget – EEMP funding, Conservancy funding, Sierra-Cascade Grant Program funding, other conservation funding;
• LTA Standards & Practices and Accreditation Program – organized input on amended LTA Standards & Practices and initial draft of national land trust certification program; working with California Council of Land Trusts and Land Trust Alliance to help Sierra-Cascade land trusts prepare for national Accreditation process;
• Statewide legislation – including resource bonds and bills on surplus property, use of volunteers, conservation easement reform, specialized license plate program, and other bills dealing with conservation funding or land trust operations;
• Agency mitigation programs – organized peer-to-peer discussion and worked with California Council of Land Trusts to educate State agencies about land trust monitoring practices;
• California Council of Land Trusts – charter member; worked closely with CCLT to create support for local conservation at the state level.

Accessible Training Workshops and follow-up support for Land Trust Board, Staff and Volunteers

• Top-tier professional trainers;
• Trainings on the following topics: Media and Messaging, Baseline Reports and Monitoring, Capital Campaigns, Conservation Area Planning, Legal and Tax Strategies for Land Conservation, Board Development, Planned Giving, and more;
• On-Call Rapid Response follow-up on media and messaging from Resource Media, with services including guidance during breaking news developments, distribution of media contact lists, review and editing of press materials and opinion pieces, direction on development of non-traditional messengers.