-For Immediate Release-

November 18, 2011

First National Census of Land Trusts in Five Years:

Big Gains in Voluntary Land Conservation Despite Recession

Land Trusts Conserve 10 Million U.S. Acres - Outpace Major Government Land Acquisition Program

Land Trusts See Increased Budgets and Endowments, Add Staff and Volunteers in Down Economy

Rochester, NY – The first census of land trusts in five years found 10 million new acres conserved nationwide since 2005. The National Land Trust Census, released by the Land Trust Alliance, shows that voluntarily protected land increased 27 percent between 2005 and 2010. In the same time period, the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, a major federal conservation program, added just over 500,000 acres and saw a 38% funding cut. The census is online at www.lta.org/census.

A total of 47 million acres—an area over twice the size of all the national parks in the contiguous United States—are now protected by land trusts. A greater percentage of the new acreage comes through local and state land trusts like Genesee Land Trust. In New York State, land trusts conserved   973,807 acres between 2005 and 2010, an 88% increase in land protected.

“Residents of Greater Rochester value their land, and we are conserving it at the community level,” said Gay Mills, executive director of Genesee Land Trust   “Here in New York State we are investing in our future with land trusts that ensure clean water, local food and places to play for our children and for generations to come.”

Over the last five years, Genesee Land Trust has nearly doubled its acreage, protecting family farms in Monroe, Ontario and Wayne Counties, protecting the north coast including Big Woods and the Devil’s Cove in Webster and creating Conkey Corner Park in the city of Rochester.

An enhanced tax deduction for conservation easement donations has helped America’s land trusts work with farmers, ranchers and other modest-income landowners to sustain a remarkable pace of more than one million acres protected by conservation easements each year!  But if Congress allows this incentive to expire at the end of 2011, fewer landowners will receive tax benefits from the generous donation of development rights on their land. We thank our representatives who support this bill and encourage others to recognize this incentive as an economic engine!

Genesee Land Trust, founded in 1989, is the greater Rochester area’s local land trust, protecting nearly 4,000 acres. Gay Mills is executive director.  

The Land Trust Alliance is a national conservation organization that works to save the places people love. We increase the pace of conservation, so more land and natural resources get protected. We enhance the quality of conservation, so the most important lands get protected using the best practices in the business. And we ensure the permanence of conservation by creating the laws and resources needed to defend protected land over time. The Land Trust Alliance is based in Washington, D.C.

-End-

Contact:

Margaret Potter, director of Development & Communications

Genesee Land Trust

500 East Avenue Suite 200

Rochester NY 14607

Office: (585) 256-2130