URGENT! Protect the Saugatuck Dunes! Support Local Zoning Laws! YOU Can Make A Difference By Signing This Petition NOW! On Wednesday, October 28, 2009 the Saugatuck Township Board of Supervisors and Planning Commissioners will consider a new zoning ordinance proposed by the Singapore Dunes LLC, owners of the former Denison property. The ordinance, known as a Zoning [...]
“The Present That Lasts Forever” premiers Friday, October 9 at 9 p.m on WCMU TV. Discover Michigan land which will remain unchanged forever. Explore the motivations behind why people work with local Land Conservancies and Land Trusts. (Part I of II) “Looking Down the Road” premiers Friday, October 9 at 9:30 p.m. This original WCMU [...]
The Land Trust Alliance has a nice article about 15 ranches protected by the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust (CCALT) and several partner organizations. Over the past decade, 15 ranchland conservation easements have protected more than 11,000 acres. “This ranch means a great deal to our family and we are committed to raising our kids [...]
Yesterday I received the following note from the owner of a North Carolina farm protected with a conservation easement: “Can the state’s power of eminent domain be used to build a highway across conserved land? We are worried about the possibility of a 4-land highway through our conserved land.” Hers is a great question. I answered “From what [...]
What is a Conservation Easement (aka “land preservation agreement”)? A conservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust or government agency. It permanently limits uses of the land in order to protect its conservation values. The landowner continues to own the land and the easement does “run with the [...]
Patagonia has a campaign called “Freedom to Roam“. The purpose of the campaign is to save wildlife by establishing migration wildways for animals between protection areas. According to Patagonia’s website, threats include human development, housing sprawl, energy and resource extraction, population growth, expanding urban areas, and highways and freeways. It’s a great program that helps [...]
Mark and Rebecca Ewing have ensured protection of their land, the sixth-oldest family farm in Indiana, with a conservation easement with Sycamore Land Trust, according to the article on the Land Trust Alliance website. The 500-acre Mont Clair Farm has been actively farmed by the Ewing family for seven generations—since roughly 1802. “When our great, [...]
Below is the nice e-mail I received from Caroline Baker, Communications Coordinator for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. She was commenting on my previous blog post. “Hi, Since you previously wrote about the proposed “Wilderness Walmart,” I thought you might be interested in a recent update by Rob Nieweg, Director of the National Trust [...]
Jeff Smith, editor at Traverse Magazine, wrote an excellent article, “Saving the Family (and the) Cottage“. The subhead of the article states “The cottage that draws a family together can be the very thing that breaks it apart. It doesn’t have to be that way.” Jeff reviews information from the book, Saving the Family Cottage. I [...]
It seems Wal-Mart is proposing to build a super store near Orange, Virginia near land that is an important part of the historic battlefield area of the Battle of the Wilderness. Orange County is a rural community in central Virginia filled with beautiful horse farms and vineyards. The article, “Wal-Mart in the Wilderness” in The American [...]
