January 9, 2002
Panel considers land trusts, conservation easements for private forests
Emerging strategies of using “land trusts,” where private forests and wildlands are purchased or donated, or of managing such lands under “conservation easements,” where the use of the property is restricted but the landowner retains the title, will be explored by regional and national experts at a lecture that is free and open to the public Wednesday, Jan. 16, at the University of Washington’s College of Forest Resources.
“Understanding Conservation Easements and Land Trusts,” from 1 to 4 p.m. in UW’s Anderson Hall, Room 207, will be moderated by professor Jim Agee and brings together speakers from the Pacific Land Trust based in Northern California, Forest Systems Inc. headquartered in Massachusetts, Cascade Land Conservancy headquartered in Seattle and the international organization Nature Conservancy.
Agenda and speakers can be found at http://www.cfr.washington.edu/Outreach/cecal/cecal.html, or call Kelley Duffield, 206-685-1606.
There has been growing interest by private land holders into how property that becomes part of a land trust or is managed under conservation easements is donated, used to ease tax burdens, sold or used to satisfy forest regulations across other land holdings. And interest in land trust organizations has increased, for instance, the number of land trust organizations went from 450 to 1,200 in the 1990s according to the Land Trust Alliance, a national association of organizations.
The program is part of the Denman Forestry Issues Series conducted by the College of Forest Resources to discuss forestry and natural resources issues and supported by the Denman Endowment. The program will be broadcast in February on the UW’s Research Channel, check http://www.researchchannel.com for schedule.
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