The KUSP Land Use Report #52: Local Land Trusts

"Listen Live"

The following Land Use Report is presented by Gary Patton, Executive Director of LandWatch Monterey County. The opinions expressed by Mr. Patton are not necessarily those of KUSP Radio, nor of any of our sponsors.

The Monterey County Agricultural and Historical Land Conservancy is a Monterey County land trust. This non-profit group, founded in 1985, works to preserve commercially productive agricultural land. The Conservancy has completed twenty-three projects, and has protected over 7,500 acres. It is negotiating to protect a lot more. The Conservancy is one of the most successful agricultural land trusts in the state.

The Elkhorn Slough Foundation is celebrating its twentieth anniversary. Originally a group that did research and education about Elkhorn Slough, the Foundation has transformed itself, in the last five years, into an extremely effective land trust. It still does education and research, but now manages the largest conservation land holdings in the Elkhorn Slough watershed, over 2,000 acres. It’s negotiating to protect 1,000 acres more.

The Big Sur Land Trust, the Santa Cruz County Land Trust, and the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County are all working hard, in their own areas, to provide permanent protection to important natural resources. You can get more information about local land trusts by finding the Land Use Report section, under the Local Shows section, at the KUSP website. You can make a comment or suggestion as well.

The land trust movement can make a big difference for our future. Next time, we will look at some land use policy efforts that can also make a difference.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:
Big Sur Land Trust: http://www.bigsurlandtrust.org/
Elkhorn Slough Foundation: http://www.elkhornslough.org/
Greenspace – The Cambria Land Trust: http://www.greenspacecambria.org/
Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County: http://www.special-places.org/
Land Trust of Santa Cruz County: http://www.ltscc.org/
Lompico Watershed Conservancy: http://www.lompicocreek.org/
Monterey County Agricultural and Historical Land Conservancy: http://www.mcahlc.com/
Open Space Alliance: http://www.sc-openspace.com/
North Coast Small Wilderness Area Preservation: http://www.northcoastswap.org/

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