Updated February 2008

In May 2006 the Land Trust Board of Trustees adopted a new strategic plan calling for the Land Trust to protect prime farmland, working timberland and special habitats.   Since then the Land Trust has made dramatic progress on implementing this plan. 

• We have actively engaged more than a dozen landowners about transactions involving thousands of acres of land – including prime farmland, forests, and special habits.   Some of these transactions may take years to complete, but we have begun the process.

• We reached agreements with four landowners to protect almost 1,000 acres of prime farmland in the Pajaro Valley.   When these agreements are finalized, the Land Trust will receive more than $7 million in state and federal grants to acquire conservation easements.

• We launched a multi-year campaign to protect 700 acres of the Sandhills, a rare habitat in the Santa Cruz Mountains that botanist Peter Raven calls “the Galapagos Islands of Santa Cruz.”  In 2007 we raised $1.2 million in community support and received a $2.3 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to protect the largest property in the Sandhills (189 acres).  

• We launched a long term planning process, including a study of the feasibility of establishing a Land Conservation District for Santa Cruz County.  We are now evaluating the content and timing of creating such a district.

• We have greatly expanded our community outreach.  We  hosted eleven events in 2007 attended by more than 560 people.  We have received extensive local press coverage, including eleven stories in the major local papers.  We have redesigned our quarterly newsletter and website to reach thousands of people.

• We have dramatically increased community support.  Community support more than tripled in 2007 and membership has doubled in the past two years.  Since its formation in October 2006, 85 people and businesses have joined our Conservation Circle and contributed more than $1,000,000 to support our work. 

 

More information is available on our website or by calling our office: (831) 429-6116

 

 

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