A New Era of Conservation in Santa Cruz County

June 25, 2009

Three years ago the Land Trust Board adopted an ambitious strategic plan that envisioned the transformation of the Land Trust into a dynamic conservation leader for our County.  We planned to protect as much land in three years as we had in 28 years.  We planned to raise tens of millions of dollars to do that – many times more than we had ever raised before.  And we planned to build our capacity to do this work by adding skilled and experienced staff.  We planned, in other words, to become the dynamic Land Trust we felt our County deserved and needed. 

With the support of the community, the Land Trust accomplished these ambitious goals during the past three years. 

Our Board of Trustees launched a new strategic planning process with the success of the past three years at our backs – and in the face of unprecedented economic challenges.  The plan that emerged after more than a dozen meetings over five months is more ambitious that the one we adopted in 2006.  It calls for the revitalized Land Trust to launch a new era of conservation in our County. 

With community support, we can change the conservation infrastructure of Santa Cruz County over the next three years.  The Land Trust will lead the way in articulating a community-supported 20-Year Conservation Blueprint for Santa Cruz County.  To provide the local funding necessary to turn this vision into reality, the Land Trust will work to establish a countywide Open Space District.  It is no exaggeration to say that these two projects will profoundly change the entire landscape of conservation in our County – providing powerful new tools for the permanent protection of the lands that make Santa Cruz County special.

Click here to see the new Strategic Plan.

Even without these groundbreaking initiatives, the Land Trust's new Strategic Plan is ambitious.  During the next three years we will implement "best practices" stewardship on the diverse 3,000 acres now under our care.   Management plans will be developed for the Glenwood Open Space Preserve, the Sandhills property we acquired in 2007, and the Watsonville Slough lands we are working to protect.  Our goal is to earn a reputation as great stewards of the land we have pledged to forever protect. 

Over the next three years we also plan to double the amount of land we have protected.  We will double the amount of farmland we protect to 3,000 acres – 20% of the prime farmland in the County.  We will develop partnerships with other conservation organizations working to protect the Santa Cruz Mountains and complete one major project there.  We will expand the critical habitat protections within the Santa Cruz Sandhills and the Watsonville Sloughs.  And we will initiate a new area of activity by protecting critical wildlife corridors and fish habitat in the hills east of Watsonville. 

To accomplish these goals, the Land Trust will need to spend more than $6 million in core operating revenues over the next three years.  Half of those funds have already been secured in the form of grants, endowments, and revenue we earn from the working forests and farmlands we own.  The remaining $3 million will need to be raised from grants ($1 million) and individual donors ($2 million).  These individual donations for operating expenses will be matched 30 to 40 times over by major grants the Land Trust will be able to secure to fund capital expenses.  The investment our community makes now will pay rich dividends for many years.

In adopting this Strategic Plan the Land Trust Board looked generations ahead, just as generations ago people looked ahead when they protected Big Basin and the California coast.  The Land Trust follows in those footsteps as we seek to forever protect our County from the inevitable long-term growth pressures from the nation's fourth largest metropolitan area on our border.  We believe that the time to permanently protect our County is now – before threats are imminent and prices limit what we can protect.

We are mindful that we undertake these goals during challenging times.  They will be accomplished only if Land Trust supporters and the community want to accomplish them.  The future of conservation in Santa Cruz County is in the hands of its citizens – which is exactly were it should be.

Help launch a new era of conservation.

Sincerely,
John Gilchrist
President,
Land Trust Board of Trustees

 

Terry Corwin
Executive Director

 

 

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