Endowment and Partners Announce Plan for Conservation Easement Database

August 31, 2009 –Endowment and Partners Announce Plan for Conservation Easement Database

GREENVILLE, SC — The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (the Endowment), with generous support of the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelly Foundation, today announced a collaborative initiative to create the first national database of conservation easement information.

When completed, the National Conservation Easement Database (NCED) will for the first time show a comprehensive picture of the estimated 40 million acres of privately owned conservation easement lands across America. This overview will allow better strategic planning for conservation and development.

“Nearly a decade into the technology-driven 21st century there remains no single source of information on private lands that have been voluntarily protected for future generations of Americans,” said Endowment President Carlton Owen. “We’ve been working with a range of cooperators in resource agencies and the conservation community to determine what is needed and how to fill the void.”

TheEndowment’sBoardapproveda$1,000,000investmenttocreateNCED. Thesystemwillbalance public interests with private needs and concerns such as confidentiality and rights of private owners.

“We’ve been working for years through the Protected Areas Database Initiative, or PAD-US, to develop a single system that allows mapping and review of all publicly owned lands – federal, state, municipal, etc.,” said Jim Hubbard, Deputy Chief for State and Private Forestry, USDA Forest Service. “Creation of the conservation easement database will add a missing layer of vital information needed to better direct ecological as well as economic planning and investment.”

Three federal agencies – the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Forest Service (USFS) – are partnering with the Endowment in support of the national database. Other key partners include The Nature Conservancy (TNC), the nation’s largest private lands conservancy, and the Land Trust Alliance (the Alliance) representing the views and concerns of the nation’s nearly 1700 local and regional land trusts.

“We think creation of the national database will serve everyone’s interests and needs,” said Rand Wentworth, President of the Alliance. “Many of our members operate only with volunteers and have very limited access to technology and planning tools. This database, which will use state-of-the-art technology, will offer a new dimension never before available to local conservationists and planners.”

To help design the new system, the Endowment has pulled together a group of five conservation organizations that have extensive local and regional experience working with conservation easements and data systems. The team – Conservation Biology Institute, Defenders of Wildlife, Ducks Unlimited, NatureServe and the Trust for Public Land – aims to create a user-friendly, highly interactive system that will allow uploading, viewing, mapping and planning using public lands and conservation easement data at multiple scales — watershed, county or state.

“We’re excited to be partnering with these outstanding organizations on NCED,” said Mary Klein, President and CEO of NatureServe. “Reliable data about what lands are protected is essential to good planning for conservation or development, and that’s what this project will provide.”

Conservation easements are legal agreements voluntarily entered into between landowners and conservation entities (agencies or land trusts) for the express purpose of protecting certain societal values such as open space or vital wildlife habitats. In some cases landowners transfer “development rights” for direct payment or for federal and state tax benefits.

“Conservation easements are a critical tool in land protection” said Ducks Unlimited’s Alan Wentz, Senior Group Manager for Conservation, Communications and Marketing. “Having comprehensive information on where and what types of easements are occurring on the landscape will be invaluable for conservation planning and reporting activities.”

“We haven’t had a comprehensive picture of where conservation is happening. This project will provide a better understanding of where investments are being made and promote opportunities for collaboration,” said Sara Vickerman of Defenders of Wildlife.

The project will begin immediately, with the initial database, representing all 50 states, to be completed within 24 months. “We believe we can achieve this ambitious timeline because we plan to build on tools already developed by the project partners and draw on the bounty of data available from the major project cooperators (NRCS, FWS, USFS, the Alliance and TNC),” said Ernest Cook, Senior Vice President and Director of Conservation Strategies for the Trust for Public Land.

For more information contact:

Carlton Owen, President & CEO, U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, 864-233-7646,

carlton@usendowment.org

The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (the Endowment) is a not-for-profit public charity working collaborative with partners in the public and private sectors to advance systemic, transformative and sustainable change for the health and vitality of the nation’s working forests and forest-reliant communities –www.usendowment.org .

James R. Strittholt, President and Chief Scientist, Conservation Biology Institute, 541-757-0687, ext. 1

stritt@consbio.org

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The Conservation Biology Institute (CBI) is a conservation non-profit that provides scientific expertise to support the conservation and recovery of biological diversity in its natural state through applied research, education, planning, and community service. Through a growing staff of scientists, CBI works throughout the United States as well as internationally on many important conservation issues of our time. CBI has become a leader in addressing conservation problems using computer mapping technologies — www.consbio.org

Gina LaRocco, Defenders of Wildlife 503-697-3222; glarocco@defenders.org

Defenders of Wildlife is dedicated to the protection of all native animals and plants in their natural communities. With more than 1 million members and activists, Defenders of Wildlife is a leading advocate for innovative solutions to safeguard our wildlife heritage for generations to come — www.defenders.org.

Kristin Schrader, Public Affairs Coordinator, Ducks Unlimited 734-623-2000; kschrader@ducks.org

Ducks Unlimited is the world’s leader in wetlands and waterfowl conservation. Ducks Unlimited conserves, restores and manages wetlands and associated habitats for North America’s waterfowl. These habitats also benefit other wildlife and people. DU has conserved over 12 million acres in North America. www.ducks.org

Rob Aldrich, Director of Communications, Land Trust Alliance 202-638-4725

The Land Trust Alliance is a national conservation group that works on behalf of America’s 1,700 land trusts to save the places people love by strengthening conservation throughout America. The Alliance works to increase the pace and quality of conservation by advocating favorable tax policies, training land trusts in best practices and working to ensure the permanence of conservation in the face of continuing threats — www.landtrustalliance.org .

Rob Riordan, Director of Marketing and Communications, NatureServe 703-908-1831; rob_riordan@natureserve.org

NatureServe is a non-profit conservation group dedicated to providing the scientific basis for effective conservation action. Representing a network of 82 natural heritage programs and conservation data centers in the United States, Canada, and Latin America, NatureServe is a leading source for detailed scientific information about threatened plants, animals, and ecosystems. Visit us online at www.natureserve.org .

Tim Ahern, Director, Media Relations, The Trust for Public Land (TPL) 415-495-4014, ext. 425, tim.ahern@tpl.org