Someone is about to develop a beautiful piece of land in my community! What can I do to stop it?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service reports that between 1997 and 2001, 2.2 million acres were lost to development each year.  The Land Trust Alliance's National Land Trust Census reports that from 2000 to 2005, local and state land trusts conserved natural areas at a rate of over 1,000,000 acres per year.  The Southern Oregon Land Conservancy was formed in part to address this problem – conserving our precious natural lands before they are lost forever. However, whether to develop or conserve a particular parcel of land is a complex decision that depends on many criteria and local concerns.

Please note that we must be selective in choosing land-saving projects.  Unless we exercise care in choosing projects, we may find ourselves stuck with a property or a conservation easement that serves little public interest, is very costly to manage, or does not really fit with our strategic purposes. Any land trust that does not carefully select its projects may open itself to public criticism, credibility problems and even legal problems.

Get involved with us! Volunteer your time, support us financially, or even donate land or a conservation easement. That way, you can help your community protect the land that you think is culturally, economically or environmentally important.

Also, you may want to get involved in our state or local planning activities. Planning agencies often provide opportunities for public input on development issues that affect citizens and you can request to be placed on their mailing lists to receive updates on current and future plans for your area. Citizen input can improve the planning process and positively affect future developments that may otherwise be detrimental to the overall health of your community.

Thank you for your interest in saving land!

The report is online at http://www.lta.org/aboutus/census.shtml.