|
Land Opportunity Fund and
Stewardship
TLC will use money raised through Our Water, Our Land to create a Land
Opportunity Fund and to provide for the long-term stewardship of TLC’s
conservation lands.
The Land Opportunity Fund
will allow TLC to buy land, obtain options, and cover transactional and
closing costs on private conservation agreements and land purchases
throughout our six-county region. At this time of intense growth
pressure, when critical natural lands are sold before going on the open
market, TLC must be able to move swiftly to save important properties.
The Land Opportunity Fund will enable TLC to seek out owners of critical
land, to competitively negotiate for land, and to respond quickly as
land becomes available. TLC will use this fund as a revolving fund,
reimbursing it when costs can be covered by grants or when land is
transferred to other conservation ownership.
Once TLC has secured the
land, we have a profound obligation to maintain the conservation values
for which the tracts were initially conserved. Stewardship does more
than preserve the ecological
integrity of land. It also allows people to connect to the
land. It assures that we all have places for recreation and renewal,
that scientists and teachers have places to conduct research and educate
students, and that future generations will have these places to explore
and to study.
Stewardship is our most important long-term
responsibility, and we will use a portion of the money raised through
Our Water, Our Land to maintain the lands we have protected and those we
will protect in the future.
|
