Our Accomplishments

Bedminster Land Conservancy 2007 Accomplishments

Overview: For the Bedminster Land Conservancy (BLC), 2007 was another year of great success. Highlights include completion and submission of our accreditation application to the Land Trust Alliance and completion of 20 new easements, including ones that extend our reach into Springfield and Plumstead Townships.

Land in Preservation:

• Celebrated reaching 3000 acres of land preserved in summer 2007
• Currently hold and regularly monitor 78 easements on over 3360 acres of land, including:
  • 11 donated easements on 367 acres in Bedminster and East Rockhill Townships, held by BLC;
  • 13 easements on 730 acres in Bedminster Township, coheld with Bedminster Township or the Township & Bucks County Agricultural Preservation Program;
  • 52 easements on 2224 acres in Solebury Township, coheld with Solebury Township or the Township & Bucks County Agricultural Preservation Program;
  • 1 donated easement on 18 acres in Plumstead Township; and
  • 1 easement on 24 acres in Springfield Township.

Easements and Easement Service:

• Added 20 easements, totaling over 779 additional acres from 2006 (nearly 30% increase in acreage preserved)
• Continued to provide easement-monitoring services and work with area townships to help protect their investments in land preservation
• Regularly attended township open space and land preservation advisory committee meetings, as well as supervisor and planning commission meetings as appropriate.

Education:

• Developed and submitted a proposal for a panel discussion “Working with Municipalities”, which was accepted for presentation at the 2008 Pennsylvania Land Trust Association conference
• Continued to serve as a resource network for area residents and public agencies
• Corresponded with our legislators on issues of national, state, and local importance that relate to preservation of farming and farmland, other open space, and preservation of our communities and quality of life and proposed expanded corridor for electric transmission lines
• Developed and distributed 3 issues/year of our newsletter, The Conservator
• Hosted 10th annual member meeting, with guest speaker.

Fund-raising:

• Hosted 3 successful fund-raising activities:
  • Garden Tour (June) – our 9th annual;
  • Barns and Farms tour (Oct) – our 3rd;
  • Special Artisans’ sale (Sept.) hosted and sponsored by Eve and Len Marschark at their farm – for a 2nd year.
• Applied the revenue generated from our 3 fund-raising events to our “Landowner Easement Assistance Fund” (our grant fund dedicated to assisting landowners in donating easements).

Organization:

• Developed and adopted or updated several policies to enhance our land preservation program and help ensure we operate in accordance with the Standards and Practices of the Land Trust Alliance
• Maintained active membership in Land Trust Alliance and PA Land Trust Association, and attended training meetings
• Received grant from Land Trust Alliance to support staff attendance at the Land Trust Alliance annual meeting, held in Colorado
• Participated in pilot program for national accreditation for land trusts
• Provided information and assistance to other groups in Bucks County
• Welcomed John Spiegel and Laurie Ermentrout to our Board of Directors
• Welcomed 5 new trainees to our monitoring program.

Membership:

• Celebrated our 10th anniversary throughout the year, with a complimentary dinner to members provided at our annual meeting, and a special end of year dinner held at Sand Castle Winery
• Enhanced membership outreach and increased our membership by 30% from year 2006 to end of year 2007
• Continued to promote awareness of organization through press releases, fundraising activities, and talks (e.g. at Doylestown Nature Club).