Stewards of the Land

For more information about Westchester Land Trust's capital campaign, or to make a donation, contact Development Director Keeva Young-Wright Keeva@Westchesterlandtrust.org 914 241 6346 x18

Stewards of the Land Partnership

What would our lives be without the places that connect us to the natural world? What if we knew that in the future we could no longer walk the land or look at the views we cherish? Clearly our daily experience would be greatly diminished without open space.

Stewardship involves monitoring every conservation easement annually to make sure conservation values are protected

Westchester Land Trust has a history of being able to sense future opportunities. In 1988, a group of people with foresight formed the Land Trust to preserve the county's open spaces for future generations. Today, Westchester Land Trust has protected more than 5,000 acres. Two funds we've created will help ensure that we continue a tradition of seizing opportunities when they arise.

This initiative consists of two separate but equally important tools to help Westchester's future:

The Stewards of the Land Endowment

The Preservation Fund

The Stewards of the Land Endowment: Taking Action to Create a Legacy

We have to act today to preserve tomorrow's Westchester. That is truer now than it was 20 years ago, when Westchester Land Trust was founded. By some estimates, at the current rate of development, the window of opportunity to preserve the county's special character will close in about 20 years. There are, however, bright indicators for the future.

On the public front, the amount of county acreage preserved in parks, municipal open space and nature preserves has increased significantly in the last 10 years. While the percentage of undeveloped privately held land continues to drop, there are positive signs that the public has awakened to the looming crisis of overdevelopment. The number of easements that Westchester Land Trust helps to create continues to grow. This upsurge in land preservation is good news.

The act of stewardship is our legacy for the future generations and our obligation to all who have put trust in Westchester Land Trust. It encompasses so many land preservation aspects: the legal procedure necessary for easement creation, ongoing monitoring of property, assistance and training for landowners in maintaining their property in an environmentally friendly way, and education of current and future owners of land protected by easements. It is the task of Westchester Land Trust to cultivate in current and all subsequent landowners an appreciation for the beauty and value of the land. Stewardship is indeed a commitment forever.

But the increased interest in preservation has created Westchester Land Trust's greatest need. We'll be entering a time of increased demand for land preservation services but dwindling resources to pay for that demand. Providing stewardship for protected land costs money each year - not just in the year that a landowner and Westchester Land Trust create the easement. While many landowners contribute to meet this need, the reality is that not every land donor is capable of making a stewardship gift and, of those who do, those contributions cover only about 30 percent of the total costs. As the number of properties suitable to be protected through easements declines, so will the number of new easements and also the number of stewardship gifts that new donors make.

The Stewards of the Land Endowment will ensure that in the years ahead we will always be able to return to a land we know well and cherish. Westchester Land Trust must act today to:

• Ensure that a stream of support will be available into the future to cover the stewardship costs of an ever-growing number of easements.

• Provide for that time when the cost of management exceeds the voluntary contributions of stewardship gifts from new easement donors.

The answer to this need is the Stewards of the Land Endowment, a $5 million fund, the interest from which will be sufficient to cover stewardship costs for the near and distant future.

The Preservation Fund: Nature's Working Capital

The ability to seize the moment and purchase land when a special opportunity presents itself can spell the difference between today's natural landscape and tomorrow's sprawling subdivision. For years Westchester Land Trust has acted as a bridge for community groups connecting their dreams for land preservation to the reality of raising enough to preserve special places.

What the Preservation Fund Will Do
Westchester Land Trust wants to be in a position to support those who are willing to make a commitment to this process when it often matters most: at the onset and at the completion of a campaign. For this reason, we are creating a fund of $3 million that will assist communities in three ways. It will:

• Provide one or two challenge grants or start-up grants per year of up to $50,000 to kick-start community group campaigns to fund raise from their own neighborhoods, or to cover initial "due diligence" expenses;

• Be a revolving fund from which bridge funds can be made that will help community groups close on property when they are a short distance from the goal. Loans would be made when committed funds are guaranteed but not yet received and could range up to $250,000 in special cases. These loans will be repaid into the Preservation Fund.

• Be a source for funds for our land preservation fund program, which will help us ensure than projects are completed in a timely, legal and organized fashion. Program costs per year are estimated to be $100,000.