Jack - and Ron - - in your neck of the woods= .=

Roni

----- Original Messa= ge -----

From: Ric F

To: = L. M. Schwartz - VLRC ; Lewis Anderson ; R= oni Sylvester

Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2008 11:22 AM

Subject:<= span style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font= -family: "Times New Roman";color:black'> Fwd: Re: [LT] State Conservation Incentives=

Like I've said in the past, the goals of these groups is to ta= ke land off the tax base and out of private control.............once the land = is in a HCP, they can then sue the non-HCP neighbors for any "contamination" or other construed "habitat impact" tha= t is coming off their lands and, through the courts, impose habitat restrictions= on non-easement, non HCP lands......and given this guy's admission that "= we are a program of a local government", they are using = tax dollars to accomplish the removal of lands from the tax base and thus, redu= cing the public monies to schools and infrastructure (police, roads, etc.). To m= ake up for this loss, the adjacent properties without restrictions have their t= axes increase and thus we have a disproportionate burden on the tax paying public, i.e. the neighboring properties.........not bad for a scam artist hiding in OPM (other people's money, i.e. tax payer funding)...= .....

r

Kevin Connally <Kevin.Connally@CO.TRAVIS.TX.US> wrote:

Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:48:49 -0600
From: Kevin Connally <Kevin.Connally@CO.TRAVIS.TX.US>
Subject: Re: [LT] State Conservation Incentives
To: LANDTRUST-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU

Brad,

You might best contact the Texas Land Trust Council (www.tltc.org ) for an = idea of what is happening state-wide. Washington and Texas actually have a great deal in common as private property rights states that look primarily to the private sector to address land protection needs.

Also be aware that there are a number of other land-trust-like activities taking place, such as the land protection we undertake as part of a USFWS Habitat Conservation Plan (we have set aside alm= ost 28,000 acres just west of Austin in the last 12 years...) that may not show= up if you are only looking at land trusts.

We negotiate conservation easements, purchase land in full fee, arrange management agreements, and in almost every way operate like a land trust, w= ith the exception that we are a program of a local government (see= our website: http://www.co.travis.tx.us/tnr/bccp/default.as= p )

Please feel free to call or drop me an e-mail if there are any questions, o= r if there is anything I can do for you.

Kevin

Kevin Connally
Sr. Environmental Resource Management Specialist
Travis County
Natural Resources and Environmental Quality
P.O. Box 1748
Austin, Texas 78767
512-854-7213 office
512-848-7697 mobile
512-854-6474 fax
kevin.connally@co.travis.tx.us

http://www.co.travis.tx.us/tnr/bccp/default.asp

>>> Brad Paymar 3/6/2008 10:31 AM >>>
Hello,

We are wondering if there are any fairly current descriptions of the
various state-level conservation incentives that are currently being
used across the country, ideally with some assessment of their successes
and failures/challenges. Even just a list of the various programs being
used would be useful to us. If anyone is familiar with such a document,
or with assessments of individual state programs, please pass them to
us!

Thank you!

Glenn

Glenn Lamb

Executive Director

Columbia Land Trust

1351 Officers' Row

Vancouver, WA 98661

360 213-1205

www.columbialandtrust.org

Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.