Creative Conservation Partnerships Deliver Results

Annapolis MD

15 July, 2021

11:08 AM

Description

By Karl Blankenship, the Chesapeake Bay Journal Jul 13, 2021 Some might say the view from Belle Vue farm is priceless. But the Maryland property, which includes a mile of shoreline with sweeping views of the Upper Chesapeake Bay, definitely had a price tag. A few years ago, the owners were ready to put the property up for sale. They envisioned the waterfront land might be ripe for residential development and perhaps even a marina. Others, including the Harford County government, envisioned it being preserved as open space, incorporating walking trails and maybe other forms of water access, something always in short supply along the Chesapeake. The sides were millions of dollars apart. But, ultimately, after years of nurturing the deal, the notion of conserving the property prevailed. Then, as the effort drew to a nerve-racking conclusion, the COVID-19 pandemic set in: businesses were closed and tax revenues that were the source of some of the funding were uncertain. Would the deal negotiated over years, involving both state and local money, fall apart? "Some of us were concerned that, because we were in the throes of early days of COVID, this would be seen as somehow superfluous, not essential," said Kristin Kirkwood, executive director of the Harford Land Trust, who led the effort to assemble funding and negotiate with the landowners. "At that time, counties and states did not know what their budgets were going to look like at the end of the year because everything was in such turmoil," she said. As it turned out, the money came through. On a picture-perfect day last September, representatives from the county government, land trust and the Army's nearby Aberdeen Proving Ground gathered at the farm to transfer ownership. "We are beyond excited to finally acquire the crown jewel of the Chesapeake Bay coastline in Harford County," said Barry Glassman, Harford County executive, who praised the state, land trust and Aberdeen Proving Ground for their contributions to the process. "Together, we will preserve this Harford County and Maryland treasure for generations to come." Their conservation achievement illustrates how local governments and small land trusts are, increasingly, working together to protect valuable properties and achieve common goals. Each can access different, complementary sources of funding. And they bring different skills to the table. With Belle Vue, for instance, the owners were advised that they could net much more than the $6.27 million eventually paid for the property. The owners were initially taken aback at the much lower price that the land trust and the county put forward, which was based on the appraised value. To keep the potential acquisition alive, Kirkwood found herself doing everything possible to keep the door open with the owners including writing letters, lining up bridge loans and keeping her ear to the ground locally. "I don't think our government partners could have gone the extra mile like we did," she said. From the touch of a personal letter, to the ability to tap different sources of revenue, small land trusts are bringing capabilities to the table that can help tackle larger transactions. Sometimes, this includes moving beyond their traditional focus on land conservation to help achieve other local goals, such as protecting water quality or helping historically underserved communities. But doing so means working together, sometimes in new, innovative ways. Seeking solutions "We need to get more creative, we need to get more sophisticated, we need to grow our confidence in using different tools, be they innovative, be they things that have been proven elsewhere to be effective," said Leigh Whelpton, program director of the Conservation Finance Network. Among other things, her program holds "boot camps" to train conservation organizations, local officials and others on the complex task of bringing multiple funding sources together to make projects happen. For instance, the Belle Vue project largely drew on traditional funding from Harford County, Maryland's Program Open Space and a U.S. Army program designed to protect land near installations from development. But the size of the effort eclipsed anything that the Harford Land Trust had undertaken before, said Kirkwood, who attended one of the boot camps. "A lot of the training was bolstering everyone's confidence [that] even small land trusts can take on these multi-million dollar deals," Kirkwood said. "For us, and me personally, that was something that I got out of it. It helped me understand that we shouldn't be sheepish about taking something like this on. And there are partners and there are resources to bring to the table if you know where to look." Beyond bolstering skills to wrap up ever-larger land deals is the ever-present problem of putting together enough money. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for acquiring more public land to meet demand and provide recreation. At the same time, Chesapeake Bay restoration water quality commitments are absorbing more revenues from local governments. "There's never enough funding available through philanthropy, or just general public-funding programs, to do all of the land conservation that's needed and all of the water quality restoration that's needed," said Jennifer Miller Herzog, eastern division director of field programs for the Land Trust Alliance. The alliance helped to create the Chesapeake Land and Water Initiative, which was launched in 2017 to specifically encourage land trusts and local governments to work together. The alliance emphasizes that what happens on conserved lands directly affect local waters. That can open the door to new, sometimes untraditional funding sources — but only if people know where to look. Two years ago, the alliance, working with the National Park Service and others, began offering intensive training to help midcareer professionals use innovative and effective financing strategies for land and resource conservation, restoration and stewardship. They hope to further bolster that effort by creating a "circuit rider" program in which advisers will be available to work with local land trusts and governments to bring projects to fruition and identify funding opportunities. In some places in the country, for instance, the federal government's State Revolving Loan Fund is being tapped to protect land that is tied to water protection. And emerging markets for carbon sequestration are helping to protect forests and farmland. Indeed, by blending water quality and land protection efforts, some have already found they can leverage varied sources of funding to achieve shared goals. Rallying to preserve farmland The Meyer Dairy farm in Centre County, PA, is a long-established operation that still sells milk in glass bottles. It sells its popular homemade ice cream and cheese at the farm store, where the dairy's 94-year old patriarch, Joe Meyer, operates the cash register. But the farm was on the edge of the area's growth boundary and was in danger of being developed. The local ClearWater Conservancy stepped in and put together a complex deal that drew money from multiple sources to make the $2.75 million deal a reality. The farm was valuable as an iconic community business and also because it borders Slab Cabin Run, is a major source of drinking water and a degraded trout stream in need of restoration. "Meyer Dairy is a much-loved agricultural place, a farm that wants to keep on farming," said Deb Nardone, executive director of the ClearWater Conservancy. "It is important to keep his open space on top of our drinking water supply." The final deal bought development rights to permanently protect 300 acres, including both the Meyer property and a neighboring farm, an agreement that also allowed the dairy to expand. To fund the purchase, $750,000 came from the water authority, which had identified the site in its source water protection plan. Those funds were matched by local philanthropy. Local governments chipped in another $500,000 to receive credit toward pollution reduction goals from the water-quality protection practices that would be installed on the preserved property. The rest came from citizen donations and other community fundraising. For instance, Nardone said, a brewery and winery got involved, creating Slab Cabin Run beer and wine, with part of the proceeds going to the project. Notes on the bottles reminded purchasers that beer and wine require clean water. "And so the last $750,000 came in through $5, $10 chunks of money, a couple of generous $10,000, $50,000 individual donors and the 6-year-old who saved a Mason jar of pennies and dimes and came and hand delivered it to our office with a note saying, 'I like ice cream,'" Nardone said. Such partnerships can also help achieve projects that otherwise might be difficult for smaller local governments. Seed money matters Gordonsville is a historic town in central Virginia that was a transportation hub during the Civil War. Today it covers roughly a square mile with about 1,500 residents. It's a diverse community, but also one where the poverty level is slightly higher than average and town resources are stretched thin. The town had worked with the University of Virginia School of Architecture to help develop a plan for its future. The ensuing document, called Gordonsville Visions, including a strong emphasis on expanding and creating parks. The Piedmont Environmental Council, a regional land trust, stepped in to help. It had worked with communities on local park projects before, such as Charlottesville — but Charlottesville was large enough to have a department devoted to parks and recreation. "In this case, we're playing more of a leadership role, where we're raising money and acquiring property," said Peter Hujik, the field representative for the council's Upper Rappahannock basin. "There isn't as much capacity in a small rural town compared to a larger urban area." When the "Town to Trail" effort began in 2017, Gordonsville had one small park — Verling Park — which includes an old pool that dated to the 1950s. It also had a small fairground behind the fire department which also serves as a training site for the department. The locations were a block apart. The project initially helped the town acquire two small parcels on the same block as Verling Park so it could expand to an entire city blook. Then, PEC led efforts to purchase two parcels in the block between Verling and the fairground — effectively connecting the two sites. The town would not have been able to do the project on its own, but PEC put in some seed money. The funds helped develop a master plan for the park, which eventually would include an updated pool. The town chipped in $100,000 to purchase one of the parcels. Once that happened, a group of local supporters provided money to help buy another parcel, and a large foundation supported the purchase of another. "I think in rural communities, if you can get private funding to help lead the charge, then we might be able to leverage more local, municipal or county funds," Hujik said. Now, after roughly $400,000 of investments, there are almost 10 acres of parkland within walking distance of everyone in town. It's actually larger than the original plan envisioned, which Hujik calls "pretty amazing." Even the eventual pool upgrade in the original park is important, Hujik said. "You might wonder why the land trust got involved in a public pool project," he said, noting that many forms of outdoor water-related recreation require knowing how to swim. "If people don't know how to swim, that's a barrier to enjoying water sports." The effort, which included public forums and surveys in its early stages, has drawn wide community support for its potential to benefits residents both now and for years to come. "We're pitching that it's our generation's turn to step up and update the parks and bring them into the future," Hujik said. To learn about the Chesapeake Bay Land and Water Initiative, visit landtrustalliance.org and enter "Chesapeake" in the search box. To learn about the Conservation Finance Network and upcoming training programs, visit conservationfinancenetwork.org. The Chesapeake Bay Journal is a nonprofit news organization covering environmental issues in the Bay region. Sign up for a free subscription at BayJournal.com.