Community Conservation 101

Transcription

1 Community Conservation 101 Connecting People to the Land, to Each Other and to Your Mission Connecticut Land Conservation Conference March 19,

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3 Land Trusts have conserved a ton of land 47 million acres as of Connecticut land trusts have conserved over 100,000 acres. 3

4 Land Trusts are thinking about what long-term really means and the need to start now. 4

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6 Task at Hand: Moving conservation from a perceived luxury to a daily necessity EECC 6

7 Raising Awareness Increasing Visibility Nobody Knows Us Nobody Really Knows What We Do They need to support us We don t get the credit we deserve 7

8 What is community conservation? More Conservation for More People Building Relevance Listening to different voices in a community and then responding. Tapping into your land trust s strengths. Credit: The Nature Conservancy 8 Adapted from the Land Trust Alliance website

9 Community Problem or Issue Solution, Action How can conservation help? Who would it be serving? 9

10 Common Themes Credit: 10 NRCA

11 Position for greater community relevance, sustainability, impact. Respond to a community need Who is not being served? Connect people with people Create opportunities for people to get involved Energize the community Provide some form of public access Broaden the land trust s reach Provide lasting and meaningful impact Adapted from the Land Trust Alliance Land Trust Alliance 11

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13 Lori Paradis Brant, executive director

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16 Enzo Doula Sweet Spot - Commonality

17 Washington Business Association Lori Sweet Spot Needs and Resources

18 Never stop learning because life never stops teaching. Beth Sullivan Avalonia Land Conservancy, Inc. 18

19 Gathering as a group Learning from each other Connecting to each other 19

20 Connecting with history Accommodating abilities 20

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23 Listening Responding Building support Building relevance 23

24 Programs and land conservation alone, will not do it 24

25 New Trend: Strategic Programming/Events What s the purpose, how does that help get to perpetuity? Who s lives are changing, how? Partnerships? 25

26 Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire ~William Butler Yeats Arthur Milnor, Executive Director arthur@flandersnaturecenter.org

27 Going wide Variety Tapping into a broad cross-section of interests. 27

28 Land really is the best art. ~Andy Warhol 28

29 A Community Event 29

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31 Why traditional hikes do still work. Accommodating all ages. 31

32 GOING DEEP. GETTING WILD & WET!

33 Hiking Out of the Classroom: CK Explorer s Club Leaves No Child Inside

34 A nature-deficit disorder? I like to play indoors better, cause that s where all the electrical outlets are. Paul, 4 th grader quoted in: Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv, (2005) What are the impacts of being alienated from nature? What are the benefits of spending time in the natural world?

35 The Biophilia Hypothesis EO Wilson; SR Kellert The biophilia hypothesis posits a dependence on nature that extends beyond meeting our material and physical needs and encompasses aesthetic, intellectual and spiritual meanings. We are human in good part because of the particular way we affiliate with other organisms -- EO Wilson (1984)

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40 We hiked Haley Farm State Park, Beebe Cove/Hidden Lake, the Sheep Farm, the Merritt Family Forest, Pequot Woods, Got rained out at Candlewood Ridge, the final week culminated in a kayak trip launched from Esker Beach Park to explore Palmer Cove, using boats loaned by the New England Sailing and Science.

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43 Exploring animal life

44 Exploring plant life

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55 To be continued.

56 Time to Move Forward

57 How could you enhance your community conservation work? To what end? How can you grow your team? 57

58 Thank you! Many of the ideas and slides in this presentation were provided to the Connecticut Land Conservation Council by: Judy Anderson, Principal Community Consultants Credit: The Nature Conservancy 58

59 The mission of the Connecticut Land Conservation Council is to advocate for land preservation, stewardship and funding, and ensure the long-term strength and viability of the land conservation community. Amy Blaymore Paterson, Executive Director 59

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61 Tip: Consider creating an Ambassador Land Ambassador Lands The job is to connect people to the land NEW and existing constituencies Different scales Geographic locations Rural, suburban, urban People focused Enriching their lives Tomatoes by Jim Lillicotch 61

62 Strategic Programming: Keeping projects and your land trust vibrant Provide/coordinate programming that builds a sense of community for non-traditional users Hillsdale Park and Rec 62

63 Tend: Ambassador Landscapes People support projects they can relate to Spread them around, tell their stories 63

64 Ambassador Landscapes: Plan them differently Select them differently 64

65 When looking for great Ambassador Lands projects Consider Creating Memories: Pooh-bear landscapes 65

66 Experiential Not Passive Connecting People to People, People to the Land Every day life, making my life better tangible 66

67 How welcoming are you? What s your Good Neighbor Policy? 67

68 How could you make some of your existing lands more inspirational, interactive, to different type of people? Which ones? Where are their opportunities to establish new Ambassador Lands? 68

69 People will forget what you said People will forget what you did But people will never forget how you made them feel. -Maya Angelou As quoted in Worth Repeating: More Than 5,000 Classic and Contemporary Quotes (2003) by Bob Kelly, p