Conservation of Land Presentation to Hon. Ralph Thompson, Commissioner & J.P. Arsenault, Executive Secretary Prince Edward Island Commission on the Land and Local Governance By Nature Conservancy of Canada Diane Griffin, PEI Program Manager June 17, 2009 Public Meeting in Charlottetown
History of Nature Conservancy of Canada The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) was formed in 1962 to take a non-advocacy, business-like approach to land conservation, grounded in science. For over 45 years NCC has focussed on identifying, securing and caring for the most significant landscapes in southern Canada. NCC has secured 2,007 properties. Conserving over two million acres of ecologically significant land across Canada with over 41,000 acres protected in Atlantic Canada, including 4,000 acres in PEI. Most of the initial PEI securement was accomplished by financially assisting the Island Nature Trust with its acquisitions. More recently, NCC has become directly involved in the direct acquisition of land in PEI. NCC has grown into one of Canada s top 10 charities and the largest in the land conservation sector. Though national in scope, 10 provincial offices, staffed by local professionals and governed by a board of community leaders, ideally position NCC to work with other local stakeholders such as provincial governments and other non-profit land conservation organizations. In preparing this presentation, three main questions were kept in mind: What is wrong now? What can be done to improve the situation? Why is preservation important? How well is Canada doing at land conservation? Part of the story is rather sad: 65% of Atlantic Canada s coastal marshes have been filled or drained Over 30 years, wild Atlantic salmon populations have declined over 95% Less than 7% of Canada is protected; and Canada is ranked 61 st worldwide, in land conservation 36 native species are extinct or extirpated, and 541 more are designated as endangered, threatened or of special concern That is not to say there are not also a lot of success stories like the national parks, major provincial parks and ecological reserves, protected by governments in various areas of Canada. However, the most significant land conservation progress of late has been accomplished through the protection of private lands by NCC and other non-profit land conservation organizations. Canada s goal, as set by World Wildlife Fund (Canada) during its Endangered Spaces campaign, is to protect a minimum of 12% of the country s landscapes. This goal was first recommended worldwide in 1987 by the Bruntland Report, more properly called Our Common Future. Madam Bruntland, Prime Minister of Norway, was the chair of the World Commission on Environment and Development set up by the United Nations. Because of PEI s small size, dense settlement and heavily impacted landscape, the
Provincial Government agreed in the late 1980s to the smaller goal to protect 7% of the Island s land base. Thus far, only about 3% of the Island is protected, which represents 16,882 ha (41,715 acres), including the 2,700 ha (6,672 acre) PEI National Park. Why do Land Conservation? The major reason for land conservation is the preservation of natural capital. Natural capital consists of natural resources, environmental and ecosystem resources, and land. The goods and services derived from this natural capital are essential to health of the environment and the economy. The benefits include water quality, recreational opportunities, mitigation of flooding, less greenhouse gas emissions, better air quality, maintenance of wildlife habitat and others. See the following paper: [Olewiler, N. (2004). The Value of Natural Capital in Settled Areas of Canada. Published by Ducks Unlimited Canada and the Nature Conservancy of Canada. 36 p.]. One of the case studies in this document is the Mill River watershed, pages 22 to 24. How does NCC choose sites? A set of conservation blueprints and Natural Area Conservation Plans guides NCC land securement activities. PEI is part of the Northern Appalachian Acadian Ecoregion which includes the Maritime Provinces, southern part of Quebec and part of the northeastern United States. An overview conservation blueprint was prepared for the whole ecoregion. We are in the follow-up work which is the selection of fairly large areas (natural areas) which are priorities for NCC conservation work, and for which conservation plans are drafted. For PEI, there will be one conservation plan called the PEI Coastal and Forest Natural Area, with nine delineated focal areas. The majority of the focal areas are concentrated on the coast and include sand dunes, salt marshes, off shore islands, and sites for colonial nesting birds and the endangered Piping Plover. However, two focal areas with forests in the eastern Kings and southern Kings/Queens areas are included within the conservation plan. PEI does not have large forest blocks like elsewhere in the Northern Appalachian Acadian ecoregion, so it is a challenge to find large patches of tolerant hardwoods which remain in good condition and are not too fragmented by roads, fields or power-lines, to sustain their natural values. Much of the Island s woodlands have been heavily impacted by various forestry related activities and clearing for agriculture; as a result very little remains in a natural state. Ninety percent of Canadians live in an area covering only 10% of the country along its southern border. Ironically, but not surprisingly, this is also where 70% of the species classified as being at risk occur. In PEI these include the nationally endangered Piping Plover, and species which are considered as threatened such as the Common Nighthawk, Canada Warbler and Olive-sided Flycatcher. PEI also has some species of special concern including the Gulf of St. Lawrence Aster, Short-eared Owl, Barrow s Goldeneye and Bicknell s Thrush. The list of endangered, threatened or species of special concern continues to grow as more research is done and as population numbers decline. Additionally, a careful watch is being kept on some birds such as the Common
Tern whose numbers in PEI were at a high of 3,398 nests in 1984, but ten years later there were only 738 nests. The decline has continued within the last five years. How does NCC fund its work? NCC collaborates with partners like the Government of PEI, the Island Nature Trust, Ducks Unlimited Canada and other conservation groups. We run major capital campaigns every few years and are currently in the quiet phase of one called Campaign for Conservation: A Force for Nature. This campaign has the ambitious goal of raising $500 million from the private and public sectors, including $25 million in Atlantic Canada. NCC has multi-year funding agreements with many provinces, including Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland & Labrador, and others are under negotiation. NCC is a partner in the Eastern Habitat Joint Venture of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan. This provides access to funds from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, if an equal amount of money can be raised from private US sources. However, the jewel in the crown, and what has enabled NCC to make the major recent strides, is an agreement we have with the federal government. In 2007, the Government of Canada committed to invest $185 million directly in the work of NCC, under the Natural Areas Conservation Program. These funds flow as they are matched by nonfederal sources, meaning each province is essentially in control of the amount of federal funds available to carry out local land conservation. How does NCC actually secure land? The mechanisms within our land conservation tool kit include: Donations of land; Bequests of land through an estate; Life interest, whereby original owner retains lifetime rights (and as a result, reduced consideration), following the donation or sale of the land; Donations of conservation covenants; Split receipt or bargain sales, whereby land is purchased at less than 80% of appraised value and a charitable receipt is issued for the balance; Purchase of land in fee simple; Sale of trade lands (lands donated to NCC for the express purpose of being sold) with resulting funds invested in conservation lands. These various options are outlined in the leaflet Landowner Options. One major change in recent years which has greatly assisted us in our work, is the federal government s Ecological Gifts Program. When gifting ecologically significant land to an eligible organization, such as NCC, the owner can avoid capital gains tax and apply their resulting charitable deduction against up to five years of taxable income. What do we do with the land once we get it? We are well past the day when simply acquiring land was thought to be sufficient to protect it. All conservation lands need monitoring and guardianship, and some need
active management to restore or maintain the features for which the sites were acquired. If we keep land in our inventory, it receives stewardship by our staff as well as local volunteer guardians. On occasion, it is determined that it is in the best interests of a property to have stewardship and title rest with another agency or organization. Such was the case with the 400 acre, majority interest NCC secured on Boughton Island, at a cost of $2.1 million. With a mutually agreed upon management plan and landholding agreement in place, NCC assigned their deed to Prince Edward Island, as the province already held title to the remaining one third of Boughton Island. Despite the transfer of ownership, NCC continues to monitor the property, in recognition of our obligation to our donors and our mission. Whenever NCC is involved in land acquisition, an amount equal to 15% of the land s appraised value must be raised as a stewardship endowment. These funds ensure perpetual care of the land in which we have had a protectionary role. This requirement applies to properties accepted as donations, transferred to other organizations and all types of transactions. Some properties require far more to steward in perpetuity and others far less, but the 15% Board Policy has served us well, on average. What would further assist land conservancy in PEI Continue cooperation among the conservation partners including governments Make a concentrated effort to protect more of the sites listed on PEI s Significant Environmental Areas Plan so that PEI moves closer to its 7% protected area objective Take more aggressive to conserve critical land, waters and species (This will require more funding on behalf of the Province, but fortunately it can make its money go further by partnering with NCC and others, which in turn enables us to lever more funds for projects here) Establish a multi-year cooperative funding agreement with NCC Increase the amount of money in the PEI Resource Land Conservation Fund Establish more economic instruments which will encourage private land stewardship. This could include expanding property tax relief for cooperating landowners. Currently, lands owned by the NCC, INT and a small number of private landowners who have had their land designated for protection under the Natural areas Protection Act have been given property tax relief because of this protective designation. This incentive needs to be better publicized so as to encourage more people to have their land formally protected if it meets the criteria for becoming a Natural Area. Use could be made related to other provincial taxes which could result in positive ways to encourage land protection. The provincial share of the annual income tax could be a powerful tool if used in creative ways to get the desired result in protecting natural lands such as NCC wants to have done or in protecting the pastoral coastal landscape such as the L.M. Montgomery Land Trust wants to accomplish.
Investigate mechanisms such as the transfer of development rights. This would involve a number of neighbouring landowners concentrating the development on one property and then releasing the development rights on the other parcels. Again this would help decrease development and fragmentation in both natural sites and pastoral coastal landscapes. While there is some similarity with the concept of the purchase of development rights, this is more self initiated by the landowners. The question is what would it take to help this happen in PEI? Perhaps the property tax regime could be used in a creative way to achieve this. Normally a subdivision is taxed at a much higher rate compared to the former agricultural or woodland rates that would have been in place on a piece of land. Perhaps a subdivision that is set up in such a way that will result in transfer of development rights should be taxed at a lesser rate to reflect that benefit. The bottom line is that it is important to get as many tools as possible in the land conservation tool kit. The NCC and other land conservation groups can bring private funds and energy to conservation, but we do not have the ability to set up economic instruments such as the creative use of the taxation system to encourage land conservation. However, if the Province was to make some further moves in this regard, it would magnify the land conservation effort and result in protection of more acres in areas that are really in need of protection and on-going management. Thank you for the opportunity to present this brief on behalf on the Nature Conservancy of Canada.