JOY! Big Gains in Voluntary Land Conservation

[Glacial Lakes Conservancy]

Dear Friends,

There are three features in our new GLC LANDSCAPES Newsletter on its
way to your mailbox.

1) LAND TRUSTS CONSERVE 10 Million U.S. ACRES in FIVE YEARS!

The first census of land trusts in five years found 10 million new
acres conserved nationwide since 2005, including 119,960 acres here in
Wisconsin.

The National Land Trust Census, released by the Land Trust Alliance,
shows that voluntarily protected land increased 27 percent between
2005 and 2010.

A total of 47 million acres—an area over twice the size of all the
national parks in the contiguous United States—are now protected by
land trusts. A greater percentage of the new acreage comes through
local and state land trusts like Glacial Lakes Conservancy. In
Wisconsin, land trusts conserved 119,960 acres between 2005 and 2010,
a 56% increase in land protected.

In the last FIVE YEARS, GLACIAL LAKES CONSERVANCY more than DOUBLED
the private lands it conserves, GREW our Preservation Partner Members
from 17 to 31, completed the Drohman Manitou Maples Easement project a
few weeks ago, and NEXT WEEK, will complete ONE MORE!

Thank you for your support which makes the conservation work of GLC
possible!

2) NEW PROJECT COMPLETED!

GARY AND MARY DROHMAN of Manitowoc Co. donated a CONSERVATION EASEMENT
in November to preserve the associated habitats of their mature woods,
floodplain forest, restored prairie, ponds, wetlands as well as the
productivity of their farmland. Thank you Gary and Mary!

A Guided Land Walk Celebration Tour of the property is planned for
next spring.

3) TAX INCENTIVES HELP!
An enhanced tax deduction for conservation easement donations has
helped America’s land trusts work with farmers, ranchers and other
modest-income landowners to sustain a remarkable pace of more than one
million acres protected by conservation easements each year!

But if Congress allows this incentive to expire at the end of 2011,
fewer landowners will receive tax benefits from the generous donation
of development rights on their land.

Glacial Lakes Conservancy thanks Rep(s) James Sensenbrenner, Tammy
Baldwin, Gwen Moore and Ron Kind for being among the 262 House and 11
Senate co-sponsors of H.R. 1964/S. 339, bills to make this important
conservation tax incentive permanent. That’s more co-sponsors than any
other tax bill in Congress!

Please help us encourage Rep(s) Tom Petri and Reid Ribble and Senators
Ron Johnson and Herb Kohl to join them as co-sponsors of this
important legislation.

Happy Holidays!
Vickie Hall