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COMMON GROUND VOL. 13 NO. 3 JULY- SEPTEMBER 2002
<br />The Conservation Fund
<br />Vital Statistics
<br />Land protected by TCF
<br />and partners, 2002:
<br />Acres protected: 187,586
<br />Est. value: $102,643,050
<br />Land protected, 1985 -2002,
<br />by TCF and partners:
<br />Acres protected: 3,349,378
<br />Est. value: $1,753,586,899
<br />TCF has received top
<br />ratings from Charity
<br />Navigator and the
<br />American Institute of
<br />Philanthropy for its
<br />program effectiveness and
<br />1% fund- raising expense.
<br />The Conservation Fund
<br />is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit
<br />organization established to
<br />advance land and water
<br />conservation in America.
<br />The Fund is a member of
<br />Earth Share and participates
<br />in the Combined Federal
<br />campaign as #0930.
<br />A . .Earth Share
<br />Conservation leadership
<br />Courses
<br />"Conserving Lands with
<br />Conservation Easements,"
<br />Aug. 4-7, San Diego, Calif.
<br />Contact Land Trust Alli-
<br />ance, 202/638-4725.
<br />"Balancing Nature and
<br />Commerce in Gateway
<br />Communities,"
<br />Sept. 24-27, Seattle, Wash.
<br />304/876 -7462.
<br />"GIS Design for Regional
<br />Conservation Planning,"
<br />Nov. 18-22,
<br />Shepherdstown, W.Va.
<br />304/876 -7452.
<br />n
<br />Maryland's Rural Legacy Program has
<br />awarded $22.8 million in grants to protect
<br />more than 9,400 acres this year. Now in its
<br />fifth year, the model program (dnr.state.md.
<br />us/ rurallegacy) has awarded grants totaling
<br />$132.9 million to permanently protect nearly
<br />52,000 acres. The state's land preservation
<br />programs have permanently preserved more
<br />than 1 million acres. "Maryland is now pro-
<br />tecting more land than we are losing to de-
<br />velopment," said Gov. Parris Glendening, in
<br />announcing the latest grants. "The strength
<br />of the Rural Legacy program is that it allows
<br />local communities to determine which areas
<br />are most deserving of protection." The pro-
<br />gram encourages state and local govern-
<br />ments to work with private landowners and
<br />trusts to protect large, contiguous blocks of
<br />land. Target properties include endangered
<br />species habitat, farm and forest land, stream
<br />buffers and historic villages and battlefields.
<br />"We must protect those special places that
<br />define us as a nation," said Patrick Noonan,
<br />chairman of The Conservation Fund. "Mary-
<br />land and Gov. Glendening continue to dem-
<br />onstrate how to make that happen."
<br />Creating marine "no- take" reserves can
<br />quickly improve fisheries, a review of more
<br />than 80 studies of reserves around the world
<br />has found. They also appear to double den-
<br />sity, triple biomass and raise the size and di-
<br />versity of fish up to 30% compared with un-
<br />protected areas, according to "The Impact
<br />of Marine Reserves: Do Reserves work and
<br />Does Reserve Size Matter," scheduled for
<br />publication this summer in Ecological Appli-
<br />cations. Author Ben Halpern of the Univer-
<br />sity of California at Santa Barbara (halpern@
<br />lifesci.ucsb.edu) found that small reserves
<br />can double biomass per unit area just as
<br />likely as large reserves can. One tiny reserve
<br />in St. Lucia (6.7 acres) in the Caribbean ap-
<br />peared to benefit large, mobile fishes, raising
<br />the possibility that small, strategically placed
<br />reserves on spawning grounds or migratory
<br />routes could boost fisheries and species con-
<br />servation. Although small reserves achieved
<br />impressive results, Halpern cautioned that
<br />larger reserves attained greater improve-
<br />ments in absolute terms because of their size.
<br />In a separate report that appeared in May in
<br />Ecology Letters, Halpern and colleague Rob-
<br />ert Warner found that marine life in no -take
<br />fisheries returned within 3 years to average
<br />levels of density, biomass, size and diversity.
<br />S M A L L
<br />Despite surging interest in open space pro-
<br />grams, they rarely are incorporated into
<br />urban growth policies, according to "Open
<br />Space Protection: Conservation Meets
<br />Growth Management," a report prepared by
<br />the Solimar Research Group (solimar.org) for
<br />the Brookings Institution (brookings.edu/ur -
<br />ban). The 84 -page study looks at how open
<br />space programs have helped shape metro
<br />areas, examines the open space programs of
<br />federal, state and local governments and the
<br />contributing role of land trusts. The authors
<br />conclude that open space is protected
<br />through a complex, decentralized system
<br />that often is reactive and hard to assess.
<br />Larger -scale efforts by government and large
<br />conservancies may be forward - looking and
<br />strategic, but they tend to focus on resource
<br />value rather than the impact on metropolitan
<br />growth, the report said. Protecting working
<br />landscapes appears likely to play an impor-
<br />tant role in open space protection efforts, but
<br />the goals of such efforts should be clearly re-
<br />lated to public benefits and efforts to shape
<br />metropolitan growth, the report said.
<br />The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in April that
<br />a 32 -month moratorium on development
<br />imposed by the Tahoe Regional Planning
<br />Agency in the early 1980s did not constitute
<br />a taking that required compensation. The 6-3
<br />ruling, with Chief Justice Rehnquist and Jus-
<br />tices Scalia and Thomas dissenting, rejected
<br />property owners' claims that whenever the
<br />government imposes a deprivation of all eco-
<br />nomically viable use of property, no matter
<br />how brief, it effects a taking. Writing for the
<br />majority, Justice Stevens called a moratorium
<br />"an essential tool of successful develop-
<br />ment." Go to supremecourtus.gov/opin-
<br />ions / 01 slipopinion.html to read the April 23
<br />decision in Tahoe - Sierra Preservation Council
<br />v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.
<br />The education bill signed by President
<br />Bush in January provides opportunities to
<br />broaden schools' environmental education
<br />curriculum. The National Environmental
<br />Education and Training Foundation (202/
<br />833 -2933) has produced a Web -based analy-
<br />sis and guide to the No Child Left Behind
<br />Act (neetf.org/education/index.shtm). It
<br />highlights opportunities to obtain funding
<br />for after - school environmental education
<br />programs and incorporate environmental
<br />education in state plans.
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