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COMMON GROUND VOL. 12 NO. 5 OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2001
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<br /> rLaw X
<br /> TRACTS
<br /> A record 1,263 local and regional land private support. In 1992, he helped create the
<br /> trusts were operating in the U . S . in 2000, Parks and Wildlife Foundation of Texas,
<br /> the Land Trust Alliance reports in its new which has secured more than $30 million to
<br /> National Land Trust Census (202 / 6384725, support Texas conservation .
<br /> www. lta . org) . The groups have protected
<br /> more than 6 . 4 million acres in all 50 states In the last three years, residents of Maine
<br /> through fee acquisition and conservation have witnessed striking changes in land
<br /> easements . California ( 1 . 25 million acres ) , ownership in the heavily forested state . In
<br /> New York (552,220 acres ) and Montana just 18 months, 22 % of the land in the state In just 18 months ,
<br /> (505,659 acres) led the nation in acreage pro- (4 . 8 million acres ) changed hands, including
<br /> tected . In the Southwest (Arizona, Colorado, International Paper's acquisition of 913,000 22 % of the land in
<br /> New Mexico, Utah) , land trusts increased acres when it bought Champion Interna- Maine (4 . 8 million
<br /> protected lands to 929, 602 acres, up from tional last year . Some land is being protected acres ) changed
<br /> 40,403 acres protected in 1990 . Trusts in the from development and conserved for for-
<br /> South Central region (Arkansas, Louisiana, estry : the Pingree family sold a conservation hands .
<br /> Oklahoma, Texas) boosted its protected acre- easement to the New England Forestry
<br /> age to 105,967 acres compared to 7,341 acres Foundation for $28 million in March on
<br /> a decade earlier . Massachusetts continued to 762, 192 acres of the state forestland in the
<br /> lead the nation with 143 nonprofit land con- largest private conservation project in U . S .
<br /> servation organizations . California ( 132) and history. Other forest land is being subdi-
<br /> Connecticut (112) followed . vided and sold : Plum Creek Timber Co . of
<br /> Seattle, which owns about 900,000 acres in
<br /> Andrew Sansom, who has run the Texas Maine, announced in July that it intended to
<br /> Parks and Wildlife Department since 1990, sell 89 lots on Moosehead Lake . Last year,
<br /> will leave his post Jan . 1 . Sansom, who the company sold more than 8,000 acres on
<br /> joined the department in 1987, engineered Spencer Lake for $ 10 million to media busi-
<br /> the acquisition of Big Bend State Park in nessman John Malone, who now owns all the
<br /> 1989, a 300, 000-acre addition that now com- shoreline around the lake . The Natural Re-
<br /> prises half the state park system. He also led sources Council of Maine (www.maine
<br /> an effort to reduce the department' s depen- environment. org) keeps a tally of major land
<br /> dence on general tax revenue in favor of transfers in the state on its Web site .
<br /> CF Industries Honors Watershed Partnerships
<br /> ® CF Industries has given National Water- Prairie Du Sac Power Plant on the Wisconsin Alliant chose to
<br /> shed Awards to organizations in Alaska, River rather than sell the land for develop - protect the 1 , 800 -
<br /> Idaho , Vermont and Wisconsin for demon- ment. The conservancy also has protected acre Merrimac
<br /> strating effective nonregulatory approaches and restored 340 acres of wetlands, ponds
<br /> to improve water quality , and other habitat in the Baraboo Hills . Preserve near
<br /> • Duck Creek Watershed Management the company 's
<br /> CF Industries, a North American farm Project (www . epa . gov / owow / showcase / Prairie Du Sac
<br /> supply cooperative based in Long Grove, Ill . duckcreek) in Juneau, Alaska, is a national
<br /> (www . cfindustries . com) , has honored a cor- demonstration site where partners are restor- Power Plant on
<br /> poration and three communities annually ing wetlands and salmon habitat. the Wisconsin
<br /> since 1996 for their innovative watershed • Tri-State Water Quality Council (www . River.
<br /> partnerships . The Conservation Fund ad- tristatecouncil . org) , based in Sandpoint,
<br /> ministers the awards . This year' s awardees : Idaho, whose volunteers from Butte, Mont. ,
<br /> • Riverland Conservancy, a nonprofit land to northeast Washington have helped clean
<br /> trust created in 1997 by Alliant Energy up the Clark Fork-Pend Oreille watershed .
<br /> (www . alliantenergy . com) of Madison, Wisc . , • Lake Champlain Basin Program (www.
<br /> won the corporate stewardship award . lcbp . org) , based in Grand Isle, Vt . , whose
<br /> Alliant chose to protect the 1 ,800-acre partners have reduced phosphate runoff into
<br /> Merrimac Preserve near the company' s the basin over five years by 38 . 8 metric tons .
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