Sweet Water Trust: Recent Grants

Established in 1992, Sweet Water Trust is a foundation whose mission is to support land conservation by awarding grants, owning land, and holding conservation restrictions. In recent years, the Trust has “focused on large, landscape-scale conservation projects, often supported with major, multi-year grants. While we still expect to make a few smaller grants each year, all projects must meet the criteria set out in our grant guidelines. One particularly important requirement is that the land's wilderness qualities be protected by a conservation easement or equivalent permanent legal instrument.”

With assets of more than $25 million, Sweet Water Trust has awarded more than 600 grants, including distributions to:

•  Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions, $5,000 in 2001, for support of training program for commissioners

•  Orenda Wildlife Land Trust, $5,000 in 2001, toward acquisition of 50-acre Mercy Lowe Property in Mashpee

•  The Nature Conservancy (Massachusetts Chapter), $2,000 in 2002, for support of Massachusetts poll to assess citizen attitudes toward conservation and their willingness to pay for increased land protection.

•  Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, $10,000 in 2003, for support of a study to develop protocols for ecological restoration of salt marshes on the Lower Cape

•  Massachusetts Audubon Society, $5,000 in 2003, for support of an intern to assist in comprehensive invasive plant survey of Mass Audubon sanctuaries

•  Orenda Wildlife Land Trust, $3,100 in 2003, for support of stewardship and management of the trust's properties

•  Barnstable Land Trust, $15,000 in 2004, toward purchase of 42-acre Furman Property

•  Massachusetts Audubon Society, $5,000 in 2004, for support of a conservation easement training manual

Keeping the Community Preservation Act Promise

“Editorial: Keeping the CPA Promise”
The MetroWest Daily News, July 12, 2008

An editorial in The MetroWest Daily News reflects on Massachusetts’ decrease in matching local Community Preservation Act funds. For the last seven years, local funds were matched by the state on a dollar-for-dollar basis. Now, in fiscal year 2009, the state match will fall to about 70 cents per local dollar and the Community Preservation Coalition estimates the state match could fall to about 36 cents per local dollar in 2010. A legislative bill has been introduced to ensure that the state match will be at least 70 cents per local dollar.

Since its inception in 2000, the Community Preservation Act has generated more than $100 million for open space aquisitions in Massachusetts.

Massachusetts Will Decrease Matching Funds for Open Space

“State Will Decrease Matching Funds Open Space Funds”
The Stoughton Journal, July 10, 2008
By Christine Steele

Christine Steele reports that Massachusetts will decrease state Community Preservation Act matching funds to local communities starting with fiscal year 2009, which began this month. The decrease in matching funding was forecast a year ago and a further decrease is predicted for 2010. The Community Preservation Act seeks to preserve open space, historic buildings and create affordable housing for communities by allowing them to levy a 1% to 3% surcharge on property taxes.

Massachusetts Restores Funding for Endangered Species Program

“After Six Years, Massachusetts Restores Funding for Endangered Species”
The Nature Conservancy, Press Release
July 3, 2008

BOSTON, MA -- July 3, 2008 -- The Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program (NHESP) has more reason to celebrate its 30th anniversary; an effort led by Senator Stephen Brewer (D-Barre), Vice-Chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, was successful in restoring funding to the state program responsible for protecting our state’s rare animals and plants. ... ©

Read the entire press release.

Melinda Gray Ardia Environmental Foundation Offers Grants for Classroom Programs

Philanthropy News Digest reports that the Melinda Gray Ardia Environmental Foundation of Skaneatles, NY, is offering grants to support school classroom environmental programs.

Grants are in amounts of up to $1,500 each. The deadline for applying for a grant is September 27, 2008. For complete program information and examples of funded programs, please visit the Foundation’s website.

Note that the Butler Elementary School of Avon, MA, received a grant in 2005 providing “6th grade students an opportunity to engage in an authentic wetland assessement and management project."

Barnstable Land Trust Reaches Fundraising Goal, Purchases Baker Property

Congratulations to the Barnstable Land Trust, which purchased the five-acre Baker Property along the Little River in Cotuit on June 27, 2008, after successfully raising the entire $210,000 it needed for the transaction.

After 23 years on the Town of Barnstable’s “watch list,” the property was preserved through a creative private-public partnership that involved funding from the Barnstable Land Trust, the Town of Barnstable, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a number of private foundations, and more than 100 individual donors.

For more details and to learn how the Baker Property fits into the Town of Barnstable’s 2005 Open Space and Recreation Plan (395 pages, 8.9 MB), please read the announcement on the Barnstable Land Trust’s website.

CEO of Moore Foundation Speaks to Challenges Facing Environmental Philanthropy

Steven J. McCormick, president and chief executive officer of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, spoke recently with Philanthropy News Digest about his past tenure at The Nature Conservancy, his new role at the Moore Foundation, the foundation's approach to environmental grantmaking, and the challenges facing environmental philanthropy.

Established in 2000, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation is the largest private funder in the United States of environmental issues. Mr. Moore is co-founder of microchip giant Intel Corporation.

Community Preservation Coalition’s Newsletter for June/July 2008

The June/July 2008 newsletter of the Community Preservation Coalition of Massachusetts has been published.

Contents include “Additional Funding for CPA Open Space and Recreation Projects,” which mentions state LAND and PARC grant programs, the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund Program, the state Conservation Partnership Program, and the state Drinking Water Supply Protection Grant Program.

Hiking Society Seeks Applications for Trail Grants

Philanthropy News Digest reports that the American Hiking Society will award two different types of National Trails Fund grants to selected nonprofit applicants in its 2009 grant round:

•  American Hiking Society Trail Grants, from $500 to $4,999 each

•  Nature Valley Trail Grants, for $5,000 each, which will be awarded to ten nonprofit organizations, to be chosen by public vote from October 1 through October 31, 2008

For more information and guidelines about eligible trail projects, please read the complete Request for Proposal (RFP) at the Society’s website. The deadline for submitting a grant application is August 15, 2008.

Now in its eighth year, the American Hiking Society’s National Trails Fund has awarded more than $350,000 to 105 organizations working to establish, protect, and maintain foot trails in America. The Waltham Land Trust of Waltham, MA, was awarded a National Trails Fund grant in 2007.

Conservation Provisions in the Federal Farm Bill

Following passage of the conservation-friendly federal Farm Bill on May 22, 2008, the Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition has posted on its website a neat nine-page Summary of Farm Bill Conservation Provisions.

Written by Cris Coffin, New England States Director for the American Farmland Trust, the summary "is based on final legislative language enacted by Congress over the President’s veto and accompanying conference report language. Please note: this summary does not include all conservation provisions in the 2008 Farm Bill, only those of likely interest to land trusts in MA!”

For more information about the 2008 Farm Bill, please visit the Federal Tax Incentives section of the Land Trust Alliance's website.

State Offers Grants for Land Mapping Software

“State Offers Grants for Mapping Software”
The Amesbury News, June 24, 2008

The Amesbury News reports that the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) is extending the Massachusetts Conservation Mapping Assistance Partnership Program (MACMAPP), an in-kind grants program that helps municipal conservation commissions and nonprofit land trusts obtain free GIS computer mapping software, training, and digital maps to guide local land use decisions. The grant packages are valued at $3,000. Since its inception two years ago, the MACMAPP program has provided GIS technology and training to more than 50 conservation commissions and more than 20 land trusts.

The EEA press release of June 18, 2008, quotes Mary Lawrence, Program Coordinator of AmeriCorps Cape Cod: “The GIS software our program received via the MACMAPP grant is a powerful resource for Corps members who serve the 15 towns in Barnstable County. Members have been able to map trails and open space, track invasive plant species, and support a number of other service projects on Cape Cod. These projects would not have been successful without access to our GIS software."

Chatham Conservation Foundation’s Bulletin for Spring/Summer 2008

The Chatham Conservation Foundation has published its Spring/Summer 2008 Bulletin. Contents include:

•  The New Federal Farm Bill and Conservation Restrictions
•  Recent Land Acquisitions and Gifts
•  The Chatham Railroad Company
•  Joseph A Nickerson, Jr., Remembered

Founded in 1962, the Chatham Conservation Foundation has protected nearly 650 acres of open space. The Foundation’s 2008 Annual Meeting will be held August 4, 2008, at the Wequassett Inn, Chatham.

Charitable Giving Topped $300 Billion in 2007

"Charitable Giving Topped $306 Billion in 2007”
The Foundation Center, News report
June 23, 2008

New York, NY -- U.S. charitable giving reached an estimated $306.4 billion in 2007, exceeding $300 billion for the first time, a new report from the Giving USA Foundation finds.

According to Giving USA 2008, which is researched and written by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, every type of public charity saw gains in donations received during 2007, while giving to foundations decreased. The report attributes the increase in giving to charity largely to the strong stock market performance in the first half of the year, overall growth in the economy as measured by gross domestic product, and increases in corporate and personal income as reported at the end of the year. ... ©

Cool Conservation Quotes, Vol. 3

Conservation finance is the best place where people, land, and money meet. It is populated with individuals who are passionate about land and are contributing special skills and great new ideas to its protection. Most are people of conservation organizations responding with ingenuity to the pressure to stretch limited funds for greater outcomes. However, new diversity is entering the conservation finance scene. Some of these new participants work behind cash registers at local retail enterprises. Others are realtors and developers. Some are commercial and investment bankers who may look a little out of place in their gray suits with Wall Street Journals tucked under their arms.

--- Story Clark, A Field Guide to Conservation Finance (2007)

Clark's next book, New Financial Options for Conserving Land, is scheduled to be published by Island Press in October 2009.

Cape Cod National Seashore: a Gem at Risk

“A Cape Cod Gem at Risk”
The Boston Globe, June 22, 2008
By Mike Gildesgame

Mike Gildesgame, Southern New England policy manager of the Appalachian Mountain Club, writes in an op-ed piece that in order to conserve and prevent the privately-held 57-acre North of Highland Camping Area within the Cape Cod National Seashore from being sold to developers, the National Park Service, in partnership with the Trust for Public Land, needs a final $2 million in funding from the federal Land and Conservation Fund. One of the challenges: President Bush’s FY 2009 budget slashed the Land and Water Conservation Fund by 75 percent, providing only $43 million, even though the program is not funded by tax dollars but by lease fees from offshore oil and gas drilling.

For more information on efforts to purchase and preserve the camp area, please read the Association to Preserve Cape Cod's press release of May 5, 2008: "APCC Seeks Federal Assistance for National Seashore Land Purchase."

Brewster Conservation Trust Grows Its Community Garden

“Brewster Garden Grows New Crop of Gardeners”
The Cape Codder, June 20, 2008

The Cape Codder reports that the Brewster Conservation Trust has expanded its Community Garden off Lower Road, eliminating the waiting list of would-be-gardeners.

Established in 1983, the non-profit Brewster Conservation Trust has protected more than 584 acres of land. It is just one of the scores of environmental organizations urging the Massachusetts state legislature to pass the pending Environmental Bond Bill before the legislative session ends on July 31, 2008.

Town of Orleans, Open Space Committee: 2007 Annual Report

Here’s the Orleans Open Space Committee’s 2007 Annual Report, as it appears in the Orleans Annual Town Report for the Year 2007:

"Open Space Committee -- Approximately 6.45 acres of open space were protected permanently in 2007, through the Town’s purchase of additional holdings from the Sparrow family of South Orleans. The new parcel is located on Namequoit Road, across from John Kenrick Woods, which was acquired from the Sparrow family several years ago. It provides frontage on Arey’s Pond and the Namequoit River and completes a significant wildlife corridor extending from the watershed to the Peck property on the north side of the Namequoit River. This acquisition was the first proposed by the committee since the end of the Land Bank in 2005. Funding for the $1,275,000 purchase came from a grant from the State in the amount of $500,000, mitigation funds from Barnstable County from the development of Skaket Corners in the amount of $540,000 and $235,000 from a debt exclusion vote approved by the voters.

The Committee continued to work closely with the Orleans Conservation Trust and was able to preserve an additional 5.75 acres of land through the placement of Conservation Restrictions on four separate parcels.

Thus, through public and private actions an additional 12.2 acres of land in Orleans were permanently protected.

Comprehensive Plan Implementation -- The Orleans Comprehensive Plan charges the Committee with the primary task of helping to preserve 400 or more acres “using Land Bank and (Town) budget appropriated funding, plus private funding.” Since the formulation of that objective, over 230 acres have been protected or 58% of the 20-year goal.

Major efforts by the Orleans Conservation Trust and the Friends of Pleasant Bay through private fund raising for land purchases and through assistance to landowners to preserve land with Conservation Restrictions made a significant addition to the earlier Land Bank efforts. Completing the remaining 42 per cent of the 400-acre goal is very important but will be considerably more difficult now that the Land Bank funding has been terminated. It is clear that additional conservation restrictions, private donations, joint public/private efforts and zoning changes will play an increased role in achieving the 400 acre objective of the Plan."

For more information about open space in Orleans, please read the town's Conservation, Recreation and Open Space Plan (2006, 110 pages, 10.8 MB).

State Environmental Bond Bill Needs Your Help !

Earlier in the week, the Association to Preserve Cape Cod issued an email action alert about the pending Massachusetts state Environmental Bond Bill. The Association and other conservation and environmental organizations across the entire state need your support in convincing the Massachusetts state legislature to pass the bill before the legislative session ends on July 31, 2008.

The bill is important because it will fund vital state environmental programs over the next five years, such as those protecting open space, restoring rivers and streams, and improving state parks.

To learn more about this critical piece of legislation and how you can easily contact your Massachusetts state legislators to voice your support, please visit the website of the Coalition for the Environmental Bond.

Sandwich Golf Course Rooted in Green

"A Long Drive”
The Sandwich Broadsider, June 17, 2008
By Paul Babin

Paul Babin details the financial specifics of the town of Sandwich’s purchase and operation of Sandwich Hollows Golf Club. The course, formerly known as Round Hill Country Club, was purchased in 1999 as part of an $11 million land deal that was designed to prevent residential development. Approximately 200 acres were purchased as open space using Cape Cod Land Bank proceeds. About another 250 acres were purchased with a commercial loan, which the town will pay down over the next 20 years through revenue generated by the golf course.

Sheehan Family Foundation: Recent Grants

Founded in 1992 and endowed by wholesale beer distributor L. Knife and Son, Inc., of Kingston, MA, the Sheehan Family Foundation’s mission is “to protect the environment and to enhance the quality of education, with a focus on projects in eastern Massachusetts.”

More specifically, according to the Foundation’s Five Year Report: 2003 to 2007, “We continue to focus on protecting land, rivers, and oceans with grants to purchase open space and for capacity building to bring together top talent and resources. Protecting our natural resources against ever-mounting threats due to the rapid pace of development in Southeastern Massachusetts requires increasingly complex strategies. ... We continuously reexamine and revise our strategies to maximize the impact of our grants. Over the past five years, our 26 environmental grants were each linked directly to our strategies and leveraged about $10 million in public and private funds.”

Grants to nonprofits for the period 2003 to 2007 included:

•  Coalition for Buzzards Bay, $45,000, to advocate for solutions to improve the Bay’s ecology

•  Compact of Cape Cod Conservation Trusts, $30,000, to protect Bone Hill Farm in Barnstable

•  Wildlands Trust of Southeastern Massachusetts, $377,250

•  Woods Hole Research Center, $25,000, "to produce an educational poster showing land use changes in Southeastern Massachusetts from 1971-1999 and forecast two possible growth scenarios for the year 2030"

•  Yarmouth Conservation Trust, $10,000, to preserve the Dennis Pond conservation area