Bay Area Barn and Trails :: Strategies for Saving Lands and Trails

BAY AREA RESOURCE CONSERVATION DISTRICT:
'HORSE KEEPING: A Guide to Land Management for Clean Water 2005'

'Equestrians across the state and the nation recognize that our land is a critical part of our equestrian life. Therefore, the natural environment must be properly cared for if we are to continue to enjoy riding and caring for our horses. A free publication is now available that will help you protect the land, improve water quality and allow horse keeping to continue to be an acceptable use of our rural lands and open space.

The publication is "Horse Keeping: A Guide to Land Management for Clean Water."
Much of the information in this guide is applicable for horse keepers throughout California and many other parts of the country. The manual will also help you keep your horse healthy, improve aesthetics and maintain the value of your property while protecting the environment by reducing soil erosion, controlling runoff, and safely recycling manure.'

The manual was developed through the efforts of the San Francisco Bay Resource Conservation and Development Council

Download Horse Keeping Guide PDF

To order a hard copy of the Guide, contact:
RCD/Council of Bay Area
1301 Redwood Way, Suite 215,
Petaluma CA 94954-1134.
Lisa.Shanks@ca.usda.gov
707-794-8692 x 121

'EASEMENT GUIDE FOR EQUESTRIAN USE'
A new manual, the Easement Guide for Equestrian Use has been released by the Equestrian Land Conservation Resource. This manual provides examples of easement language relating to equestrian use that have been extracted from ELCR's national easement collection.
"Many land owners are considering putting conservation easements on their land and find the language which expresses their intent for preservation of equestrian use difficult to express,” states retired attorney Anson Taylor, ELCR’s President. “Additionally, attorneys or land use specialists may discover new ways to protect equestrian use without diminishing other conservation values.”
“ELCR’s publication series has largely been developed based on the number of assistance requests about a specific area of expertise that we receive from our constituents,” said ELCR’s Executive Director, Kandee Haertel. “During the past six years we have seen the need for easement language grow, largely due to the success of the Equestrian Land Protection Guide, the first manual we published. Providing this new manual assists with the next logical steps of conserving land for equestrian use. Land and trail organizations across the country should benefit from this collection.”
The Easement Guide for Equestrian Use is divided into three categories. The first category, traditional easements, contains language granting an equestrian organization such as a trails association or riding club and, in some instances, a government or conservation organization, the right to use land for equestrian activities. The second offers conservation easements that permit equestrian use and the third category is conservation easements that require that the land be kept open for specified equestrian use. All three types of easements play an important role in continuing equestrian use.

To order your copy, contact:
Equestrian Land Conservation Resource www.elcr.org
P.O. Box 423, Elizabeth, IL 61028-0423
Tel: 815-858-3501; Fax: 815-858-3508; Email: info@elcr.org

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LAND PROTECTION GUIDES www.elcr.org
'Getting Organized - Creating an Equestrian Trails Organization'
provides step-by-step ideas for working through an existing group, or if necessary, creating a new organization;
-'The Equestrian Land Protection Guide' is a comprehensive 47-page, step-by-step action plan for land protection that is written specifically for horse people.'

LAND AND TRAIL TRUSTS
'Land trusts are tax-exempt non-profit organizations that protect important land resources for the public benefit. They can operate locally, regionally or nationally and are funded by membership dues and/or donations from individuals, corporations and foundations. Land trusts protect land permanently and directly through donations of land, purchases and through agreements with owners that restrict a property's use. Land trusts also tend to be non-adversarial, working in cooperation with landowners and government agencies. This, combined with their tax-exempt status, makes land trusts highly effective tools for protecting important scenic, historic, recreational and wildlife areas.'
Yolo Land Trust http://www.yololandtrust.org/

CONSERVATION EASEMENTS
'A conservation easement is a legal covenant that imposes restrictions on development of a property. Conservation easements usually run with the land in perpetuity, and therefore remain in effect even though property ownership may change. Tax benefits are available only for perpetual easements that subject all future landowners to original restrictions. There are many types of easements (agriculture, trail, habitat preservation, open space) which are determined by the landowner and holder of the easement. The landowner and the land trust mutually agree upon the precise restrictions applied to the property. When a land trust acquires a conservation easement, the underlying fee title remains with the landowner. The trust monitors the property to ensure that the terms of the covenant are respected; i.e. that the land remains as the donor and the land trust agreed upon. A stewardship (monitoring) fund is often necessary to ensure that the land is managed according to the limitations and requirements of the original easement agreement.' www.lta.org

LAND TRUST ALLIANCE CONSERVATION EASEMENT VIDEO
"For the Common Good: Preserving Private Lands with Conservation Easements."
This award-winning video uses three case studies to explain the workings and public benefits of conservation easements. Show it at your next community meeting. 16 min. http://www.lta.org/publications/index.html

'BRIDGE' LOAN
'When an 84-acre property that would be a vital section of a ridgeline trail and nature reserve in southeast Vermont went up for sale in May 2000, 19 "charitable creditors" stepped in quickly with $10,000 and $ 5,000 interest-free loans to the Putney Mountain Association to meet the $115,000 purchase price'…The 18-month bridge loan, established in consultation with the Vermont Land Trust (VLT) and the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board (VHCB) enabled the association to come up with the cash needed to acquire land that would otherwise have been shortly sold for development
…we contacted people who had been partners in earlier purchases and people who had heard about the trail project and wanted to help, and raised the money in about three weeks… although the bridge loan had an 18-month duration, the charitable creditors were reimbursed within 10 months.' Land Trust Alliance 'Exchange' Summer 2001

BARGAIN SALE
This is a useful tool for a landowner interested in conservation who cannot donate land directly. A bargain sale of property to a land trust insures the land will be protected. With this option, the land trust purchases land at less than full-market value. The benefit to the landowner is twofold:
1. the sale produces needed income and,
2. he/she can claim the difference between the sale and full-market value as a tax-deductible donation.
More intangible but equally important, landowners can be assured that valuable land resources will be protected. www.nhlt.org/bargainsale.shtml

WHERE TO FIND HELP
Equestrian Land Conservation Resource | www.elcr.org
A national voice for a united equestrian land conservation movement dedicated to promoting access to and conservation of land for equestrian and other compatible uses through education and partnerships. Founded by concerned equestrians and conservationists with the assistance from the Conservation Fund, ELCR promotes the protection of open land and provides information to concerned individuals who wish to maintain access to land for the riding and driving of horses.

Land Trust Alliance | www.lta.org
The Land Trust Alliance promotes voluntary land conservation and strengthens the land trust movement by providing the leadership, information, skills and resources land trusts need to conserve land for the benefit of communities and natural systems.

Trust for Public Land | www.tpl.org
Over the last 25 years the Trust for Public Land has worked with hundreds of landowners. A landowner may come to TPL for help protecting family lands as a park or natural area. Or a landowner may have a property of scenic, historic, or environmental value that the public wants to protect. Working only with willing sellers, TPL offers advice on land value, tax planning, appraisals, title searches, property surveys, and environmental assessments.