With a focus on protecting working farms and active agriculture  in Brunswick and Topsham Maine, BTLT has accomplished a lot, and with just one staff. Their key project is Crystal Spring Community Farm.  They own the farm and lease to a farmer.  It is also the site for their weekly farmers market.

Listen in and then check out their website for more information.

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Learn more about Community Supported Agriculture.

Notes: Intro and outgo music is from Tempest (de havilland vampire) by The Brothers Femme.

Working waterfronts are a key component of Maine’s culture.  While preserving a house, store and wharf with a restaurant may not seem to fall in the same category as preserving lake frontage or wetlands, I think it really is.  The tag line for the Land Trust Alliance is: “Together, conserving the places you love”  When you listen to Elsa talk about how important this project was to the community, and how deeply committed people were to seeing it through, you know that it is a place that people love and it needed to be protected.  People do not volunteer their time to scrub toilets for a place they don’t love.

Please note: This was recorded at Cundy’s Harbor over lunch.  The audio is distorted at periods where the wind picked up.  You will also hear hammers pounding and other activity in the background.  I have also edited the audio from over the course of our conversation to arrange it in a way which I hope will be easier for you to follow along (with loons to break up the various sections).

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Learn more about the Trust for Public Land.
Learn more about Holbrook Community Foundation and visit their blog.

Notes: Intro and outgo music is from Tempest (de havilland vampire) by The Brothers Femme.

Buy, Restrict, Resell.  But what happens when the old farmhouse on the property burns down just days before you close on the sale?  This is a great story of the unexpected challenges that a land trust can face.  And it happened to one of the oldest land trusts in Maine — Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association, which is celebrating their 40th anniversary this year.

How did it all work out?  What other stories do they have to share?  Listen in and find out, and then check out their website for more information.

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Learn more about the Land Trust Alliance’s ADVOCATES network.

Notes: Intro and outgo music is from Tempest (de havilland vampire) by The Brothers Femme.

They have only completed two projects, therefore they must be a small land trust, right?  Not when the two projects have protected tens of thousands of acres.  And their third project, which they are working on right now?  Over 20,000 acres.

How can a small land trust in a small town accomplish so much?  Listen in and find out, and then check out their website for more information.

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The workshop that Mark is presenting at Rally is session A19

A special note of thanks to Lindsay Wheaton, who is not only president of the Board of Directors for Downeast Lakes Land Trust, but also runs Grand Lake Lodge.  If you travel up to Grand Lake Stream, I strongly suggest you spend a night in one of their cabins.

Notes: Intro and outgo music is from Tempest (de havilland vampire) by The Brothers Femme.

After spending the weekend at Acadia National Park (a product of extraodinary conservation efforts in the eary 20th century), I traveled to Unity, Maine to visit with the Friends of Unity Wetlands.  This was the first land trust on my journey, and it served as a great starting point.

I attended Unity College before the Friends of Unity Wetlands was established.  It is wonderful to see that there is now a land trust there succesfully protecting the surrounding area.

Rick Lawrence, a founding board member, drove me arround to show me some of the properties the land trust has protected. We then returned to their office where I had a chance to talk with him.

Listen to our conversation and then check out thier website for more information.

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A special note of thanks to Unity College for allowing me to spend a night on campus — the new dorms are really nice.

Notes: Intro and outgo music is from Tempest (de havilland vampire) by The Brothers Femme.

As the countdown clock on the side of my blog indicates, there is less than one month until my peregrinations begin.   My itinerary needs to be updated, and there are a few more land trusts I still need to contact, but for the most part everything is falling into place.

Each of the land trusts I have contacted has been wonderfully enthusiastic about my plans to visit with them.   My coworkers have also been very helpful and supportive (but maybe they are just happy to get rid of me for two months).

Yesterday I recorded my first interview with Jessica Schley.   Jessica is an American Studies and Conservation and Resource Studies double major at UC Berkeley.   Her internship was with the Public Policy department here at the Alliance.   She has a powerful passion for land conservation that emanates from her connection to her family’s ranch in California.

After talking with her, she turned the tables and asked me a number of questions.

I plan to get the podcast up this weekend.