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Our new resource center empowers land trusts to find the information they need to tackle climate change in their conservation work.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (PRWEB) June 09, 2015
The Land Trust Alliance, a national land conservation organization working to save the places people love by strengthening land conservation across America, today revealed its new resource center to guide and inspire land trusts to address threats posed by climate change.
Presented through a robust and multifaceted website, Conservation in a Changing Climate is a technical resource for land trusts and their supporters. The resource center helps visitors better understand the fundamentals of climate change, plan for climate change in land conservation and incorporate outreach strategies that build public support for such work. Located at http://climatechange.lta.org, the resource center contains 27 case studies so far.
“Land trusts are working every day to conserve in perpetuity the places Americans need and love, but the challenges that climate change presents to these long-term aims are incredibly varied and complex,” said Erin Heskett, the Alliance’s national director. “Our new resource center empowers land trusts to find the information they need to tackle climate change in their conservation work.”
The Conservation in a Changing Climate resource center shares the best practices and lessons learned from an array of Alliance partners, ranging from local land trusts to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Highlights include:
- Marc Hudson of North Florida Land Trust (Jacksonville, Fla.): A public official from a county 100 miles upriver believed he wouldn’t experience any problems from sea level rise. Through conservation planning and mapping, Marc showed him the main tributary stream that runs through that county is due for major flooding. Better yet, Marc was able to show the official “we had already identified priority land purchases in the floodplain of that creek, so that the flooding situation would not be exacerbated.”
- Laurie Wayburn of The Pacific Forest Trust (San Francisco, Calif.): Laurie has long known forests are not just victims of climate change, but they’re also part of the solution. If conserved and managed correctly, forests absorb carbon dioxide and facilitate water provision. Laurie is building stakeholder support to leverage that approach. “This is not just an idea; it’s a fundamental part of economy-wide climate policy, state-based investment and growing carbon markets.”
- Sacha Spector of Scenic Hudson (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.): In the wake of Hurricane Sandy and sea level rise, Sacha is taking a far-looking approach to conservation. Combining science, planning and targeted investments, Sacha said Scenic Hudson is “protecting lands to ensure the Hudson’s most sensitive habitats have a pathway to persistence, helping communities up and down the river to reimagine themselves for a more resilient future.”
More case studies are available online at http://climatechange.lta.org/case-studies. In addition to Alliance representatives, spokespeople from these organizations are available on request for interviews.
This project was made possible through the generous financial support of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The Alliance is grateful for the technical support provided by the Coastal Conservation Networking Partnership and Climate Change Advisory Committee. For more information, visit http://climatechange.lta.org/about.
About the Land Trust Alliance
Founded in 1982, the Land Trust Alliance is a national land conservation organization that works to save the places people need and love by strengthening land conservation across America. The Alliance represents more than 1,100 member land trusts supported by more than 100,000 volunteers and 5 million members nationwide. The Alliance is based in Washington, D.C. and operates several regional offices. More information about the Alliance is available at http://www.landtrustalliance.org.
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