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“The Geography of Land Trusts in the United States”

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“The Geography of Land Trusts in the United States” “THE GEOGRAPHY OF LAND TRUSTS IN THE UNITED STATES” By Rachel Ralls Research Paper Submitted to Dr. Pomeroy Geography-Earth Science Department SHIPPENSBURG UNIVERSITY Shippensburg, Pennsylvania August 1, 2013 Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 2 Land Trusts Defined................................................................................................................................... 3 Land Protection Methods .......................................................................................................................... 6 Funding ..................................................................................................................................................... 8 Staffing ...................................................................................................................................................... 9 Question ...................................................................................................................................................... 10 Data and Methods ...................................................................................................................................... 10 Results and Discussion ................................................................................................................................ 13 Identifying land trust concentrations through number of land trusts and LQ results ............................ 13 Socio-Economic variables of Environmental Activism ............................................................................. 15 Statistical Tests ....................................................................................................................................... 17 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 21 References .................................................................................................................................................. 22 1 Abstract Land trusts have flourished in the United States over the last 50 years, with the highest concentration in northeastern and western states. This research looks at the socio-economic drivers of environmental activism to help explain the spatial distribution of land trusts in the United States. Higher education, urban population, education sector jobs, per capita income, and Democratic voters were tested through correlation and stepwise regression analysis to test if they could accurately model the spatial distribution of U.S. land trusts. This study found that there are significant correlations with these five variables and the prevalence of land trusts in a given state. It could also be indicated that the Northeast and West have a greater environmental activism then states in the Midwest and South leading to a similar trend in land trusts numbers per state. Introduction Land trusts have grown dramatically and become increasingly dynamic in the last several decades. They have emerged to play a leading role in land conservation across the United States, and now protect over 1% of all land (Randolph 2004). That comes out to over 47 million acres – a not inconsequential share of land protection – with 10.2 million acres being protected from 2005 to 2010 alone (Chang 2011). After a period of nearly exponential growth over the last 50 years, it is only in the last five years has the growth in the number of land trusts established slowed. Today there are over 1,700 land trusts of various sizes and operating at many geographic scales. Land trusts play a large role in land conservation as well as activities ranging from large landscape conservation to local land use planning and local outreach. 2 Regardless of this tremendous level of involvement in conservation, land protection, and environmental management, land trusts have largely flown under the academic radar screen. While geographers have paid attention to the where and why of environmental activism (Wikle 1995) and innovation (Cidel 2009), specific attention to land trusts is lacking and is troubling given the large presence that land trusts have in the fabric of environmental management and protection. Witnessing the increasing number of trusts, the magnitude of land protection, and the characteristics of the activism itself, a greater understanding of consideration is certainly warranted. It is the purpose here to examine and identify the socio- economic factors that explain the spatial distribution of land trusts in the United States. Land Trusts Defined There are many definitions of a land trust, none of which seem to capture the diversity of land trusts’ missions and activities. Perhaps the most complete definition that can be found is from the Land Trust Alliance (LTA), which states “A land trust is a nonprofit organization that, as all or part of its mission, actively works to conserve land by undertaking or assisting in land or conservation easement acquisitions, or by its stewardship of such land or easements” (Chang 2011). As of 2010, 1,723 land trusts in the United States operate at different levels and geographic scales (Chang 2011). Generally two different levels of land trusts exist – national land trusts and local land trusts. National land trusts have large geographic scales and broad missions. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is an example of a national land trust; it operates globally by working in each state and in more than 30 countries. Only 24 land trusts are categorized as national, and include The Trust for Public Lands, The Conservation Fund, and 3 North American Land Trust. The remaining 1,699 land trusts are referred to as local land trusts. These make up the majority of land trusts and work on smaller scales within a more focused geography. Since 2010, land trusts have protected 47 million acres in the United States, with national land trusts protecting 31 million and local land trusts protecting an additional 16 million acres (Chang 2011). Figure 1: Spatial location of land trusts over time from 1891 - 2005. Out of 1,667 land trusts only 1,340 reported the year they were established in the 2005 National Land Trust Census. (Hess 2010) The Northeast has been home to the majority of land trusts since their inception, with the number of land trusts growing quickly in the West starting in the 1990’s (Figure 1). The first land trust was founded in 1891 in Massachusetts, and establishment rates slowly climbed for 60 4 years with about one forming every year. It wasn’t until the environmental movement of the 1960-1970’s that you see the first of two big land trust movements in history (Brewer 2003). During that time landmark environmental legislation was passed such as the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act, and the Wilderness Act. The land trust movement grew along with the general rise of public awareness of the environment with about 15 new land trusts forming per year. The second movement occurred 1985-2005 when Ronald Reagan significantly cut federal money and programs for conservation. By the mid 80’s, with the public no longer feeling the government was able or willing to save lands critical for conservation, the highest growth rate of land trusts occurred with 50 or more forming per year. Since 2005 land trusts establishments have begun to plateau with a rate of about 10 land trusts per year and continues to drop, indicating that new land trusts establishment has hit its saturation point and existing land trusts broaden their missions and improve their practices. Figure 2: Total Acres Conserved by Local Land Trusts by Region, as of 2000, 2005, and 2010 (Chang 2011) 5 Though the establishment of new land trusts has slowed; land protection is still on the rise (Figure 2). Throughout the last ten years there has been a steady increase of protected land throughout all regions of the United States. The Northeast has the most land protected with over 5 million acres, with the Midwest with the least at just fewer than 1 million acres. This distribution of protected acres of land is similar to the pattern of the number of land trusts that are established in those regions. Land Protection Methods Land trusts protect land throughout the United States using a variety of tools including fee simple acquisitions, conservation easements, transfers, and assists. The simplest but most costly approach is through fee simple acquisition, which is when the land trust takes full ownership of the land. This is the best way to protect a special area of concern from any impending threats, yet this is the most costly compared to other approaches because of the increased purchase costs and ongoing land management obligations (Fishburn et al. March 2009). Conservation easements restrict certain rights or uses of the land relevant to preserving the conservation values of the land (Randolph 2003). The landowner can sell or donate these rights. Land trusts will hold and monitor those rights in perpetuity, while landowners retain the land and all other rights. These easement rights are recorded similar to a property deed, providing permanent protection even if land is sold or transferred. This
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