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2008 Living Lands Biodiversity Grant Projects
The Living Lands project offers a small grants program to land trusts working on projects with high biodiversity value. The second round of Living Lands Biodiversity Grants was distributed in 2008 for the following land trust projects.
- North Carolina Coastal Land Trust
- Teton Regional Land Trust, ID
- Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy, MI
- Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy, MI
- Kentucky Natural Lands Trust, KY
- Black Swamp Conservancy, OH
- Whidbey Camano Land Trust, WA
North Carolina Coastal Land Trust
The North Carolina Coastal Land Trust will continue to restore imperiled long leaf pine savannah habitat on the B.W. Wells 117 acre Preserve in Pender County. The savannah has significant biodiversity value including high plant species diversity and rare wetland habitat.
They will use their Living Lands grant to conduct the first ever growing season burn on the Preserve, which more closely mimics the historic fire cycle in this area, and prepare a long term management plan for the property. They plan to use this site as a restoration demonstration for adjacent landowners and an outdoor field classroom for local schoolchildren.
View the B.W. Wells Savannah Habitat Initiative project in the Conservation Registry
Teton Regional Land Trust, ID
Teton Regional Land Trust will expand their avian monitoring program to lands within the Snake River Area of Critical Environmental Concern, a region identified by the Idaho State Wildlife Action Plan as a conservation priority for at least 25 priority species.
They will use their Living Lands grant to cover a number of conservation activities including baseline data collection, staff time and monitoring. The results of the monitoring program will help to prioritize conservation planning toward areas with the highest biodiversity value and to guide acquisition, restoration and outreach in the region. These data will also contribute valuable information to three Idaho Important Bird Areas.
Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy, MI
Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy will use their Living Lands grant to help restore a 350-acre parcel of formerly agricultural land to native grassland habitat for migratory birds. This restoration site lies in a north-south migration corridor along eastern Lake Michigan and will provide both nesting and stop-over habitat for many species including several species of conservation concern.
The land trust intends to restore and maintain the property as a diverse prairie community. In the future the area will be used for grassland education and may serve as a model for similar restoration projects in the region.
Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy, MI
The Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy will develop an acquisition model and stewardship plan for the conservation of endangered Mitchell’s Satyr butterfly habitat. This project will make possible the purchase and restoration of 190 acres, which will protect rare habitats that support numerous species at risk, including the Mitchell’s satyr butterfly and eastern Massasauga rattlesnake.
The Living Lands Grant will help to offset appraisal costs of land adjacent to endangered species habitat. Funds will additionally be used to develop a restoration plan that will improve the ability of the property to support sensitive species. The Conservancy hopes to manage the land as a nature preserve to provide educational opportunities and will eventually incorporate public access in a way that will not threaten the conservation values of the property.
View the Cedar Creek Conservation Project in the Conservation Registry
Kentucky Natural Lands Trust, KY
Kentucky Natural Lands Trust (KNLT) is working to develop working forest easement and carbon sequestration-based forestry models in one of the most diverse forests in the world – the southern Appalachian forest corridor along Pine Mountain. The area is an important migratory corridor and the second largest contiguous forest tract in the state.
They will use their Living Lands grant to research and improve conservation easement language for deciduous forest communities and to design and implement demonstration projects that will highlight habitat restoration and management according to sustainable forestry standards. This project will enable KNLT to assist other land trusts interested in developing management plans for working forest easements in Kentucky, potentially impacting up to 100,000 acres of forestland.
View the Pine Mountain Legacy Project (PML) in the Conservation Registry
Black Swamp Conservancy, OH
The Black Swamp Conservancy will use their Living Lands grant to embark on their first major restoration project – restoring a 252-acre upland area with significant biodiversity value from agricultural land to native grasses and hardwoods. This area is recognized as one of the highest quality natural areas in the State of Ohio as it contains the core of one of the largest remaining woodlands still standing in Northwest part of the state as well as significant wetland habitats. Restoring the upland agricultural fields to grasslands will add to the biodiversity value of the site. The conservancy plans to manage the property as a nature preserve in perpetuity.
View the Forrest Woods Uplands Restoration project in the Conservation Registry
Whidbey Camano Land Trust, WA
Whidbey Camano Land Trust will protect and restore an ecologically significant marsh and riparian forest habitat in the Puget Sound wetland system. The property, which is a part of a larger 700-acre wetland complex, has been identified as a conservation priority in over 14 regional conservation plans and provides important migratory bird staging habitat.
The trust will use their Living Lands grant to conduct a biological inventory, a wetland delineation and develop a habitat restoration plan for the site. They will include new conservation easement language that describes appropriate management activities and complete the first phase of restoration before transferring the land to the State for designation as a Natural Area. Whidbey Camano will continue to hold the easement and assist in future restoration activities in partnership with the State.
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