Defenders' Experts
2009 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 third round of Living Lands Biodiversity Grants was distributed in 2009 for the following land trust projects.
- Blue Mountain Conservancy, OR
- Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space (FoHVOS), NJ
- Mount Grace Preservation Trust, MA
- Tar River Land Conservancy, NC
- Northern California Regional Land Trust, CA
- New Mexico Land Conservancy, NM
Blue Mountain Conservancy, OR
Blue Mountain Conservancy (BMC) will survey, map and monitor the threatened Columbia Spotted Frog on their current and prospective easement properties in northeast Oregon. BMC will collect data on frog population levels, habitat requirements and distribution on private lands to better inform local and regional management of these populations.
The Living Lands grant will be used to purchase a Trimble GPS unit for accurate mapping of Columbia Spotted Frog breeding locations and distributions, for software upgrades to the basic ArcGIS system and to provide staff training on ArcGIS software. Funding will allow for the monitoring of an at-risk species while increasing the land trusts capacity to take on similar monitoring and mapping projects in the future.
Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space (FoHVOS), NJ
FoHVOS will strategically identify and remove emerging invasive plant populations on public and private lands in central New Jersey. The land trust has formed an invasive species strike team that will function as an early detection and rapid response network to eradicate, map and monitor emerging populations of invasive species. This project represents New Jersey’s first proactive, comprehensive effort toward invasive plant management thorough public-private partnerships. The region includes four Important Bird Areas and two high priority State Wildlife Action Plan areas.
The Living Lands grant will allow FoHVOS to hire a seasonal intern for the 2009-2010 field seasons. The intern will recruit and train volunteers in data collection protocols, GPS use, plant identification, conduct weekly eradications, weekend volunteer work days and assist in cultivating partnerships with government agencies, landowners and other conservation groups.
View the Central Jersey Invasive Species Strike Team project in the Conservation Registry
Mount Grace Preservation Trust, MA
Mount Grace will conduct a bio-inventory, baseline and appraisal and develop a Forever Wild easement for a planned donation on a 183- acre tract with regionally important biodiversity values including nine vernal pools, Jefferson’s Salamanders and rare natural communities. This property lies within 1,000 acres of un-fragmented forest habitat which is recognized in the Massachusetts SWAP.
Funds from the Living Lands grant will match landowner contributions for the appraisal and the baseline and will also be used to develop a bio-inventory of the property and the Forever Wild conservation easement. This will be the first Forever Wild easement developed by the land trust which they intend to use as a template for future biodiversity conservation projects.
Tar River Land Conservancy, NC
Tar River Land Conservancy will protect four miles of high quality riparian habitat and 798 acres of bottomland hardwood and cypress wetlands along the Tar River in North Carolina. The Tar River is designated as a Nationally Significant Aquatic Habitat by the NC Natural Heritage Program due to its value to several rare and endangered species including several species of mussel.
The Living Lands grant will help pay for an appraisal, timber cruise and survey of the easement area. Completing the project will allow the land trust to establish a presence in a very biologically diverse area and while conserving imperiled and often overlooked aquatic invertebrates through upland land protection.
Northern California Regional Land Trust, CA
The Northern California Regional Land Trust will protect and enhance 7,130 acres of rangeland, farmland, riparian habitat, scenic open space and habitat in California that supports several federal and state at-risk species. This project will be used as a demonstration project to educate other ranchers about agricultural easements with the hopes of generating additional environmentally sensitive working land protection projects in the area.
The Living Lands grant will allow the land trust to develop a long-term adaptive habitat management and restoration plan for the property that will ensure ecological viability along with agricultural sustainability. This project is consistent with the California Rangeland Coalition of which Defenders is an important partner.
New Mexico Land Conservancy, NM
With their Living Lands grant, New Mexico Land Conservancy (NMLC) will develop a conservation plan for riparian and wetland habitats along the biodiverse southern portion of the Rio Grande River and the surrounding grasslands. This region has been identified as a priority in a number of state and regional conservation plans but no specific plan or strategy exists yet that identifies areas in need of protection or restoration.
NMLC will use the Living Lands grant to develop a plan that will serve as a tool for land protection and parcel identification in this unique and under-protected area. GIS will be used to identify individual parcels that would qualify for migratory bird habitat restoration.
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