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Ozark Regional Land Trust Winter 2008 News
1. ORLT Hires Ted Heisel as Executive Director Ozark Regional Land Trust is pleased to announce that Edward J. "Ted" Heisel has accepted the position of full time Executive Director, beginning January 1. "We are very excited that Ted has taken the reigns of ORLT, and that Gregg Galbraith (founder and out‑going ED) will continue working side‑by‑side with Ted as ORLT takes its biggest step ever toward becoming a fully‑staffed organization", said Andrew Thomas, ORLT Vice President. Ted grew up in Labadie, Missouri, on a corn and soybean farm along the Missouri River. He spent much of his youth hiking, hunting and fishing in the Ozark foothills of northern Franklin County. He traces his strong feelings about land conservation to watching so much of his childhood stomping grounds being chewed up by bulldozers for golf courses and subdivisions. More recently, he has taken up kayaking on many of Missouri's rivers and some day would like to float a few of Missouri's major rivers from headwaters to mouth. Prior to joining ORLT, Ted was staff attorney at the Washington University Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic in St. Louis. Heisel graduated from Kansas State University in 1993, and from Harvard Law School in 1997. Ted says, "I think ORLT is just at the beginning of what it can accomplish in terms of protecting Missouri's beautiful landscape and biological diversity. I look forward to helping build on the solid foundation created by Gregg and other ORLT leaders." ORLT board and staff are excited about Ted joining the team.
2. Magnificent Missouri River Views Preserved Forever by One Hundred Acre Conservation Easement in St. Charles CountyOn December 4, 2007 William and Nancy Knowles completed a conservation easement agreement with Ozark Regional Land Trust to protect in perpetuity a 100 acre tract of land along the Missouri River. The property runs 2,000 feet along the Missouri River and the Katy Trail. It includes native forests, restored prairies, bluffs, a unique wildflower garden, two streams, an active spring, habitat for migrating birds along the Missouri River flyway, and sweeping views of the Missouri River. The land is surrounded by subdivisions and development and is located in one of the fastest growing counties in the region, making protection of its open space and wildlife habitat particularly important. The conservation easement assures the landowners that the conservation values of the land will be protected forever. In addition, an agreement has been made to transfer the 100 acre tract from the William and Nancy Knowles family to St. Charles County. This generous gift will result in the future formation of Spring Bend Park. Spring Bend County Park will serve as a trail head for Katy Trail and provide valuable public recreation and education opportunities for the entire region, including hiking, biking, birding, picnicking, and magnificent views of the Missouri River. Ozark Regional Land Trust worked in conjunction with the St. Charles County Parks Department to create an easement that met the conservation goals of the Knowles family. This is the first conservation easement for Ozark Regional Land Trust that will be on public land.
3. ORLT Awards Huzzah River Conservation Grant ORLT is pleased to have provided a grant to landowner Robert Foshee to help fund the installation of a watering system for his livestock. Mr. Foshee is a model farmer and conservationist in the Huzzah watershed, striving to use best management practices in his cattle operation. Mr. Foshee implemented a rotational (multi‑paddock) grazing system on his farm that prevents overgrazing and erosion and also keeps the cattle from entering the creek. His cattle are also fenced out of the wooded areas including a buffer on both sides of a Huzzah tributary that runs through the property. This buffer helps protect water quality in the tributary, which in turn supports good water quality of the Huzzah and Meramec Rivers downstream. Because the spring‑fed watering system ran dry, the only alternative to reverting to giving cattle direct access to the water in the creek was to generate a new water source by building piping and trenching from an existing well to troughs located within the livestock paddocks. ORLT provided a grant to help offset the costs of implementing this watering system. This is the second Best Management Practices grant that has been awarded to a landowner in the Huzzah Creek Basin. ORLT has limited amount of money to assist landowners with such conservation practices in the Upper Meramec River as part of its River Stewardship Program. For more information about the River Stewardship Program, please contact Abigail Lambert, aflambert@earthlink.com, 636‑451‑0404.
4. 800+ Acres in LaBarque Creek Watershed Permanently Protected Ozark Regional Land Trust salutes landowner Don Robinson for permanently protecting his land in the Labarque Creek watershed. Thanks to Mr. Robinson and the efforts of a number of groups including Ozark Regional Land Trust, 800+ acres of private land in the headwaters of the LaBarque Creek watershed will be donated to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources for a state park.
LaBarque Creek is the only remaining healthy tributary stream on the lower Meramec. The stream supports a surprising 44 species of fish. This level of aquatic diversity can be found no where else this close to St. Louis. In addition, the watershed's underlying sandstone geology produces a dramatic landscape. Flowing water carves cliffs, waterfalls, bowls and overhangs into the soft sandstone. The resulting deep, sheltered moist canyons and ravines contain several state‑listed plants found on only a few other sites in Missouri. This is a tremendous gift for the watershed and to the region.
5. ORLT Welcomes Jerry Sugerman as Easement Monitor Jerry Sugerman is ORLT's new conservation easement monitor. Mr. Sugerman comes to Ozark Regional Land Trust with a passion for rivers and a great deal of in‑depth knowledge on the Meramec River. Mr. Sugerman has conducted several conservation studies on the Meramec River, its tributaries, and their floodplains. Please join us in giving Jerry an enthusiastic reception to ORLT. As Easement Monitor, Mr. Sugerman's primary responsibilities will be to maintain ongoing dialogues with landowners who have properties with conservation easements held by ORLT. In addition, he will be visiting each site at least once a year to document changes that occur on the property. A conservation easement (or conservation restriction) is a legal agreement between a landowner and a qualified land conservation organization that permanently limits uses of the land in order to protect its unique and natural characteristics. Ozark Regional Land Trust tailors each agreement to the desires of the landowner and attributes of the land. ORLT then assumes the responsibility of protecting the land in perpetuity by monitoring and enforcing the terms of the restrictions over time. These are permanent responsibilities which Ozark Regional Land Trust must have the capability to perform 10, 20, even 100 or 200 years into the future.
6. ORLT Board News ORLT Board Member Andy Thomas received a 10‑year Stream Team award in December 2007 in Jefferson City from Doyle Childers, Director of Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Congratulations Andy!
In addition, ORLT extends a hearty welcome to its newest board member, Gene Dunaway. Gene is a free‑lance trainer and designer in the field of adult transformational education. He holds a B.A. in psychology from Hendrix College and a law degree from the University of Arkansas.
Gene is currently President of Friends of the North Fork & White Rivers, a watershed conservation group in North Central Arkansas. He also serves on the Boards of several other non‑profits including Alford Forest, Inc., focused on sustainable forestry and One Garden, focused on the preservation of heritage seed collections as the foundation for locally grown food economies. In 2005 he was recognized as Arkansas Water Conservationist of the Year by the Arkansas Wildlife Federation. Gene lives in Mountain View, Arkansas.
7. Building Land Trust Capacity and Training Opportunities ORLT congratulates The Missouri Department of Conservation and the Conservation Federation of Missouri on a job well done, organizing a Missouri Land Trust meeting on Saturday, Dec 1, 2007 in Jefferson City, Missouri. The purpose of the meeting was for land trusts and organizations interested in land protection to meet each other and learn about conservation partnerships and funding opportunities, as well as initiate discussions on the need for a 'Coalition of Missouri Land Trusts'.
8. Land Trust training opportunities in 2008: Jan 25‑26: Central US Land Trust Meeting ‑ Nebraska City, NE, Lied Lodge. Target audience is land trust board members and staff. http://www.lta.org/training/lct_nw.htm Jan 31: MO Natural Resources Conference ‑ Lake of the Ozarks, Tan‑Tar‑A. Workshop on "Protecting Land and Natural Resources through Land Trusts and Conservation Easements" Primary audience is natural resource professionals. http://www.mnrc.org/March 1: "Board University" ‑ St Louis, Regional Arts Commission Bldg. Workshops for nonprofit board members and their staff to help strengthen and focus their work. Good orientation for new board members. https://www.icl.org/programs/St.LouisBoardUniversity.phpMarch 6‑8: Midwest Land Trust Conference ‑ Mundelein (near Chicago), IL. For practioners or anyone interested in land trust work. http://www.lta.org/training/lct_mw.htm#mwconferenceApril 14‑17: "Conservation Options: The Land Protection Toolbox" ‑ Pere Marquette Lodge and Conference Center. Grafton, IL. (just north of St. Louis). Intensive land trust training. Registration opens in January. For more information, contact Abigail Lambert, aflambert@earthlink.net or (636) 451‑0404. Contact UsFor more information about ORLT or items in this newsletter, contact Ted Heisel ejheisel@yahoo.com (314) 401‑6218 or Abigail Lambert aflambert@earthlink.net (636) 451‑0404. 427 S. Main St, Carthage, MO 64836 To learn why you received this and how to remove yourself from the list, see Privacy & Permissions Policy Review / edit information about you || Remove yourself from the mailing list
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