CALIFORNIA LAND TRUSTS – OUR FIRST AGE

Land trusts conserved over 1.7 million acres in California

Over the past several years, indicators of changing times have figured increasingly in land trust conversations. Concerns include:

• Organizational sustainability• Leadership transitions• Age & diversity of supporters• Board recruitment and engagement• Stewardship challenges• Funding constraints• Climate change impacts

Unclear how to respond. Issues seem beyond individual land trust.

CONSERVATION HORIZONS

Who? Diverse group of land trust leaders, conservation funders, other partners

When? CCLT formed Committee Summer 2014

Purpose? Frame and support a statewide discussion about the next age of land conservation—between now and 2050.

• identify facts and trends• paint a picture of future• devise strategies• address challenges & opportunities proactively

HORIZONS COMMITTEE

Ensure the continued vitality of land trusts and partner institutions,

and protected lands by making

conservation relevant to, and valued by, all Californians.

(Will mean changes to organizations and types of conservation projects.)

DESIRED OUTCOME

Data inundation – hard to single out most important, relevant to and comprehensive for land conservation.

Committee poured through data – identified facts and trends key to land trust future through 2050.

Organized into five key topic areas:• Population• Culture and Attitudes• Land and Resource Trends• Funding• Land Trusts

THE FIRST STEP

Data on Facts & Trends sheets drawn from variety of sources

We identify a few items from each sheet.

We want your thoughts and ideas about what all this means for the future of land trusts & conservation in California.

To get you started, we offer a few “directional observations” from the facts and trends.

FACTS & TRENDS SHEETS

Non-white and Latino majoritiesIn March, Latinos surpassed whites as the largest majority of the population in California, at 39%.

• Latinos, Asians growing by double digits• African Americans, Caucasians remain close to static• Over half of children are Latino• 43% of all residents speak language other than English at home

POPULATION

We will be older, heavier and poorer.• Nearly a quarter of us will be over 65• Nearly half of will be obese• A quarter or more of us will live in poverty

POPULATION, cont.

POPULATION, cont.

• 95% already live in urbanareas & urbanclusters

• CA will add another metropolitan LA, concentrated in 12 southern and so Central Valleycounties

People use and interact with outdoor areas differently.• Whites prefer passive uses, like hiking• Latinos use parks for multi-generational social gatherings• African Americans use parks for active recreation• Asians have low levels of park use

CULTURE AND ATTITUDES

Unequal access to parks:• Poorer areas have fewer parks• Poorer residents have less

mobility an disposable income to reach the few that do exist

CULTURE AND ATTITUDES, cont.

Large numbers of children cite lack of interest as the top reason they spend less time outdoors.

Millennials are the dominant parents, funders, voters in our future.• currently 14-35 yrs old• larger numbers than Baby Boomers• greater spending power• will decide next 6 presidential elections• optimistic• technologically savvy• less religious• racially diverse• color-blind

CULTURE AND ATTITUDES, cont.

In 2050, Millennials

will be 50-70 years old

Climate Change

Impacts “bigger” and “worse”

• Fires more frequent and severe

• Water quality will worsen in the aftermath of fires

• Water supply will swing wildly due

LAND & RESOURCES

• Coastal and inland storms increase in frequency and severity resulting in erosion and flooding

• Habitat losses will continue

• Farm and grazing land losses will continue to increase

LAND & RESOURCES, cont.

Since 2000, $15 billion voter-approvedfunds • growth of land trusts, agencies• 1.5 million acres conserved• created huge stewardship

challenge

Conservation support may change as younger generations have different concerns/priorities as is revealed in their choice of activities, giving & voting

FUNDING

FUNDING, cont.

LTs hold over 1.7 million acres in fee and easement• more acres given to

public land base

LT acquisitions = important change in last generation

Protected lands not where people live

LAND TRUSTS

LAND TRUSTS, cont.

Small number of land trusts hold majority of fee lands and conservation easements

LAND TRUSTS, cont.

Generally, LT leadership does not look like California

As a community, we are at a reflection point.

We are compelled to ask and answer:

1. What additional lands do we need to acquire?

2. How do we take care of our conserved lands?

3. What will we do on our conserved lands?

4. How will our institutions deliver the necessary solutions?

REFLECTION POINT

This is what we want your engagement and help in tackling.

These are the questions we want you to consider.

We offer several observations about directions Facts & Trends point us in. Some…

• apply to the individual organizational level

• others apply at the industry level in California

• some have implications for both

YOUR HELP NEEDED

We are not connecting with many Californians… especially in urban and underserved communities.

Questions:• What types of projects are we doing?

• Who does our choice of projects serve?

• How do we make conservation relevant to the underserved, the unrecognized, whether they live in Shasta, Plumas, Napa or Los Angeles counties?

DIRECTIONAL OBSERVATIONS

Involving and engaging the Latino population

• Latinos increasingly in leadership positions to drive policy outcomes

• While supporting past bond measures, relatively small level funding went to Latino communities or for preferred types of projects.

• Organizations like Amigos de los Rios, Big Sur Land Trust, Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, Trust for Public Land have directly engaged the Latino population.

• Generally, we have a long way to go to directly involve Latinos and support their conservation leadership.

DIRECTIONAL OBSERVATIONS, cont.

Millennials will figure prominently in our future.

• Millennials have great buying and political power.

• They are going to shape California in the next 40 years in huge ways.

• Only 4% of Millennials rank environment as a top cause.

• This is a demographic to whose lives we must find ways to make conservation relevant.

DIRECTIONAL OBSERVATIONS, cont.

Climate change causing many pressing public problems.

How will protecting land compete against:• massive droughts • extreme, frequent fires• large scale flooding • infrastructure collapse• skyrocketing public health problems due to

extreme heat and terrible air quality?

Land conservation has a substantive contribution to make to these problems, but we must be prepared to “prove up” and relate our work to broader priorities.

DIRECTIONAL OBSERVATIONS, cont.

Achieving meaningful stewardship

• How are we going to crack the stewardship nut?

• Business plan to fund stewardship – not just keep fences up?

• Will we consider California’s entire conservation portfolio – all protected lands – regardless of ownership?

• Before breaking even, we have:• 1.2 billion in deferred maintenance at state parks• decades of dangerously overgrown federal forest lands• unknown acres of neglected urban parks

DIRECTIONAL OBSERVATIONS, cont.

Land trusts will need to make changes

Organizational make-up? Our future effectiveness will require us to have boards and staffs that reflect the ethnicities, gender, and ages of the communities we serve.

Communications? We must find better ways to measure our impacts and communicate our results to broader audiences. Get beyond “bucks and acres”

Project Types? • different projects – local parks, community gardens• programming – education, jobs

DIRECTIONAL OBSERVATIONS, cont.

What is conservation job ahead of us?

In our first age, the defining characteristic of land trusts has been to acquire land and to hold/flip it.

As we look forward, the job appears bigger than this.

• What skills, capacities, partnerships do LTs need?

• How do we build and industry capable of sustaining protected lands and building broader community support?

• What kinds of projects are most relevant and meaningful to urban and underserved Californians?

DIRECTIONAL OBSERVATIONS, cont.

LTS HAVE DONE REMARKABLE JOB

Or, will we expand conservation’s relevanceto all Californians?

California is changing.

As we look forward, will we not change and become

irrelevant, obsolete?

Please share your ideas, comments, concerns and questions.

www.calandtrusts.org/conservationhorizons

THANK YOU