Free Republic

37,000 Acres of Irvine Ranch Land Receives Prestigious ‘National Natural Landmark’ Designation from U.S. Department of Interior • ‘The Irvine Ranch National Natural Landmark’ joins Mount Shasta, Anza Borrego, Hawaii’s Diamond Head and other beloved national landmarks • Honor recognizes designated land as “a nationally significant natural area” • First site in California to receive NNL designation since 1987 • Land is “a shining example of our nation’s natural treasures,” says National Park Service Director Fran Mainella • Governor Schwarzenegger notes, “Today’s event celebrates another area of our state that can be enjoyed for generations.” NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Standing on...

Voters may feel deja vu when they ponder Proposition 84 on the Nov. 7 ballot, because like five other bond measures in the last decade, it promises clean water, flood control, better parks and coastal protection. And like the last water bond to go before voters, in 2002, Proposition 84 was written by a Sacramento lobbyist whose clients are land preservation and environmental groups that stand to win public money for pet projects through the measure. Of the $11 billion that Californians have borrowed over the last decade ... less than $1 billion remains. Proposition 84 carries the highest price...

Gilroy - City leaders said Friday that Gilroy will not join the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority, but vowed to explore other options to preserve open space and farmland in and around the city. Officials gathered at a City Council policy retreat said the deciding factor was the cost of polling and underwriting the special election required to join the authority, which levies a parcel tax to buy property and conservation easements. “If you’re looking for some enthusiasm on this I’m not going to be able to do it because of the cost of putting it on the ballot,”...

<p>TRUCKEE - The Mountain Area Preservation Foundation and East West Partners have struck a deal that is expected to generate more than $6 million for acquisition of open-space land in the Truckee area during the next 15 years.</p> <p>East West, which volunteered in a development agreement with the town to donate a quarter-percent transfer tax on residential sales in its recently approved Gray's Crossing subdivision, has doubled that amount.</p>

<p>A leading land trust has completed purchase of a 23,780-acre timber tract in Mendocino County, the first time a conservation group has purchased a working forest in California with a goal of mixing restoration and timber harvests.</p> <p>Helped by $10 million in state grants and loans, the Virginia-based Conservation Fund formally closed Wednesday on the $18 million deal, one of the largest transactions of its kind ever on the North Coast.</p>

Subject FW: URGENT action Alert !! HR 7 / Land Trust Tax Scam : ONE More Day!!! -----Original Message----- From: J. Zane Walley [frc@pvtnetworks.net] Sent: Monday, September 08, 2003 4:47 PM To: J. Zane Walley Subject: URGENT action Alert !! HR 7 / Land Trust Tax Scam : ONE More Day!!! Importance: High Fellow Americans: Apparently, we may have the Land Trusts on the run - Congressmen Herger, Blunt, Pombo and Cannon are really speaking out for us - we may win this!!! PLEASE PLEASE forward the email below to your lists, and act on it yourself, we can win...

By Tom Holt Between Sierra Club-style lobbyists for costly environmental regulation and property-rights advocates, do land trusts such as The Nature Conservancy, or TNC, offer a compromise "third way" - a means to achieve environmental goals using market-based mechanisms? Too many Republicans and free-market advocates have fooled themselves into believing so. Unfortunately, there is a huge gap between the market-based theory of land trusts and the reality of taxpayer and landowner abuses that occur routinely in land-trust practice. Land trusts, in theory, have appeal, if one disregards the significant fact that trusts exist to remove property from commerce. Trusts acquire,...