Four GWC staff recently embarked on a road trip to the Buckeye State—Columbus, OH to be exact—to meet and mingle with conservation leaders from across the region for the annual Midwest Land Conservation Conference, hosted by the Land Trust Alliance, GWC’s national counterpart.
In addition to road-trip games galore and our first (and second) tastes of Columbus’ famous Jeni’s ice cream, highlights included:
- Sharing knowledge at the Conservation Defense Network breakfast, hosted by LTA’s Conservation Defense Director Leslie Ratley-Beach. We gained a lot from the discussions on issues related to amending conservation easements and LTA’s Conservation Defense Insurance program, and we also had the opportunity to give Leslie some new ideas about how the Conservation Defense Network can help land trusts in Wisconsin.
- Solidifying our partnership with the Land Trust Alliance through our Land Trust Excellence & Advancement Program (LEAP). This initiative, which we’ll be rolling out in the coming year, will help participating land trusts become stronger stewards with opportunities to work on specific improvement projects, tools for a future Accreditation application, or support for better organizational introspection.
- Accepting some recognition for our successful campaign to see the Working Lands Initiative passed into law in Wisconsin—a significant example of land trusts’ influence over public policies affecting land conservation.
In October, we’ll be hitting the road for Hartford, CT to attend the Land Trust Alliance’s 2010 national conference, which is sure to be an equally fruitful journey, though we’ll be awfully surprised if anything in Hartford can top that Columbus ice cream.
–posted by Kate Zurlo-Cuva, Mike Carlson & Sara Dekok
