WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH KEY LANDOWNERS
User Tips: Working with Landowners
  • Providing information about topics that are important to landowners, such as environmental protection, land use controls, open space conservation resources, will help to build constructive relationships between such landowners and the municipality.
  • A newsletter is a common tool used by municipalities to provide information to landowners and other interested parties. A newsletter can take the form of an email version (either PDF or html) or hard copy mailing.
  • Facebook may be a convenient means to communicate information to landowners. It would need to be updated and monitored on a regular basis to remain effective. Smart Growth Vermont’s Facebook shows how it can be customized with photos, announcements, and other useful links.
  • A land trust is a nonprofit organization that, as all or part of its mission, actively works to conserve land. Many land trusts are effective in working directly with landowners and serving as a link with local governments. Municipal partnerships with land trusts can provide an invaluable resource to address conservation opportunities with landowners.
  • Acquiring conservation easements on portions of key properties along the AT can be a highly effective strategy for protecting the AT experience and other important municipal resources. Such easements are a legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust or government agency that permanently limits uses of the land to protect its conservation values. It allows landowners to continue to own and use their lands under such limitations. The granting of such easements may qualify as a tax-deductible charitable donation and ultimately reduce a landowner’s estate taxes.
Land Trusts That May be Helpful to AT Municipalities Municipalities along the Appalachian Trail may wish to contact and meet with land trusts having expertise in working with landowners and municipalities. The following list identifies representative land trusts whose geographic areas of interest are likely to coincide with some of the municipalities along the AT.

The Pennsylvania Land Trust Association and Land Trust Alliance are umbrella organizations providing a wealth of information on land trusts at the state and national levels. The Pennsylvania Land Trust Association’s website provides a map indicating the counties in which such organizations are active. Go to this principle in the Conservation Guidebook.
Examples
Conservation Options, a Landowners Guide. Land Trust Alliance (2003)

Green Infrastructure: Linking Landscapes and Communities, by Mark Benedict and Edward McMahon. Island Press (2006)

Preserving Family Lands: Book I, by Stephen Small, Land Trust Alliance (2009)

The Conservation Easement Handbook, by Elizabeth Byers and Karin Marchetti Ponte. The Land Trust Alliance and The Trust for Public Land (2005)

Conservancy: The Land Trust Movement in America, by Richard Brewer. University Press of New England (2003)

Municipal Newsletter, East Hanover Township, Dauphin County

Smart Growth Vermont’s Facebook

Pocono Land Trust

PALTA