#Middlebury #MiddleburyLandTrust
Middlebury Land Trust Accreditation Committee members, left to right, Peter North, Alice Hallaran and Don McRae, look over the binder they sent with the trust’s application to the Land Trust Accreditation Commission. The trust is now accredited. Not shown is committee member Scott Peterson. (Janine Sullivan-Wiley photo)
By JANINE SULLIVAN-WILEY
The letter the Middlebury Land Trust had been hoping for arrived in late February. Congratulations, it said, your organization has been awarded accreditation from the Land Trust Accreditation Commission. This much sought after achievement is the result of a years-long process by the Middlebury Land Trust (MLT).
That often grueling process included close to 4,000 hours of background research, compiling documents several feet high, refining processes, adding new ones, assembling project management plans (some developed by MLT board members, others by specialists in this area), calling special meetings, formally training board members, and more than a few headaches.
Special credit goes to the MLT Accreditation Committee: Scott Peterson, Don McRae, Peter North and Alice Hallaran; to the consultant to this process, Connie Manes of the Land Trust Alliance; and Curt Titus for his legal expertise. Their diligence and fortitude were impressive. McRae even forfeited use of his dining room table for close to two years so it could serve as the working space for the process before the trust acquired Sperry House, which now houses the trust’s operations and records.
Asked why all that paper and work mattered, why it was all worth it, McRae said, “It is a mark of distinction.” Hallaran called attention to what it encompassed, as reflected in the table of contents of the final application folder (being perused in the accompanying photo). It included all the standards the MLT had to develop or refine, along with how things will be done. These included compliance with laws, board accountability, conflicts of interest, financial and asset management, evaluating and selecting conservation projects, stewardship and more. Developing these also developed member expertise in these areas.
Becoming accredited and all it entails enhances accountability to both donors and the community. Hallaran said, “It will help in the future to ensure that all properties under the Land Trust purview are properly protected physically as well as financially.”
At this time the trust owns or holds a conservation easement over 61 parcels ranging from under one acre to over 130 acres for a total of 1,923 acres. The property management plans, along with annual monitoring efforts and reports, address geological attributes, historic and ongoing land uses, soil types and vegetation information.
For future acquisitions, the accreditation and its rigorous guidelines ensure there is a solid, thoroughly vetted process to identify which properties have public conservation value. It means the MLT will utilize the very best in land trust practices.
Stakeholders can be assured of solid organizational practices. Those stakeholders include board members, town leadership, neighboring property owners, farmers that hay the fields, fishermen that use the ponds, all town residents, and even the creatures that live on them.
Peter North said of applying for accreditation, “It was a wonderful experience, because we learned a lot about ourselves and the value of working on behalf of this land trust.”
With its new accreditation, the MLT, always a very strong organization with dedicated board members, will be even stronger and will bring an even more focused and intentional approach to all of its work. Congratulations, MLT!
If you’re interested in volunteering with the MLT, or have other questions, please contact this writer at jswspotlight@gmail.com, or the MLT administrator at mltoffice06762@gmail.com, or visit the MLT website at middleburylandtrust.org.
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