Christopher Davis is a Board Chair of Western Sky Land Trust, and presented a talk about the purpose and goals of the land trust. It began as a private initiative to be a part of a land preservation organization, in order to conserve a sense of place. More specifically, they intend to conserve open and natural landscapes for agricultural, scenic, or recreational purposes.
They focus on the land near Calgary that adds to the watershed integrity. Their work is focused around Bow River, in part because it is a habitat for 80% of Alberta's species at risk.
Their organization lists many advantages that make them unique, which include: lower cost structure, ability to consider smaller tracts of land than other larger organizations, flexibility on the terms of the trust. This is largely because they are a volunteer-based organization.
Davis discusses their accomplishments to date, such as the Highwood Ridge farm. The land owners were interested in ensuring the land would be preserved but wanted to have a home acreage site left out of the donation. It was the Trust's flexibility and the relationship the members within the trust developed with the land owners that allowed for the success of the transaction. He also discussed their future goal of attaining 3 000 acres and 6 miles of river valley on Bow River to be preserved.
This presentation was a part of the Canadian Land Reclamation Association Alberta Chapter AGM and Conference from February 2014.
