Sierra Booster April 11, 2003 FEATHER RIVER LAND TRUST: Protecting the Places that Make the Feather River Country Special By Paul Hardy, Executive Director, Feather River Land Trust Scenic beauty, outdoor recreation, abundant wildlife, clean water, and close communities: these are a few of the many qualities that make the Feather River country a great place to live and keep visitors coming back year after year. I was born and raised in Portola, and these are the qualities that brought me back home from the city; they are the reasons I have chosen to raise my family in Plumas County.......The longer I live here, the more convinced I am that our land, water, and way of life are our greatest assets.  The pace of change in California and Nevada is staggering. California's population is expected to increase from 33 million to 50 million by 2020 and Nevada is the fastest growing state in the U.S. All one has to do is drive to the Sierra Foothills or Reno to witness entire landscapes being converted to subdivisions and strip malls. As a consequence of these rapid changes in land use, more and more people are losing their connection to the lands around them, and natural-resource-based livelihoods are disappearing.....I'm thankful that in the Feather River country we still have a strong connection to the land, a relationship with the place we live. I believe that this connection remains strong because we interact with our landscape on a daily basis. Whether it is the logger or rancher whose livelihood depends upon the land, the office worker who enjoys the scenic meadow view on her daily commute, or the child playing in the town creek after school, we frequently interact with the lands and waters around us.....It was out of this strong connection with the place we live, and a desire to protect the lands and qualities that make the Feather River country special, that a group of local residents recently formed the Feather River Land Trust......The Feather River Land Trust is a private, non-profit organization governed by a board of directors of local residents. The mission of the land trust is to conserve and restore lands that make the Feather River country special. We accomplish this mission by working cooperatively with landowners and local communities in the Feather River Watershed of Plumas, Sierra, Lassen, and Butte counties. The types of land we help protect include wildlife habitat, working ranches, productive forestland, cultural and historical sites, recreational areas, important educational lands, and scenic open space....The majority of our work is funded by our growing membership, which currently consists of approximately 500 Individuals. Nearly all of our members are local residents and/or property owners.....The tools we use to help protect land include conservation easements, site improvement, innovative management, and purchase of properties. Conservation easements are legal agreements between a landowner and a land trust that permanently limit some of a property's uses in order to protect its conservation values.  Conservation easements leave property in private ownership and on the tax rolls; the landowner continues to use the property and can sell it or pass it on to heirs......We manage the properties we own for public benefit, including providing educational programs for local school children, public recreational opportunities, stream and habitat restoration, and water quality protection.  In addition, as a community organization that is here for the long haul, we feel it is important to pursue policies that support the local economy and traditional livelihoods. For example, it is our policy to voluntarily pay property taxes, even though we are not legally required to do so as a non-profit organization. In addition, we seek to pursue conservation strategies that keep land in private hands and continue traditional land uses, such as cattle grazing and timber harvesting......The Feather River Land Trust is about protecting the land, water, and way of life that make the Feather River country .a great place to live and visit. We look forward to working together in the years ahead to accomplish this goal......If you'd like to learn more about the Feather River Land Trust, please feel free to contact us at (530) 283-5758, frlt@frlt.org, or P.O. Box 1826, Quincy, CA 95971. Better yet, come by and visit our office at 75 Court Street in downtown Quincy. back to in the News

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