Cacapon and Lost Rivers Land Tr Inc.

PROTECT FORESTS, FARMS, STREAMS, WILDLIFE HABITAT, AND RURAL HERITAGE OF THE CACAPON AND LOST RIVERS WATERSHED.

We envision a Cacapon River Watershed with a robust network of protected private and public lands- v

Goal One: Build hubs and corridors of protected farm and forestland into a network of private and public conserved lands throughout the watershed.

Goal Two: Enhance the resiliency of watershed communities by protecting working lands and supporting local land-based industries.

Goal Three: Increase public awareness of land protection as an effective means to protect natural resources, water quality, rural heritage, wildlife, and the economic vitality of the Cacapon watershed.

The Trust’s Executive Director participates in two leadership forums led by the Land Trust Alliance, the national body representing over 950 member land trusts and leading the land conservation community in policy, standards, education, and training. These include a New Executive Directors Peer Group for land trust executive directors who have held their positions for three years or less and a Southeast Executive Directors Peer Group for land trust directors working in the southeastern United States. Both groups provide monthly 1-to-2-hour long trainings on topics varying from fundraising to board engagement and offer a forum for participants to ask questions and learn from their peers and industry experts.

The COVID-19 pandemic distancing guidelines made for the most significant external change experienced over the last year (although similar to that of 2020). The pandemic halted many planned in-person gatherings and complicated those we were able to hold. In-person gatherings are important to our work, as they are a key method to introduce potential clients to conservation concepts, and engage members, donors, and community members in our work. We instead adapted by turning to an individualized approach to landowner outreach, leaning on the personal and professional networks of board members and other community members to promote conservation easements and other conservation practices to priority landowners. For broader outreach, we began experimenting with an email-based newsletter and appeal (a first for us) as a means to stay connected with members and donors without meeting in person and at a reduced cost to mass mailings of printed materials. Like so many other teams, we also began extensive use of Zoom, cloud file sharing, and other technologies to work remotely but still “meet” virtually with staff, board members, partners, and clients.