ENVS Real Life

My name is Michele Parenti and I am an intern for the Crested Butte Land Trust. The Crested Butte Land Trust is a nonprofit accredited land trust. Their mission is to preserve Crested Butte Lands that fit one of four of their goals. The CB Land Trust believes that lands should be preserved for scenery, education and recreation, ecosystem benefits, and agricultural use. They do this in two ways, they either purchase the land and they call this an acquisition, or they encourage landowners to enroll in a conservation easement. The lands that are purchased are ideally the best route for the land trust because they can manage and maintain it. A conservation easement requires the landowner to have minimal to no further building on the property and the landowner is to maintain that land is a beneficial way. The landowner gets tax credits for having an easement and has to follow federal laws regarding the easement. The land must be monitored every year to maintain the easement- this is what I will do as an intern. I will visit both acquisition lands and conservation easements, write a report, take pictures, and report my findings to my superiors. The things I look for are in the previous years report, noxious weeds, habitat health, and overall land condition.