Georges River Land Trust is an accredited land trust. Accreditation means Georges River Land Trust meets national quality standards for protecting important natural places and working lands forever. Georges River Land Trust has demonstrated to the Land Trust Accreditation Commission its commitment to excellence. Accredited land trusts meet national quality standards for protecting important natural places and working lands forever. These land trusts demonstrate their commitment to excellence by adopting Land Trust Standards and Practices, the ethical and technical guidelines for the responsible operation of a land trust, and meeting the accreditation requirements drawn from them. Learn More: http://www.landtrustaccreditation.org/about.
Review from Guidestar
I have been an avid hiker on GRLT's many fine trails for over 20 years. More recently, I have been volunteering on the trail maintainers work days, to give back some modicum of the enjoyment I have gotten over the years. The workdays are well organized, so our time is useful and the camaraderie of the crew is strong. I continue to be impressed with the aesthetics of the trail routes, and I appreciate GRLT's outreach into the community to highlight the available trails and the need for conservation.
GRLT is doing a great job protecting land. The garden tours are a big hit. I would love to see all the Maine Land Trusts coordinate their maps of trails and unify the graphics for a network of maps. Having the public use trails brings home the need to donate to Land Trusts. Another thought is to have specific projects you are raising money for posted in a public way with a chart on how the progress is coming. If a goal is visible more people join in to reach that goal.
GRLT is a wonderful organization doing important work. Most or all of the people involved in the organization are a real pleasure to know and to deal with. I wholeheartedly support their work. I do however have a couple of suggestions. 1. I know a substantial donor to the Land Trust who was not even given free tickets to the garden tour and was disappointed not to be recognized in that way. Obviously substantial donors should be thanked in that simple way. 2. The process of donating an easement, which i and several friends have explored, is complicated, legalistic, and costs money to the donor beyond the gift of the easement. Donors are also encouraged to open their land to hiking members etc. I think steps should be taken to make this important form of donation as painless as possible, with fewer add-ons besides the donation of the easement itself. While it is understandable that the Land Trust may incur costs maintaining a donated easement, they might get more donations if they covered those costs themselves through fund-raising.
grlted 11/08/2010
From GRLT - Thank you for your review. It is so helpful to see these responses. It is true the easement donation process is complicated and legalistic. We will discuss with our land protection committee how we can simplify it for our donors. For the transaction, we only ask the donor to seek their own legal representation. We try to avoid additional costs (such as for surveys of the property) unless truly needed. We do not require an additional gift toward stewardship, although we always ask due to the commitment GRLT undertakes to steward the easement in perpetuity. We also do not ask easement donors to provide public access, however it can be incorporated into the project if they are interested and suggest it. We are always interested in feedback. Thanks again.