woohoo for the earth

Special shout out to Stephen, who left a comment on my recent blog regarding the TPL. He suggested that I check out the Land Trust Alliance and offered an apology on behalf of all land trust organizations during their busy time of the year.

I just located a local regional office for the Land Trust Alliance which I am going to try and contact regarding some of our specific town concerns. At the forefront of my mind is the fact that an area that was once a proposed part of the town's preserved "green space" (as illustrated in the town's master vision plan) was never purchased by the city from private ownership and is now scheduled for development for condo-hotels.

Perhaps the Land Trust Alliance can shed some light on the procedure for identifying other land resources and explain some of our options for getting them under a shield of protection, since our city apparently isn't following its own vision plan. I would hate to see this become a pattern...or at least would like a way to fight it.

In addition, our town prides itself in its natural springs, and our heritage is built upon the town being founded around these springs, and yet our "current" official plat map dates back to the 1890's, including the buffered "reservation areas" around the springs. Since technology has changed a bit since the 1890's, and we have a slightly better grasp of recharge, blasting and contamination effects, wouldn't it make sense to re-evaluate some of these spring reservation areas and possibly modify them to better protect our springs (and our heritage)?

I especially like the fact that the LTA regional office focuses on the natural resources of the Ozarks, which our town and its surroundings are a crucial part of. Of course, with the holidays fast approaching, I can imagine that it may take a while to get a response again. However, I have a new website to study, an actual contact address and phone number, and some new documentation to read in the meantime.

Thanks again, Stephen.