Nomination Statement for Northern North East Region Candidate
Brian Hart

Over the past four years, I have had the privilege to participate in the Land Trust Alliance’s Executive Director training program, greatly advancing my personal and professional growth.  Through this amazing experience, I have met talented leaders from New England and the entire country, learned from their experiences, heard their concerns, and found despite many different communities and missions, we have a shared vision for the permanence of conservation.   So when I received a call inquiring of my interest in serving on the Terrafirma Members Committee, I decided that now was the time to give back to the land trust community.

The organization I work for, SELT, has grown its portfolio of conservation lands to more than 200 tracts and 16,000 acres of land and completed two mergers with other land trusts.  In doing so, I have grown to understand the joys and burdens, as well as risks and limitations of conservation easements, deed restrictions, and outright ownership. I’ve also observed how different community-based organizations – including those that are volunteer driven and lightly staffed organizations to fully staffed groups – tackle conserving land.  I’ve witnessed firsthand the challenges, unexpected and predicted, that can arise from best intentions and missed opportunities, and how draining legal challenges can be on purse and person.  My hope now is to bring this experience to Terrafirma and help support its member land trusts, not just in the defense of easements or land, but in reducing our risks through good practices.  Much like your home or auto insurer provides discounts for trainings or good behavior, I think there are untapped opportunities for Terrafirma to do more of the same (beyond the discount for participation in the risk management) and further encourage good management and stewardship by land trusts.  Part of my larger thinking around risk management is that the land trust community must think differently about stewardship, and envision stewardship as more than monitoring of a property and people’s use of it, but as cultivating long-term relationships with people to achieve shared goals for that land.  Through this lens of relationships, the defense of conservation and our collective achievements can be best met.