As a member of Terrafirma and the Land Trust Alliance, you have access to many great resources — plus help from dedicated staff!

On The Learning Center:

• A Guide to Risk Management for Land Trusts is a quick, fun course that lets you easily customize a plan for your land trust
• The Legal Defense Reserves Calculator helps you plan your legal reserves
• The Conservation Defense Clearinghouse houses a collection of helpful documents
• Ask an Expert features experts from around the country

On the Nonprofit Risk Management Center:

Log on as a Land Trust Alliance affiliate by clicking on this logo on the right side of the Conservation Defense Clearinghouse home page and get free and discounted risk and insurance resources.

Fall is in the air, and soon there will be turkeys roasting in the oven, pies cooling on the counter, and Terrafirma applications being updated for 2017. Applications will open December 1, 2016, and the last day to submit will be February 2, 2017.

Remember that risk management training is available for free, and your land trust can receive a discount on your 2017 premiums just for participating! This can be done via a webinar or our quick and easy online course. To qualify, training must be completed every year by a member of senior leadership.

Have questions? Please let us know. You can email us directly or call 202-800-2219 for Lorri, 202-800-2248 for myself or 802-262-6051 for Leslie.


Thank you, and happy holidays!
Hannah
Conservation Defense Associate
ALLIANCE RISK MANAGEMENT SERVICES LLC
1660 L Street NW, Ste. 1100, Washington, DC 20036
(202) 800-2248  |  help@terrafirma.org

Do you want to start managing your organization’s risk, but you’re not sure where to turn? You have many free resources available!

On the Learning Center:

• A Guide to Risk Management for Land Trusts is a quick, fun course that lets you easily customize a plan for your land trust.
• The Legal Defense Reserves Calculator gauges minimum legal reserves.
• The Conservation Defense Clearinghouse houses a collection of helpful documents.

The Nonprofit Risk Management Center:

• Log on as an affiliate using these instructions for free and discounted risk and insurance resources.

Reminder: You still need resources to hire experts (see reserve calculator) and it is smart to get a preapproval from your board to spend up to the $5000 deductible on disputed violations and trespass and challenges.

We’re here to help! If you have any questions about risk management resources or anything else, please let us know. You can email us directly or call 202-800-2219 for Lorri, 202-800-2248 for Hannah, or 802-262-6051 for Leslie.

Thanks,
Hannah

Last month we wrote about Lyme Land Conservation Trust and their major victory for land trusts everywhere. What turned the tide in their favor? Persuasive Baseline Documentation Reports, which can include maps, descriptions, and photographs. President John Pritchard said these photographs were "critical to their case"--the judge was visibly moved by the before and after pictures that clearly displayed extensive damage. As you make your own plans for managing the property that your land trust holds, don't forget this crucial component.

Thanks,
Hannah

How do you make sure that if the person responsible for a deadline gets sick or goes on vacation, someone else will complete critical tasks? Rather than store deadlines and advance schedules to give preparation time in someone’s head (or a file that no one else has regular access too), plan ahead for all filing dates and the lead time to prepare. Keep it current with an electronic shared organizational calendar. A paper calendar stored electronically can work with extra diligence.

Find more suggestions on which dates to track, such as monitoring schedules, state filing deadlines, annual insurance policy review and more practical risk management suggestions »

See IRS dates that may apply to your organization »

Remember that the 2014 policy re-enrollment starts December 1, 2013 and ends February 3, 2014. Terrafirma currently has six claims in process from member land trusts. Please don’t let your coverage lapse. We’re here to help! If you have any questions, please let us know. You can reply to this email, email us directly or call 202-800-2219 for Lorri or 802-262-6051 for Leslie.

Buildings, roads and fences are not camera shy. Yet many baselines don’t include pictures or descriptions of constructed conditions on the property – such as houses, barns, riding rings, garages, amenities, driveways, fences, walls, docks and service buildings.

Changes to constructed conditions may change the intensity of use, the kind of use, the location or the impact of reserved rights on the conservation values. When a landowner starts making changes to structures on the property, you want to have a record of what the property looked like before. Baseline documentation establishes the original conditions of the property. So you want to include documentation of constructed conditions as well as natural conditions. If your land trust has to go to court, this could make all the difference in the world. And it will help with successor owners who may claim that this structure was there all the time. What a relief to have that attested baseline showing what was really there!

Remember that the 2014 policy reenrollment starts December 1, 2013 and ends February 3, 2014. Terrafirma currently has six claims in process from member land trusts. Please don’t let your coverage lapse.

We’re here to help! If you have any questions about baselines or anything else, please let us know. You can reply to this email, email us directly or call 202-800-2219 for Lorri or 802-262-6051 for Leslie.