Nomination Statement for Mountains & Plains Region Candidate
Dave Sands

When I became Executive Director of the Nebraska Land Trust (NLT) in 2003, there were some sleepless nights in those early years when I’d lay awake thinking about the promise we were making to landowners – the promise of protection in perpetuity. At the time, the NLT was two years old and our Stewardship Fund was one or two legal battles away from zero. This bothered me a lot. When the idea for conservation easement defense insurance first surfaced, it seemed too good to be true. Clearly, I underestimated the leadership of the Land Trust Alliance and the willingness of many land trusts to band together for lasting conservation. When Terrafirma became a reality, the NLT was an early adapter and it is one of the wisest decisions we have ever made. 

The most obvious role for Terrafirma is that it provides land trusts with a financial and legal safety net to defend our easements, while establishing favorable case law along the way. Of course the best defense is a good offense, so I am pleased to see Terrafirma providing leadership and training in the critical area of risk management. There are many avenues for land trusts to reduce risk, from easement drafting to landowner outreach. Terrafirma has an important role to play in identifying those avenues and promoting them. Another key role is membership growth, which strengthens Terrafirma and the land trusts that join it. If the Members Committee offered me a platform to be an advocate, I would gladly embrace it. Finally, there has been an unanticipated role that Terrafirma has played for the NLT – it has become a strong talking point with landowners, funders, partners, government agencies and others. After all, if Terrafirma can help me to sleep better at night, it can provide comfort to all concerned as well!