By: Corey Creed

What is protected by conservation easements?

Conservation easements are tailored to the particular characteristics of the land. First, a complete natural resource inventory is developed, including maps, photographs of existing improvements, species lists, etc. By identifying sensitive areas, land use patterns, and any areas where limited development may be allowed, the inventory provides the conceptual framework for drafting the easement. At Drovers Road Preserve, the easement protects 59% of the entire property, including rare species habitat, four rare vascular plants, sensitive water resources, and the 150-year-old forest stands along the ridgeline.

How do conservation easements differ from restrictive covenants in subdivisions?

Though similar in that both govern how a property may be developed, land with a conservation easement differs in several significant ways from subdivisions under a restrictive covenant. Subdivision restrictions encourage controlled development of the property in order to protect private property values. Conservation easements, by contrast, are by definition designed primarily to preserve property in its natural state. Though many easements allow certain specified uses, a conservation easement is intended to provide benefits to the public at large, not just individual homeowners, by protecting native habitats and resident species of plants and animals.

Is a conservation easement a legally binding document?

If the easement will continue to bind future owners of the land, and if the donor wishes to claim a charitable contribution for the conveyance, it must be registered in the public land records (the “Registry”) of the county or counties where the property is located. Drovers Road Preserve, as a registered conservation easement property in Buncombe County, is legally protected from additional development for all future generations.

By: Julee Mitchelsin

Our society has many downfalls, but perhaps one of our biggest downfalls is that we are wasteful. Incredibly wasteful actually. Our lives are spent wasting time, energy, and emotion on people and activites that do nothing for us. We sit down to a meal and fill our plates with more food than we could possibly eat and the leftovers get wasted. We drive our cars to work and play without thinking of the gasoline that is being used irresponsibly. Everyone is guilty of wasting, and therefore everyone needs to add an important concept to many areas of their life: conservation.

Our first thoughts about conservation probably take us to picturing a rain forest somewhere in the jungle whose trees are being quickly cut down or to a village in Africa whose meager water supply is wasted on unnecessary things. While these are both situations that could rightly learn from the concept of conservation, there are many more areas of life that could learn a lesson as well.

I am a firm believer than any true change in the world will happen only as individuals start that change in their own lives. So let’s begin thinking about convservation as it relates only to our individual lives. Think about the most valuable resources you have at your disposal. For me, the most valuable resources are my time, energy, mind, and health. It is only as we begin to see our lives as full of natural resource that we can begin the process of conservation and protection of these resources.

If time is one my greatest assets I must think about the ways I spend or use that resource. I can practice conservation by looking for ways to use my time more efficiently and wisely. I must also look for ways to practive conservation of my energy. I can do this by taking time for exercise, proper sleep, and relaxing activities. The great resource of my mind needs to be conserved by taking time to enrich it through reading, studying and even writing. You should consider your own valuable resources and look for ways to practice the conservation of each of them.

As I am committed to practicing conservation in my own life then I can begin to look outside myself and see resources in my neighborhood or city that can be conserved as well. I will become increasingly aware of the necessity of spending all of the world’s valuable resources in effective and helpful ways.

Author: Wendy Pan

Community energy conservation efforts can go a long way with short changes to make a big difference. Community leaders can truly lead the way, by hosting public events that encourage residents to follow energy conservation practices. Local ordinances can be formed or rewritten to encourage conservation of local public resources, and provide avenues for residents to participate in resource conservation, recycling, and reuse of materials.

Local communities are working together to provide recycling centers for public use. They can revise building codes to promote environmentally sustainable technology so that new buildings and remodels are made into healthy buildings. Efforts can be made to avoid excess duplication, by not allowing strip malls on every corner that cover land and add to urban sprawl, through zoning laws that are more environmentally friendly than builder friendly.

As population spreads, so does the impact of pollution and the potential for permanent damage. Local communities can work together to protect the environment and indigenous species from this overload and damage. Mass transit systems can be improved and brought out to their remote communities. Car pooling parking lots can be zoned into land management and car pooling encouraged. Zoning can be planned for maximum use in minimum areas to preserve the landscape, and parks are wonderful additions for local residents. Renewable and recyclable building materials can be encouraged. How land is developed, and built up, has major impact upon local resources and natural habitats. Careful planning can help offset the impact and promote conservation efforts.

By providing local resources, local farm markets, and local recreation sites, overall energy consumption is reduced, and local businesses profit. Even utilities can be managed locally, with some communities being built with a target of zero energy cost, using solar and wind power systems for the entire area. Lighting in buildings and on streets can be refitted to be efficient, solar powered, and otherwise conservative of energy resources. In high population areas, parks help relive the urban heat island problem, as well as be available for local recreation and open spaces.

Community energy conservation needs to increase awareness of the eco-system, and promote new advances in conservation techniques and materials, so they get used. Small changes by all can lead to big results for conservation of natural resources like water, electric and natural gas. Businesses can encourage employees to follow conservative practices at work as well as at home, like turning off unneeded lighting, and powering down machinery and computers when not working with them.

By: Anthony Kristovich III

There are approximately 85 species of birds in North America that nest in cavities. Some, like woodpeckers, excavate their own holes. Non-excavators like the purple martin nest in cavities previously dug out by other birds or animals. Then there are birds such as wood ducks that nest in naturally occurring cavities that form in many trees. Many of these birds will also nest in birdhouses provided by humans.

If you could travel back to a time before Europeans began coming to the New World, you could see these birds living in abundance, each filling a particular niche in the ecosystem. The birds ate bugs that might otherwise become a plague on woodlands. In turn, their numbers would be kept in check by hawks, owls, snakes, and other predators. It was a beautiful, healthy balance.

In a case of humans living inside their natural balance, Native Americans in some parts of the country discovered long ago that they could attract purple martins to nest in hollowed out gourds. In this case, the martins ate many bugs that were considered pests to people and animals. That is how the first purple martin birdhouse was created. (It is important to note here that, contrary to many claims, mosquitoes are not among the insects favored by purple martins.)

A more common example of human interaction with nature, in the last couple of centuries at least, can be examined in a discussion on “introduced species.” Humans have frequently brought all kinds of plants and animals from their native lands, depositing them on foreign soil. Sometimes it happens accidentally, but there have been many intentional introductions as well. Many times, the new species dies out, because they were taken from their natural niche and inserted where there was no place for them. Occasionally, a species will survive, carving out a new niche. When this happens, it usually has devastating effects on native species.

In the bird world, two strong examples of successfully introduced species are the English house sparrow and the European starling. The house sparrow was brought to North America in the 1850’s in an attempt to reduce insect populations around human communities. This, unfortunately, proved unwise. As the number of sparrows increased, they began to consume huge amounts of grain and growing vegetables, and they competed with native cavity-nesting birds. The intentions were good, but the experiment was simply ill conceived. The house sparrow aggressively defends any nesting site it claims, and these sites are often ones preferred by birds like bluebirds and purple martins.

If the introduction of English house sparrows to the U.S. was ill conceived, the case of the European starling was downright silly. In the 1890’s, a man named Eugene Schieffelin wanted to bring to our shores every bird mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare. This comedy of errors ultimately culminated in the continental distribution of starlings. They now reside from coast to coast. Highly aggressive, they actually “evict” other cavity-nesting birds from their homes. This, combined with the ever-increasing pace of land development by humans, puts a great deal of pressure on our native bird populations.

Conservation

Conservation is not a new or recent phenomenon. Conservation, or living in a sort of balance with nature, had been the norm for successful cultures for millennia. Many ancient societies had very respectful, and respectable, agricultural policies. Some were as simple as not over-killing, and using all parts of the animal for food, clothing, and shelter. Some early techniques were quite complex, like land terracing, crop rotation, and irrigation.

Then came the Industrial Revolution. Myriad products and services, such as the world had never before seen, suddenly came on the market, ever quicker and in greater numbers. The big businesses that grew up in this environment became very powerful; they felt they were invincible. They treated their workers horribly, they took advantage of consumers by gouging prices, and they ravenously devoured every possible natural resource in the name of profits. Forests, rivers, mountains, oceans, earth, and air all were hostage to the unrestrained avarice of the wealthy few.

Soon, a few wise observers realized that this was a trend with a dead end. In 1864, George Perkins Marsh, considered by many to be America’s first environmentalist, wrote Man and Nature. In it, he argued that rampant deforestation would bring “the face of the earth to a desolation almost as complete as that of the moon.”

Later, in 1892, a man named John Muir founded the Sierra Club, an organization that exists to this day. The first point in its mission statement is to “explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the earth.”

Let us consider the words of another early proponent of conservationism, President Theodore Roosevelt. He said, “The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we solve that problem, it will avail us little to solve all others.”

Over time, information and awareness spread, and many groups and individuals stepped up to try to turn the tide of destruction. Today, there are thousands of organizations and millions of people worldwide that are dedicated to improving our ecological outlook. Environmentalism has become a persistent pint of our national and cultural discussion. It has been a big part of presidential campaigns ever since Teddy Roosevelt. It is as if we have always known how important our connection to nature is, but maybe we forgot for a while. Now, we struggle with the thought of sacrificing the life-enhancing things that technological progress has brought us. Though some sacrifices will be necessary, many knowledgeable people believe that they do not need to be big ones.

How a Hobby Can Change the World

There are many things people can do in the course of their ordinary lives to improve the future of the ecology without making any sacrifices whatsoever. Picking up a new pastime – like birding, for example – could help make a positive change. Providing food, via bird feeders, and shelter, by way of birdhouses (also known as nesting boxes), for wild birds can actually help sustain native species. Bluebirds, purple martins, and wood ducks are a few species that are making comebacks thanks, in large part, to the efforts of recreational bird watchers.