TPL’s Top 2001 Conservation Achievements

San Francisco, CA, 12/31/2001 – Today, the Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national nonprofit conservation organization, announced its conservation achievements for the year 2001. Across the country, TPL protected more than 169,000 acres in 27 states during 2001. This land had a fair-market value of $381 million.

In addition, TPL and its affiliate, The Conservation Campaign helped 36 communities nationwide pass measures that will generate more than $1.2 billion in new funding for parks and open space.

Founded in 1972, TPL enters its 30th anniversary year having protected a total of more than 1.4 million acres of land from the inner city to the wilderness, in 45 states. 2001 highlights include:

Connecticut Headwaters, Coos County, New Hampshire
In September, TPL announced its agreement to purchase 171,500 acres in northern New Hampshire from International Paper Company. The largest private parcel in the state, this property has long provided timber-related jobs and a popular tourist destination for hiking, snowmobiling, fishing, and hunting. The land also surrounds three of the Connecticut River’s four headwater lakes and provides habitat for 67 rare and endangered wildlife species.

West Turkey Swamp, Monmouth and Ocean Counties, New Jersey
In December, TPL protected 1,667 acres linking the state’s Turkey Swamp Wildlife Management Area and Monmouth County’s Turkey Swamp Park. The project-an extension of TPL’s Barnegat Bay Initiative-expanded preserved land in this area to more than 5,000 acres while helping to protect water quality in both the South Branch of the Metedeconk River and Toms River.

Cloudland Connector, Georgia
In a landmark arrangement, TPL, the Lula Lake Land Trust and Georgia State Parks completed phase two of a three-part project that ultimately will almost double the size of Cloudland Canyon State Park in northwest Georgia while connecting it to Lookout Mountain in southeastern Tennessee. The project will create 8,000 acres of unbroken conservation landscape in a 15-mile stretch from Lula Lake south to the Cloudland Canyon State Park-an area characterized by rolling hills, woodlands and canyons filled with rugged beauty and abundant wildlife.

Edison Woods, Ohio
Located just 50 miles west of Cleveland, Edison Woods was originally slated to be the site of a nuclear power plant. After three years of cooperative effort, this 1300-acre nature preserve south of Lake Erie was added to Erie MetroParks as the largest regional conservation project in decades. The property offers crucial wildlife habitat in a rapidly developing region; and 460 species of plants make it one of the biologically diverse properties in Northern Ohio. The land also contains the headwaters of Old Woman Creek, part of the national coastal research system.

Tollgate Farm, North Bend, Washington
Once slated for a one million square foot office park and 32 home subdivision, this 400-acre farm near Seattle was a once a toll stop for the first road from Seattle to Snoqualmie Pass in the Cascade Mountains. This year TPL acquired more than 370 acres of the environmentally sensitive farm for preservation by King County and the City of North Bend. The land includes the coveted central meadow, featuring stunning views of Mt. Si and the old Tollgate Farmhouse.

Taos Valley Overlook, New Mexico
For centuries, travelers have stopped at this scenic overlook on the road to Taos. Sweeping views from the vantage point encompass high desert, abrupt cliffs, and the Rio Grande River. This year TPL completed three transactions totaling more than a thousand acres in a long-term effort to protect the overlook by the Bureau of Land Management. One project, in partnership with San Felipe Pueblo, involved a complicated land exchange that also protected culturally significant land for that Native American community.

Cornfield, Los Angeles, California
This 32-acre abandoned railyard along the L.A. River will become the first state park, open space, and recreation complex ever developed in downtown Los Angeles. A controversial industrial park had been planned for the site. A cornfield before the Civil War, the property contains examples of the original zanja madre aqueduct for the Pueblo de Los Angeles. This is TPL’s third recent acquisition to create parks along a planned Los Angeles River Greenway.

“As we look toward our thirtieth anniversary, TPL recognizes that rapid growth continues to swallow many American communities,” said TPL President Will Rogers, “We will continue to develop entrepreneurial methods for proactive land conservation.”

The Trust for Public Land is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving land for people to enjoy as parks and open space. The Wall Street Journal’s Smart Money Magazine recently named TPL the nation’s most efficient large conservation charity for the second year in a row, based on the percentage of funds dedicated to programs.