The Trust for Public Land (TPL) is a national, non-profit land conservation organization, and in 1997, we're proud to celebrate our 25th year of conserving land for people.

Since TPL was founded in San Francisco in 1972, it has grown from a small group of people concerned with preserving the Marin headlands just north of San Francisco to an organization of more than 200 dedicated people in 24 offices across the mainland. TPL and these local groups work with private and corporate landowners, community groups, cities and towns, and public agencies at the State and Federal levels. We strive to find ways that let us all work together, achieve our conservation goals, and see that many of America's most special places are preserved.

Our mission statement is simple: to conserve land for people. The work, however, is complex, challenging, and rewarding. In 25 years more than 1 million acres of land, valued in excess of $1.2 billion dollars, have been protected by TPL with the help ad partnership of organizations much like the Maui Open Space Trust, for you, me, our neighbors, families and children.

How TPL Works
 

TPL supports the conservation efforts in Hawaii in a number of important ways. Our role in helping create the future includes:

·Interim site protection
·Assistance with real estate transactions and financing
·Information and technical support on public finance Campaigns
·Independent negotiations with landowners
·Bridge financing through revolving funds, loans, and lease-purchase agreements
·Planning assistance and help identifying opportunities for parks and land protection
·Effective public education campaigns to mobilize support for parks and open space
·Swift action to take desirable land off the market until finds can be found for public purchase ·

Working with community groups to offer technical assistance
·Partnering with, and providing ongoing support to local land trusts.

The Challenges and Opportunities of Land Conservation
 

TPL's growth and success has not been without many challenges and many risks. Every conservation project is as unique as its geography and the communities that it serves While there are no hard and fast rules that might guarantee a successful conservation project, there are some general issues that TPL and any conservation group should bear in mind.
 

If we're working with a private landowner, we need to understand what might motivate that landowner to work with us: Protecting the property for future generations? Interest in estate planning? An exchange of lands? Ready cash? Relief from high taxes? An annuity payment over time?
 

If we're working with a large corporation that has an obligation to its investors to provide a return on their investment, we need to be competitive in our offer to purchase a property for protection, and prove that our offer meets or exceeds the value of developing the property.
 

We need to maintain, develop and support strong relationships with our public agency partners and elected representatives - with the various municipal and county parks departments, state agencies, and federal agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, or the National Park Service, and with community leaders and decision-makers.
 

We should think about the overall need for, and impact of a county or statewide ballot measure to provide finding for important conservation project opportunities. For instance, in Los Angeles County, California, TPL helped create a voter- approved county wide bond measure that cost the average homeowner $1 per month, yet created $540 million in park and open space monies.
 

We need to support our local land trusts. Here in Hawaii the Maui Open Space Trust, the Kauai Public Land Trust, and the Community Trust for Kane'ohe play in a growing roster of community-based, often volunteer-driven, non-profit organizations seeking to protect and preserve the special nature of their own community.
 

In keeping these things in mind - as individuals, as members of the Maui Open Space Trust, as employees of the Trust for Public Land, as voices of the Community, the land and of Hawai'i we are together creating Hawaii's future.

TPL in Hawaii
 
 

While TPL has worked in Hawaii since the late 1970s, Hawaii was a bit of a beautiful mystery to TPL. My first visit to Hawaii was only four years ago, and I came with that standard image of Hawaii: the Waikiki postcard of a beautiful sunset behind Diamond Head. And then I came to see, hear, and know more about the islands: Hanalei to Hana, Kaupo to Kohala, Waianae to Waiahole and even Waikiki. And as TPL has learned more about Hawai'i, we've become involved in conserving some of these special places. I'm pleased to say we have conservation projects underway right now on O'ahu, Kauai, Maui and the Big Island. Our accomplishments have attracted funding from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation and others. And I came to believe, and TPL believes, that we should be doing more; that TPL's skills and abilities can complement the good work and accomplishments and determination of like-minded organizations -- like the Maui Open Space Trust --in Hawaii.
 

To that end, TPL expects to soon open and staff a Hawaii field office, so that we can work closely together with other conservation organizations like the Nature Conservancy of Hawaii, with our traditional partners such as the National Park Service and US Fish and Wildlife Service, and with community groups and land trusts - like the Maui Open Space Trust - to keep Hawaii clean, green, and beautiful; to protect land for people and together create Hawaii's future.
 

TPL's Hawaii Projects include:
·Volcanoes National Park (1979), Big Island, acquisition of lands including a heiau and preservation of views.
·Kilauea Point (1988), Kauai, home to the Layson albatross and Hawaiian monk seal
·Waiahole Beach Park (1995), O'ahu, public purchase of 2.5 miles of beautiful shoreline for public beach park
·Limahuli Garden, Kauai pending), proposed public purchase of ancient lo'i kalo (taro terraces) and auwai (ditch).
·Wailie'e Marsh, O'ahu pending), proposed public purchase of wetland habitat for the endangered Hawaiian moorhen and stilt.
·Kipahulu, Maui (pending), proposed public acquisition of nearly 1500 acres of virgin rain forest on the eastern flank of Haleakala.
 

Scott J. Parker is Director, Hawaiian Islands Program, Western Region The Trust for Public Land.
 

Since 1987, when Scott began working with The Trust for Public Land, he has created, managed, and brought to closure a significant portfolio of conservation projects throughout California, including over 2,400 acres of critical resource and public recreation lands have been conveyed to the Angeles National Forest in Los Angeles County alone.
 

For more information regarding the Trust for Public Land, please contact Scott Parker at 415-495-5660.