News Room

 
 
 
The Courser Family and Youngs conservation easements recently protected in Webster are featured on the front page of the Monday July 12, 2010 Concord Monitor.
http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/let-the-healing-begin 
 
Read more on The Courser Family easement on Trumbull Pond by clicking here. Specific details about the easement are also available by going to #98 on the Protected Properties map of this web site.  This was a partnership project with Ausbon Sargent, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), The NH Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP), the Open Space Institute’s (OSI) Saving New England’s Wildlife Program, the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA), the Conservation License Plate Program (Moose Plate) and other private and public donors. We gratefully acknowledge their financial support of the conservation of this special place.

 

       

Ausbon Sargent Earns National Accreditation Recognition:
      The Ausbon Sargent Land Preservation Trust is pleased to announce that it has been awarded accreditation by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance. Accredited land trusts are able to display a seal indicating to the public that they meet national standards for excellence and that the accredited land trust has undergone an extensive, external review of the governance and management of its organization and the systems and policies it uses to protect lands forever.   Ausbon Sargent is a stronger organization today having gone through the rigorous accreditation program. Less that 5% of land trusts across the country have been awarded accreditation since the fall of 2008. Ausbon Sargent is one of only two land trusts in New Hampshire that has achieved this distinction in land conservation. We are very proud of this achievement!
     The Accreditation commission reviewed our financial records, tax returns, baseline documentation reports for all properties, property management plans, Monitoring reports, record retention policy and conflict of interest policy  including examples of how its been applied.
      The Ausbon Sargent Board of Trustees invested 3 years of preparation to be certain that our policies and procedures were in full compliance before authorizing the staff to begin the initial application process which involved over 400 hours of staff time. The follow-up questions resulting from the commissions review required an additional 200 hours of staff time. 
        If you visit the Land Trust Alliance Accreditation web site at http://www.landtrustalliance.org/learning/accreditation/2008-accreditation-indicator-practices you will see why we needed to invest so many staff hours to secure accreditation.
       We believe receiving the LTA accreditation assures both our easement and financial donors of our integrity, professionalism and our capacity to successfully execute our mission to preserve the rural landscape of the Mt. Kearsarge/Lake Sunapee region

Debbie Stanley, Executive Director

 “Forest Notes” Prints Article on Ausbon Sargent / The Nature Conservancy Partnership on Courser Lands:

The partnership between The Nature Conservancy and Ausbon Sargent has leveraged the complementary skills and strengths of each organization. Click here to read the article printed in the Spring 2009 edition of the Forest Society’s magazine “Forest Notes.”
 (You may read the entire magazine at http://www.spnhf.org/news/forest-notes.asp ) 
 

Easement Land Donation = Most Economically Valuable Charitable Tax Donation “…the donation of a conservation easement to an organization like the Ausbon Sargent Land Preservation Trust can provide the landowner / taxpayer with the most economically valuable charitable contribution tax deduction that the Internal Revenue Code provides! And until December 31, 2009, the tax code includes an enhanced income tax deduction that creates a further incentive for land owners to act to protect their property by a conservation easement.” To read Attorney Tom Masland’s entire article just click here.
 
Tom Masland is an attorney with the Concord, NH law firm of Ransmeier & Spellman, PC, and  represents landowners (and land trusts) in conservation transaction and estate planning matters. You can learn more about Tom’s practice and the firm at www.ranspell.com.