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Conservancy Experts Present at State Conference

Laura Baird, Resource Protection Specialist and Jeffrey L. Marshall, Vice President of Resource Protection, at the PALTA meeting.

Jeffrey L. Marshall, Vice President of Resource Protection, and Laura Baird, Resource Protection Specialist, were presenters at the recent Pennsylvania Land Trust Association (PALTA) annual meeting at Penn State University. PALTA is a statewide organization that represents over 80 land trusts and their 89,000 members and supporters. Jeff and Laura were speakers on a panel that focused on how land trusts work with farmland preservation organizations to maximize the effectiveness of land protection. Recognizing that land trusts are typically more interested in protecting natural resources, while most farmland preservation activities are designed to ensure that land is available for the production of food and to protect the agricultural industry in Pennsylvania, Jeff and Laura provided examples of successful preservation projects that demonstrated collaboration between the land trust and agricultural programs.

Jeff also presented at two other workshops-one demonstrating how land trusts work with municipalities in conservation-based developments in order to promote smart growth and the other on how to incorporate historic preservation in land conservation projects. Jeff Marshall, a recognized expert in land conservation and historic preservation, was part of a panel on the same topic at the recent Annual Land Conservation Rally held on April 28th in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He was also a presenter at the National Barn Alliance Conference held on April 21 in Albany, New York.