News and Events

New Board Members, and a Fond Farewell to an Old Friend

NCRLT Staff and Board would like to welcome our two new board members: Tod Kimmelshue and Colleen Haftield to our family! Tod and Colleen official joined the board at our August 22nd 2008 Board meeting. We know they will make wonderful additions to our organization. WELCOME Tod and Colleen!

Tod Kimmelshue
Tod grew up on a family farm in Durham, CA. He attended and graduated from the Durham School System. After attending two years at Butte College, he finished his college studies at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, earning a degree in Agricultural Business Management.  In 1982, Tod started work with Farm Credit in Livermore, CA and has been with the company ever since. He and his wife relocated to Chico in 1985. Currently he is a Regional Vice President in charge of public relations and business development. Farm Credit is a nationwide agricultural lending institution, which lends money to agricultural producers and agri-businesses.  Currently, Tod is Past President of the Chico Chamber of Commerce and Past President of the Butte County Farm Bureau and helped lead those two organizations during the past several years.
Tod lives in Durham with his wife Sherri and two sons.

Colleen Hatfield
Colleen Hatfield is a landscape ecologist who joined the CSU, Chico Biology faculty in 2005.  Her primary research focus has been watershed based, studying the relationships between watershed condition and ecological responses.  Colleen has worked extensively with private, non-profit and government entities in assessing and developing approaches to evaluate and monitor ecological integrity.  Colleen grew up on the Colorado farm her grandfather homesteaded and she continues to experience the family’s strong tie to the land. Through her background experiences, Colleen acutely aware of the challenges and hurtles facing today’s land managers whether they be farmers or natural resource managers.  Colleen is honored to serve on the board for Northern California Regional Land Trust as its goals and mission are central to her core values for land conservation.

John Merz
NCRLT would like to thank John Merz, as his tenure on the Northern California Regional Land Trust board of directors comes to an end. His leadership and non-profit knowledge and expertise will be greatly missed.  We wish him luck as he continues working in our community for open space and land conservation.

Thank you John!

Public Comment Now Open for LTA Accreditation Application

The land trust accreditation program recognizes land conservation organizations that meet national quality standards for protecting important natural places and workings lands forever.  The Northern California Regional Land Trust (NCRLT) is pleased to announce it is applying for accreditation.  A public comment period is now open.

The Land Trust Accreditation, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance, conducts and exhaustive review of each applicant's policies and programs. 

The Commission invites public input and accepts signed, written comments on pending applications.  Comments must relate to how NCRLT complies with national standards.  These standards address the ethical and technical operation of a land trust.  For the full list of standards see www.landtrustaccreditation.org/getting-accredited/2008-indicator-practices.

To learn more about the accreditation program and to submit a comment, visit www.landtrustaccreditation.org.  Comments may also be faxed or mailed to the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, Attn: Public Comments: (fax) 518-587-3183; (mail) 112 Spring Street, Suite 204, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866.  Comments on NCRLT's application will be most useful by September 15, 2008. 

Funding Available for Agricultural Conservation Easements in Glenn, Butte and Tehama Counties!

The Northern California Regional Land Trust (NCRLT) is currently working with the California Department of Conservation to encourage the long-term, private stewardship of agricultural lands in Glenn, Butte and Tehama counties through the use of agricultural conservation easements.  Funding for the purchase of agricultural conservation easements is now available from California’s Farmland Conservation Program and the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Farmland and Ranchland Protection Program.  The project has gained local and regional support from the Glenn and Tehama County Resource Conservation Districts, and NCRLT hopes more people and local agricultural organizations will come to the free presentations scheduled through May 2008.

 “By 2040, the Central Valley will become home to nearly 12 million people and less than 10% of American farms may pass on to a third generation,” said NCRLT Executive Director Jamison Watts.  “This is about a lot more than just the economic implications of losing productive farmland to development; it’s about protecting the family farm and a big part of our American heritage.”

According to a new report released by the American Farmland Trust, over a half million acres were urbanized in California 1990 to 2004, with almost two-thirds of it being agricultural land. Urban development is disproportionately targeting the state’s best farmland and is very inefficient, the report maintains, consuming an acre of land for every 9.4 people. In the state’s most important agricultural regions, a larger percentage of high quality farmland is being developed, and developed less efficiently, than in the state as a whole. Rural “ranchettes,” the most inefficient kind of development, may account for a quarter of all the land devoted to developed uses in the Central Valley, the state’s premier agricultural area. If sprawling development patterns continue, another 2 million acres of California land will be paved over by 2050.  If, however, the state as a whole develops land as efficiently as Sacramento County or the Bay Area did in recent years, a million acres of California’s irreplaceable farmland could be saved.