2024 Monitoring Season is ON!

This is the time of year that the truck and ATV get their routine maintenance, we complete all certifications and safety checks and clearances required, and call our partner landowners to schedule monitoring! Hannah Espinosa leads this annual effort, as Stewardship Director, and all staff participate in at least one in-person site visit annually.

The first projects on the calendar for 2024 were our three newest easements, Abbey of New Clairvaux, Hamilton Ranch, and Oroville Planning Unit. Hannah took along our new Conservation Director, Lucas RossMerz, to introduce the protocols for site visits, photo documentations, and reporting. Land trust staff meet the land agent at the property, and typically conduct the site visit together to maximize efficiencies, and discuss progress.

What are we monitoring during these visits? We review the general status of the land to confirm that stewardship activities are following the guidelines according to the property’s management plan. We inspect all specific building envelope areas to confirm any progress is within guidelines, and make note of the status. If there are special status species to record, then the monitoring will occur during the time of year when that species can be located, assessed, measured, and photographed to add to the management report. We use ATV’s or the Land Trust truck to visit all accessible areas of the property.

We monitor each of our 39 Conservation Easements (CE) annually, either in-person with the landowner, or remotely using special software and satellite imaging. Our CE agreements mandate that we set boots on the ground at least once every five years, a great opportunity to connect with the landowner on the property and visit about the stewardship and any immediate or long-term needs. While getting into the field is always rewarding, remote monitoring methods have many advantages to consider, including seeing the entire expanse of the property’s farthest reaches, staff safety, and conservation of resources like gas and automobile maintenance.

For 2024, NCRLT took on the annual monitoring of additional easements for a nonprofit partner in our region, with a fee-for-service agreement that adds to our annual income while expanding our network of regional landowners partnering for conservation.

If you see our Land Trust truck and trailer out and about, be sure to wave a hello!