Chestnut Hill - Lessons Learned

• Key ingredients to the success of a collaborative conservation effort among multiple land owners include:  
• Landowner predisposition to conservation
• Learning about what is already happening in conservation
• Frequent meetings with open, honest dialogue
• Creative, out-of-the-box approach to funding
• Working with land conservation agencies
• Considering individual landowner’s needs and priorities
• Awareness of ‘having to build a case’ with public agencies
• Winning broad-based community support

• You cannot predict the outcome of a group conservation project and the potential success it may have as a catalyst for inspiring others to join in the conservation effort.

• Landowner’s wishing to conserve land together will have greater clout with state and local funding agencies if they are able to package and present their individual efforts into a single, unified, and coordinated conservation transaction.  

• The importance of getting political support in the grant process is important – even when land is being donated – one still must expect to negotiate the approval process.

• Developing informal neighborhood discussions about land conservation without a preconceived agenda can often be the most effective way to stimulate local interest, awareness and ‘buy in’ among local land owners.

• It is possible to accommodate a diverse set of needs and priorities among individual landowners within a group if there is an overall commitment to conservation and conversations are open, honest and inclusive.

• Your local conservation commission and land trust agencies are excellent sources of information about conservation.

• Taking the time to ‘do your homework’ in terms of learning about other local conservation efforts and learning about the myriad of conservation alternatives and strategies and about the many agencies willing to assist, is one of the best investments in time one can make when putting together a conservation project.

• It is important to hear all sides, answer all questions, remain cool-headed and be completely straightforward with all constituencies; avoid even the appearance of not doing otherwise throughout the entire process.  

• Landowners can become uncomfortable when talking about their property rights; treading lightly and allowing them time to think through their needs, interests and priorities is a key part of the consensus-building process.

• Thinking outside the box is important for putting together land deals and for getting the financing needed to make deals happen in our environment of scarce conservation funding sources and increasing pressure of development.

• Make no assumptions of what people might know or not know – be sensitive and mindful of individuals going through this process for the first time.

• Collaboration and coordination with other landowners can result in a “whole that is greater than the sum of parts” outcome in terms of the acreage of land protected and amount of public funding received.