Center of Excellence
Expanding tools and trainings; guaranteeing permanence.
The Center of Excellence has been established as the organizing principal around a voluntary commitment by the Colorado land conservation community to produce conservation easement contracts of the highest possible quality and consistency, that shall be enduring, defensible, transferable and of exceptional conservation value for the citizens of Colorado forever.
A joint venture of the Colorado Conservation Trust and the Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts, the Center of Excellence initiative aims to:
• Establish voluntary Colorado conservation easement standards developed by the land conservation community which increase and clarify fiduciary responsibilities;
• Organize and expand educational programs specifically designed to eliminate on-going easement deficiencies witnessed by government regulators and public and private funding sources;
• Partner with key private sector entrepreneurs to bring modern business practices and tools to the land conservation community that increase efficiency, cut costs, ensure adequate funding, and foster strategic collaborations.
To learn more about the Center of Excellence please contact Brian Ross, executive director. (bross@coct.org)
Moving Forward in 2011
In 2011 we plan officially to launch the Center of Excellence, as a joint venture with the Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts (CCLT). The goals of this joint venture are to establish and finalize the new easement “baseline provisions” described above. The second major objective is to determine how best to offer more rigorous, professional and on-going training programs for land conservation professionals. Further, we currently plan to link this individual educational curriculum to the use of new business practices and tools designed to make the work of local land trusts more professional and efficient. By aiding the land trust organizations in this way, we can continue to help make them stronger and more sustainable.
A key goal of the program is to have the Colorado land trust community develop voluntary easement contract language and standards. There is broad agreement that such standards are essential for the inevitable long term transfer and management of easements. This will be a first-in-the-nation program. We are working with the national Land Trust Alliance on this program and have received $150,000 in Great Outdoors Colorado funding for a portion of the program costs. Additionally, we actively are seeking $150,000 in private matching funds and $200,000 from technology and software companies in support of this exciting new program.