Frequently Asked Questions About Land Trusts 
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 What
is a land trust?
Are you involved in affordable housing or rental
properties?
Are you the Vermont Land Trust?
Are you the Paddlers Trail people?
What sort of land do you protect?
Do you work with private landowners?
Do you prevent hunting and other traditional
uses on your properties?
What is a conservation easement?
If I conserve my land does it have to
be open to the public?
Where does your funding come from?
Where can I get independent detailed financial
information on the Land Trust?
What about all the other Lake Champlain
organizations?
Does "Champ", the Lake Champlain
Monster, exist?
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What is a land trust?
A land trust is a non-profit, voluntary
organization that works hand-in-hand with landowners to protect
America's open spaces and green places. Land trusts use a variety
of tools to help achieve their goals. Conservation easements, land
donations and purchases, as well as strategic estate planning,
are all tools that land trusts use to help communities preserve
valuable open space. 
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Lake Champlain Shoreline |
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Are you involved
in affordable housing or rental properties?
No. We are a conservation
land trust. We permanently conserve land to save its public
access, scenic beauty, and wildlife habitats. There are a number
of excellent housing land trusts in our community that provide
affordable housing and rental properties. Call the Burlington
Community Land Trust at 862-6244 to learn more.
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Are you
the Vermont Land Trust?
No. Vermont is blessed with many
land conservation organizations—each with their own
geographic scope and mission. Our mission is straightforward:
we conserve the lakeshore and natural areas of Lake Champlain.
The Vermont Land Trust is a superb statewide organization
that conserves farmland, working forests, and key community
properties.
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Paddling on Lake Champlain |
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Are you
the paddlers trail people?
No. The Lake Champlain Paddlers trail
is a program of the Lake Champlain Committee. They manage
the trail. We support the Paddlers trail by purchasing
and conserving paddlers trail campsites. These properties
are saved by the Land Trust and then managed for public
access by the paddlers trail. One of our favorites is Law
Island.
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What sort of
land do you protect?
We protect land on and near Lake
Champlain in order to permanently conserve its public access,
scenic beauty, and wildlife habitats. Our smallest property
is Carleton’s Prize, and island in South Hero that is
about 1/10 of an acre. Our largest is Split Rock Mountain in
Essex, NY that is about 2,000 acres. Some land is open to the
public, some is privately held conservation land, and some
is restricted and sensitive endangered species habitat.
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Carleton's Prize |
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Do you work
with private landowners?
Yes! If you are interested in
conserving your own Lake Champlain property, talk to our Director
of Land Conservation, Chris Boget at 862-4150.
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Do you prevent
hunting and other traditional uses on your properties?
No. Most of our public access
properties are open for hiking, snowshoeing, cross-country
skiing, sledding, picnics, hunting, fishing, and bird watching.
There are some common sense limits put on activities in certain
areas.
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Camp Site on Knight Island |
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What is a conservation
easement?
A conservation easement is a legal
document that permanently restricts the use and development
of a property. Sometimes conservation easements are donated
to us, sometimes we purchase them from landowners, and sometimes
we purchase the land outright and then place an easement on
it. For example, we might place a conservation easement on
a natural area that would only allow low-impact recreation
uses such as hiking trails. We might place an easement on a
farm that would only allow the land to be used for agricultural
purposes. We might accept the gift of a conservation easement
from a private landowner that would limit future development
and preserve the beauty of the shoreline. |
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If I conserve
my land does it have to be open to the public?
No. We work with private landowners to
conserve their property's scenic and habitat values. The land
remains private. These family land properties are different
from our lands that are managed expressly for the public's
enjoyment. Some of our family land properties are open for
limited public access, but solely at the landowners discretion. |
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Where does
your funding come from?
We are a private non-profit organization.
Our funding comes from individuals, corporations, landowners, foundations,
state grants, and federal grants.
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Where can
I get independent detailed financial information on the Land
Trust?
A great resource is
www.guidestar.org . You can read our annual IRS filings
and learn more about how we steward our mission and charitable
dollars. Simply go to Guidestar and search for information
on the Lake Champlain Islands Trust, Inc. d/b/a The Lake
Champlain Land Trust.
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What about
all the other Lake Champlain organizations?
There are many non-profit organizations
working to research, enhance, and educate the public about
Lake Champlain. Our mission is straightforward: we conserve
the lakeshore and natural areas of Lake Champlain. For a list
of our friends who are working on other aspects of the Lake,
please visit our links
page.
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Does "Champ",
the Lake Champlain Monster, exist?
The Board and Staff are pretty evenly
split on this issue. We do know there have been at least 300 reported
unexplained sightings over the years, the first report appearing
in the New York Times in 1873. There are probably an equal number
of theories to explain these sightings as something other than Champ.
Proponents suggest that the creatures could be surviving zeuglodons,
a primitive form of whale with a long snake like body. These creatures
have been thought to be long extinct, however fossils of them have
been found a few miles form Lake Champlain in Charlotte, VT. Skeptics
point out that to have a breeding population of such a creature there
would have to be at least 50 of them in the lake. For more answers
go to our Champ page. And for a much fuller explanation,
and the source of most
of
the
above facts go
to: Champ
of Lake Champlain. Other interesting links are:
Champ,
the Lake Champlain Monster
;Champ
a Brief History |
Click to Support
Lake Champlain
Land Trust
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