FONTANA-The Geneva Lake Conservancy is one of 22 conservancies in 19 states that will test an accreditation process intended to satisfy Congress that land trusts deserve federal tax credits.
"We volunteered. We actively sought to be a part of this," said James Celano, Geneva Lake Conservancy director. "We're 25 years old. We've got a good track record. I want to prove to people who want to do conservancy work that we are the best."
The Geneva Lake Conservancy, headquartered in Fontana, is the only Wisconsin conservancy in the pilot program. It serves southeastern Walworth County, with special focus on the communities around Geneva Lake.
The conservancy has about 880 acres under easement, forever protecting the environmentally sensitive lands.
Celano said that about five years ago questions were raised about oversight of conservancy land in the eastern United States. The federal government began taking a closer look at conservancies, because federal tax credits are connected to creating land trusts.
The Land Trust Alliance, an association of the more than 1,660 land trusts across the country, went to Congress and promised to set up a nationwide accreditation program for land trusts.
The accreditation commission selected groups to include a diversity of land trust sizes, locations and types of land protected.
If the program works, it will be a sort of "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval" for land conservancies, Celano said.
Initial responses to the accreditation commission are due in April, Celano said. The commission will begin reviewing those responses in July, he said.
This year, some of the conservancies in the program will be visited by accreditation staff and will have their files and land monitoring operations reviewed. In 2008, the alliance is expected to decide whether the accreditation process is fair and workable and whether it should be implemented, Celano said.
Land trusts then would join museums, zoos, aquariums, colleges and hospitals as nonprofit organizations that gain professional recognition through accreditation.
