Picone Farm

Picone Farm. Photograph by Jerry Monkman of EcoPhotography, courtesy of Wildlands Trust.

Strengthening Land Trusts. Advancing Land Conservation.

audience

Register for the 2025 Mass. Land Conservation Conference!

Taking place this year on Friday, March 23 at UMass Amherst. With 23 workshops, a keynote address by Congressman Jim McGovern, pre-conference talks by some of our key sponsors, a host of exhibitors, the opportunity to catch up with colleagues and friends from across the state, and time to have discussions about the conservation topics that interest you the most -- the Conference is the place to be! More info / conference portal. Register

Calendar

  • Feb20

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    Quarterly Zoom for All-Volunteer Land Trusts (AVLTs)

    via Zoom

    The focus topic this quarter will be "Stewardship Management & Recordkeeping Tools". Share your experiences and/or bring questions for your AVLT colleagues. Last quarter's call on Databases was especially engaging, so join us this month for another "tech" talk. Part of MLTC's Stronger Together networking program. This call will not be recorded.

  • Feb27

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    Tax Benefits for Land Protection: A Primer for Land Trusts

    via Zoom

    Land protection staff should possess a good working knowledge of the various tax benefits associated with the types of land acquisitions. We cannot give legal or tax advice, but we can expose landowners to these concepts and potential strategies. Most landowners want to preserve their property because they love it…but tax breaks are a great incentive to get them to follow through. In this one-hour Zoom session we will touch on local, state and federal types of tax savings. We will also provide an interactive tax worksheet as a takeaway for attendees to use on their own. Q. If you are a low income landowner with a high value property, what is the best way to donate it and maximize tax benefits? If you know how these tax benefits all work together, you will know the right answer. The workshop will be led by Rob Warren and Mark Robinson who have more than 80 years total experience working with hundreds of landowners.

  • Mar7

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    March 2025 Conservation Partner Meeting

    via Zoom

    Land trust staff and board members as well as conservation partners are welcome to this quarterly meeting, featuring relevant news from state agencies, a timely update on state and federal policy matters, announcements, and a featured topic.  Formerly known as "Steering Committee Meetings", these meetings are convened by MLTC's Partner...

Updates

  • February 6, 2025

    Reports of Conference Attendee Lists Being Offered for Sale

    MLTC staff and a number of our contacts have recently received emails from multiple senders, offering to sell a list of Visitors/Attendees to the March 21 Mass. Land Conservation Conference being held at UMass Amherst. We believe this is a malicious phishing attempt, in that the data they are offering to sell does not match information we are collecting.

    Please click the title of this summary for details.

  • January 31, 2025

    Concerns Over Federal Grant and Loan Freeze Impacting Nonprofits

    Since January 20th, a series of executive orders and memos from the Trump administration have raised concerns for nonprofits, particularly regarding a freeze on federal grants and loans. The Office of Management and Budget issued a memo calling for a freeze on nearly all federal grants and loans, effectively pausing funds that had been appropriated by Congress. A judge temporarily blocked this freeze until February 3, citing the need for more time to evaluate the broad implications of the order. The situation has developed quickly, and as of January 29, the administration reversed the freeze with a brief two-sentence memo.....

    Please click the title of this summary to access links