Conservation covenants and TLC A ten year retrospective

Conservation covenants and TLC: A ten year retrospective ESRI User Conference, Thursday, June 21, 2007 Presented by: Christina Waddle Regional Manager Vancouver Island/Coast Region

Special Places. Forever, for Everyone.

Presentation Overview • Introduction to TLC • What are conservation covenants? • Conservation covenants and TLC • The future: GIS and covenant management Arbutus tree, Arbutus menziesii

What is TLC? • Charitable, non-profit land trust, protecting private land in BC

What is a conservation covenant? • Legal agreement between a landowner and a conservation organization, binds current and future owners • Very similar to a conservation easement in the US • Restricts use of the land to protect certain values • Legislated by Land Title Act amended in 1994 • Increasing land prices increase value of covenants Sea blush, Plectritis congesta

Land Ownership in British Columbia

Top 5% Rarity Hotspots in British Columbia Prepared by G. G. E. Scudder, University of British Columbia Department of Zoology and Centre for Biodiversity Research

First Steps in the Conservation Covenant process • Landowner submits application to TLC, review and approval process • Once approved, several steps are required prior to registration

From Approval to Registration • Baseline Documentation Report • Covenant document drafting • Possible survey and/or appraisal report

Registered covenant management • After registration, annual monitoring is required • Landowner visits for danger trees, waivers, violations, etc. • Dealing with violations

Trincomali Nature Sanctuary

Conservation Covenant Successes • Protect over 1300 hectares, with over 150 individual covenants • Leading the way on covenants in BC, cooperation with the Land Trust Alliance of British Columbia and others • Cooperation with landowners and the community

Conservation Covenant Challenges • Accurate and complete baseline inventories • Annual monitoring obligations • Violations • ‘Development Covenants’ • Second generation landowners • Solutions… one will include GIS

The Future: Covenant management and GIS • Develop geodatabase to store and display data, and generate maps for baseline documentation reports • Accurate and complete baseline inventories • Complete and georeferenced record of monitoring observations and violations • Additional program for properties we own and manage, including possible future research

For more information contact: Christina Waddle Regional Manager Vancouver Island/Coast Region cwaddle@conservancy. bc. ca (250)479 -8301 Thank you to the Society for Conservation GIS International Scholarship Program.