Congratulations to First Place Winner, David K. Cairns, Tradition Category

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Congratulations to First Place Winner of the Tradition Category, David K. Cairns, for his photo titled A Range Light Stands Guard. The photograph was taken in Bellevue Cove, Prince Edward Island.

This summer, with the Canada/USA border closed and travel within Canada restricted, many of us were missing people and places that we love. So American Friends of Canadian Conservation invited you to share your favorite Canadian locations in the Oh, Canada Photo Contest.

We received over 500 photographs from Canadian and American entrants. The winners in each of the contest categories were determined by the number of online votes received. American Friends encouraged its Canadian conservation partners to recruit contest entries and promote voting for those images.

Visit the photo contest winners page of American Friends’ website to see the Grand Prize Winner and Runners Up as well as the most popular images in each category.

Help American Friends and it partner organizations to protect the Canadian places you love with a contribution to support our work.

Contact Sandra Tassel, Program Coordinator, for information on how to conserve your Canadian property.

Congratulations to Denise Burns, Grand Prize Winner of the “Oh, Canada” Photo Contest

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This summer, with the Canada/USA border closed and travel within Canada restricted, many of us were missing people and places that we love. So American Friends of Canadian Conservation invited you to share your favorite Canadian locations in the Oh, Canada Photo Contest.

We received over 500 photographs from Canadian and American entrants. Well-known professional photographer and teacher John D’Onofrio selected the Grand Prize Winner and four Runners Up. John is the owner/editor/publisher of Adventures NW Magazine and his work has been featured in many publications and exhibits.

“There were lots of good compositions” said John. His technical criteria for selecting the winners were “…good capture, sharp focus, unflawed images.” If a photograph was digitally modified, John evaluated whether it had been “…manipulated well.” John praised Grand Prize Winner Denise Burn’s photo for its technical and artistic caliber. In keeping with the theme of the contest, John was also seeking “..uniquely Canadian images that conveyed ambiance of place.”

The winners in each of the contest categories were determined by the number of online votes received. American Friends encouraged its Canadian conservation partners to recruit contest entries and promote voting for those images.

Visit the photo contest winners page of American Friends’ website to see all of John D’Onofrio’s selections and the most popular images in each category.

Help American Friends and it partner organizations to protect the Canadian places you love with a contribution to support our work.

Contact Sandra Tassel, Program Coordinator, for information on how to conserve your Canadian property.

Sandra Tassel

Oh Canada 2020 Photo Contest

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This summer everything is different, especially for the individuals, families and communities with connections to Canada’s many beloved holiday destinations. We are missing so many features of these places – cottages, camps, canoes, forests, lakes, shores, wildlife, hiking, swimming and each other.

Show everyone your favorite Canadian place and activity in American Friends of Canadian Conservation’s photography contest!

If you are passionate about Canada’s natural and cultural heritage, join your friends, family and neighbors for a virtual holiday by enjoying and sharing your own photographic memories, and seeing everyone else’s favorite corner of Canada. Give it your best shot! Inspire others with your images of Canada’s nature, offer a peek into your ideal vacation day, give your community a visual high-five for its special event, demonstrate your camera skills!  The contest is open to all amateur photographers. Photos may be submitted between August 15, 2020 and September 15, 2020. You may vote anytime between now and September 30, 2020. The winners will be announced by October 15, 2020.

Select your best images in these seven categories:

  • Landscapes (can include people, but they are not the subject)
  • Water (can include people, but they are not the subject)
  • People in Nature (primary subject is a person)
  • Wildlife (including fish and insects)
  • Plants, Trees and Flowers
  • Events (public, community-oriented activities)
  • Tradition (including built environment, man-made objects)

Visit American Friends’ Oh Canada 2020 Photography Contest to read about the contest rules, timing and Prizes!

The winner of each category will be awarded a commemorative, dated decorative tile from Motawi Tileworks of Ann Arbor Michigan. View the stunning Motawi Tiles in greater detail.

 

 

Canadian Conservation is Our Business – and Our Name

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When Canadian and American conservation professionals created the U.S. charity named American Friends of Canadian Land Trusts in 2006, they expected land trusts would partner with the new organization to protect Canada’s natural heritage. And they were right! Since completing our first land donation in 2011, American Friends of Canadian Conservation and its land trust partners in five provinces have permanently protected approximately 3,000 acres comprising 26 high priority properties. These land and easement gifts from over 40 individual US taxpayers have an appraised value of close to $17M USD. In addition, in the past six years alone, Friends has made grants totaling nearly $3.5M USD to its Canadian partners.

Happily, over the years, government agencies, First Nations, educational institutions and a variety of conservation advocacy entities have also advanced their conservation missions through partnerships with American Friends.

Recently, American Friends’ board decided the organization needed a new name to better reflect the full range of current and potential partnerships. They chose American Friends of Canadian Conservation to express the full spectrum of possible collaborations and the extent of the impact we hope to have within the Canadian conservation community.

The majority of American Friends’ completed land and conservation easement transactions were collaborations with Canadian land trusts. They range from some of Canada’s largest and most capable, including Nova Scotia Nature Trust and Bruce Trail Conservancy, to some of the newest, all-volunteer organizations. American Friends’ commitment to Canada’s land trust community is unwavering. We have seen how much value our cooperative projects have produced in terms of mentoring, experience, financial support and mission achievement. Building a bigger network of entities involved in cross-border conservation will also help American Friends build its own capacity to assist land trusts by making our organization more sustainable.

We are delighted by the cross-border conservation and funding opportunities American Friends is receiving from government agencies and other partners such as provincial parks agencies, municipal governments and Ontario conservation authorities. We’ve recently begun working with First Nations too. This wider array of partners means that American Friends is able to better achieve its dual objectives of protecting ecologically significant lands in Canada that are owned by US taxpayers and bringing additional financial support from the USA.

Educating all parties involved in cross-border conservation will also continue to be a high priority for American Friends of Canadian Conservation, because we can have an expansive impact by sharing our unique knowledge about bi-national tax incentives. The new website has updated and new resources for land conservation organizations, landowners and their professional advisors. Download and share Save Some Green: a handbook for US taxpayers who own land in Canada. This publication is a product of American Friends’ partnership with the Ontario Land Trust Alliance (OLTA) It is an excellent starting place for anyone who wants to understand the valuable financial incentives available to US landowners who donate title to or an easement on their Canadian properties. Print copies of Save Some Green are available from American Friends of Canadian Conservation or OLTA.

All of us at American Friends of Canadian Conservation look forward to working with our existing and future partners to increase financial and land donations from US taxpayers who care about a special part of Canada and want to protect strategic properties they own in a financially realistic way!

For more information please contact Program Coordinator, Sandra Tassel, at 360-515-7171  or by email at sandra.tassel@conservecanada.org.

 

 

 

 

Conservation without Borders – A new initiative in British Columbia

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Beautiful, bountiful and balmy British Columbia (BC) has been a magnet for Canadians and Americans alike. Ecosystems, watersheds, wildlife corridors and Indigenous cultures extended on both sides of the 49th parallel north that now divides our two countries. Businesses including timber, shipping, fishing and tourism were relatively borderless, until recently. As a consequence of this interwoven history, US taxpayers own extensive acreage in BC. For example, data from the Islands Trust, the planning entity for the Southern Gulf Islands, indicates that approximately 30% of the private lands are American-owned.

BC land trusts working in some of the province’s most ecologically-significant and scenic landscapes recognize that US taxpayers own high priority conservation properties. In response, the Land Trust Alliance of British Columbia and American Friends of Canadian Conservation (American Friends) launched the Conservation without Borders program. We are grateful to the McLean Foundation and Vancouver Foundation for providing core funding for this new initiative.

Our overarching goal is to increase the capacity of BC conservation organizations to secure important properties owned wholly or partly by US taxpayers – referred to as “cross-border conservation.” We will achieve that goal by ensuring that LTABC members know how US and Canadian income tax benefits make gifts of land financially attractive for U.S. owners. Conservation can be an important estate-planning tool!

In the first phase of Conservation without Borders, LTABC and American Friends will be working with land trusts to:

  • assess the opportunities for cross-border conservation
  • determine how best to support organizations serving areas with high levels of American ownership
  • provide resources and education for these organizations, and
  • create a framework and budget for a multi-year program, if we learn that LTABC members feel it would be valuable.

Two BC cross-border transactions – one on Mayne Island, the other on Gabriola Island – offer a glimpse into the potential impact and benefits from our Conservation without Borders program.

We are building on the excellent groundwork developed through a similar program in Ontario that concluded at the end of 2018, after three productive years. One product was Save Some Green: a handbook for US taxpayers who own land in Canada which is the single best resource for anyone interested in cross-border conservation incentives. LTABC and American Friends will be creating BC versions of some of the Ontario materials while also implementing new approaches based on lessons learned.

If our work and outreach during Phase I reveal that there is strong interest on the part of BC land trusts, and opportunities for important conservation outcomes, LTABC and American Friends will initiate additional phases of Conservation Without Borders.

For more information on the program, how to participate or to donate to help the partnership and cross-border conservation, contact Sandra Tassel, American Friends’ Program Coordinator, sandra.tassel@conservecanada.org or Paul McNair, Executive Director, LTABC, paul@ltabc.ca

 

American Friends’ Leaders Lauded in Ontario

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Three individuals who have shaped cross-border conservation were recognized with awards by the Ontario Land Trust Alliance (OLTA). Current director Allyn Abbott and long-serving former director Christopher Baines were honored with the Angus McLeod Vision Award for volunteer service. Sandra Tassel, a former director and officer, who now serves as American Friends’ Program Coordinator, received the OLTA Vision Award for a land trust professional.

L to R, Alison Howson, Executive Director of Ontario Land Trust Alliance with award winners Sandra Tassel, Allyn Abbott and Christopher Baines (all associated with American Friends) and Shining Waters from RARE.

From OLTA’s website:

There were two recipients for the Angus McLeod Vision Award: Allyn Abbott and Christopher Baines.

“Allyn Abbott has been dedicated to the land trust movement for more than 14 years. She joined the board of Muskoka Heritage Trust in 2004. She lead the merger that formed the Muskoka Conservancy as its president and remains on the board and serves as chair of the Land Acquisition and Management Committee. Allyn willingly shares her knowledge to any staff and directors.”

Christopher Baines has been a “force of nature” and a “force for nature” within Ontario’s land trust community for over twenty-five years. He has been a triple-threat – or perhaps, more accurately, a triple advocate – for the land trust community, active at the local, provincial and international levels in a wide variety of capacities.

There was one recipient of the OLTA Vision award – Sandra Tassel.

Sandra Tassel serves as Program Coordinator for American Friends, applying nearly 30 years’ experience in conservation acquisitions in the U.S. and Canada. Through Sandy’s careful stewardship, American Friends has been the leading pioneer for cross-border conservation in Canada. In working with OLTA, its member organizations and collaborators, Sandy has been a creative, supportive and strategic ally and knowledgeable resource for Ontario’s land trust community.”

Canadian-American Cross-Border Conservation Success

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Drache Aptowitzer LLP, recognized as one of Canada’s foremost experts in the law related to charities and non-profit organizations, recently published a story about a conservation donation in Georgian Bay, Ontario. The Georgian Bay Land Trust (GBLT) had an opportunity to protect an undeveloped island featuring undisturbed stands of White Pine and Red Oak, open rock barrens and coastal meadow marsh, ideal habitat for rare species.

Read the full story

Conservation on Prince Edward Island, Island Nature Trust

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American Friends’ newest partnership, with Island Nature Trust (INT), can contribute to national success on both fronts by helping to increase protected lands in the province of Prince Edward Island (PEI).

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Beloved New Reserve Inspired by Happy Old Memories

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Barry Graham says he “gets goosebumps” when he visits Magnetawan Watershed Land Trust’s (MWLT) new conservation area, known as the Old Man’s Creek Reserve. The 240 acre property, with its landmark waterfall, and namesake waterway, was one of the first in Ontario to be transferred from American Friends to a Canadian partner organization.

The lands and waters encompassed by the Reserve have been part of Graham’s life since he was an infant, and his family brought him from Rome, Georgia to their summer home on Ahmic Lake nearly 70 years ago. Graham, who is the
president of the MWLT board and now a resident of Washington DC, recalls canoeing across the lake to Old Man’s Creek.

Many other Ahmic Lake cottagers and local residents of the local community share fond memories of exploring this beautiful property. So there was widespread consternation when a developer bought the land and secured approval for a subdivision on the creek; threatening Ahmic Lake’s pristine water quality and closing access to the iconic falls.

To avoid destruction of their venerated retreat, area property owners formed MWLT to pursue its permanent protection. They were inspired by Ted Rouse, who promised to acquire the land and donate it for conservation if his neighbors created a conservation organization that could assist with a cross-border gift.

So it was that MWLT was one of American Friends’ early transaction partners, and Ted Rouse an essential early supporter. In 2012, he donated the majority of the land that is now the Reserve to American Friends. Since then MWLT has been managing the property to both preserve its natural qualities and make it available for visitors, young and old, to enjoy.

Graham reports that the public access has won fans from around the community, including elected officials who view the preserved land and trails as an asset for tourism.

Thanks to the generosity of Rouse and major contributors who acquired other parcels in the Reserve, and the efforts of volunteers from both MWLT and American Friends, Old Man’s Creek and the lands that surround it will remain undeveloped and as beautiful as Graham remembers them.

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Announcing Save Some Green: guide for US owners of Canadian Property

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FINALLY! A guide for US owners of Canadian Property

Download Save Some Green: A Handbook for US Taxpayers

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