AF Featured in Sault This Week: U.S. Group Repatriates Canadian Wild Lands

American Friends of Canadian Conservation has operated since 2007 with the goal of protecting Canada’s natural heritage by helping American owners of Canadian lands navigate their way through the complicated legal and tax requirements that come with being cross-border landowners. “They often don’t know that they’re Canadian taxpayers and they can’t just give the land to their kids,” Sandra Tassel, American Friends program coordinator, told Sault This Week. “We’ve had people come, ready to donate their property, and find out they have a whopping tax bill because they didn’t know they had to pay capital gains in Canada when they got it from their parents.”

Cross-border Conservation Training Program

Recognizing that American-owned lands are key conservation properties in many land trust catchment areas in Ontario, the Ontario Trillium Foundation has provided funding over three years to American Friends and Ontario Land Trust Alliance to launch the Cross-border Conservation Training Program (CCTP) in 2016.
Little Annapolis Lake

US Enhanced Conservation Easement Tax Incentive

Last week the US Congress gave a wonderful year end gift to preservation advocates, protection-oriented landowners and anyone who values natural, wild places. In a bi-partisan vote that reflects Americans’ interest in conservation, irrespective of their other political leanings, both the House and Senate voted to make the “Enhanced Conservation Easement Tax Incentive” permanent and retroactive to the beginning of 2015. Here’s what that means to American Friends, its partners and US taxpayers who own ecologically-sensitive land, including in Canada.
St. John Point, a 64-acre waterfront property on Mayne Island, is going to be a new regional park in the Southern Gulf Islands of British Columbia, thanks to a unique collaboration.

American Friends of Canadian Conservation and Partners Create New Park in British Columbia at St. John Point

St. John Point, a 64-acre waterfront property on Mayne Island, is going to be a new regional park in the Southern Gulf Islands of British Columbia, thanks to a unique collaboration. At the southwest tip of Mayne Island, St. John Point features 1.3 miles of pristine shoreline complete with beaches, a series of dramatic coastal bluffs connected by meandering trails through mature Douglas Fir forest, a prime remnant of a rare Salish Sea ecological zone, and extensive eelgrass beds. Located near the international border, Mayne Island is served by the BC Ferries system, making it accessible for low-impact, oceanfront recreation.
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See beautiful St. John Point

Learn about the St. John Point transaction in these videos.
Canada 150 certificate
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American Friends’ leaders named to ‘Canada 150’ Conservation Honour Roll

American Friends is proud to acknowledge that Sandra Tassel, American Friends Program Coordinator and President of Look at the Land Inc, is one of the most recent inductees to the 'Canada 150' Conservation Honour Roll.
St. John Point, a 64-acre waterfront property on Mayne Island, is going to be a new regional park in the Southern Gulf Islands of British Columbia, thanks to a unique collaboration.
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American Friends Mentioned in CBC News Article “New Regional Park Coming to B.C.’s Mayne Island”

Conservationists, local governments and Southern Gulf Island residents are celebrating a new regional park. Their successful fundraising campaign has allowed for the purchase of 26 hectares on Mayne Island known as St. John Point.

Knowledge is the Power Behind Protection

Conservation is all about people. Our activities threaten habitat for all species. On the other hand, our passion for nature provides the inspiration for preservation. We are cause and cure. Land trusts provide knowledge and support to people who are inspired to act on behalf of nature, and future generations.
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The Journey to Ontario’s First Cross-border Conservation Easement – Echo Island

Having survived our maiden voyage, we are now in the process of protecting 3 more properties on Rainy Lake with American Friends. It has been rewarding to work with such professionals. They are first and foremost individuals committed to conservation, a shared goal that drives land trusts to venture into uncharted waters!
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Grand Manan, Bay of Fundy – Partnership with The Nature Trust of New Brunswick

n the days before Christmas a landmark conservation gift permanently protected a significant coastal property known as Seven Days Work Cliff on the beautiful island of Grand Manan in the Bay of Fundy. The Nature Trust of New Brunswick (NTNB) and a US charity called American Friends of Canadian Land Trusts (American Friends) formed a unique partnership that made this “cross-border” donation of land in the province possible.