PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • December 30, 2021
As a co-founder of Great Works Regional Land Trust and owner of four properties protected by conservation easements, I can speak with some authority that the op-ed (Dec. 21) by Jerome A. Collins is riddled with errors about land trusts. First, GWRLT pays local property taxes. It receives no special tax benefits. Second, trees sequester carbon. The amount can be calculated. Consult a forester. Third, the citizens of all six towns in our service area have voted to support, through generous funding, acquisitions by our land trust. Townspeople have a direct voice in decisions about open space. Fourth, the overwhelming majority of the trust’s holdings are managed for sustainability by professional foresters. The claim that land trust properties represent a fire hazard is ludicrous, as is the comparison to the fire threat posed by much drier land in California. ~ Joe Hardy, Wells