It can be difficult to make the case for conservation to local leaders who must balance many community needs.
When speaking with local officials, SVT explains that conservation has many "co-benefits" that have tangible economic values, such as reducing flood risks and improving public health. Thanks to a working group of the Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition (MLTC), which was led by SVT, we now have data to support our assertions about the value of nature's services.
The working group partnered with consultant Jessica Sargent from Primrose Research Group to develop a toolkit of materials that anyone can download and use to educate, inform, or advocate for land conservation in their community.
We encourage you to use these materials in your own local advocacy.
Toolkit Components
- How Conserving Open Space Provides Economic Benefits to Massachusetts Communities, a 29-page white paper that summarizes some of the latest data about Massachusetts.
- How Conserving Open Space Provides Economic Benefits to Massachusetts Communities, a 2-page document that encapsulates the information in the white paper; this is a great item to hand out to your audience.
- Economic Benefits of Open Space to Massachusetts Communities, a PowerPoint presentation that can be customized to address the needs and concerns of individual towns and cities (available from the MLTC website),
- Economic Benefits of Open Space to Massachusetts Communities, a PDF of the PowerPoint presentation.
- User Guide to the PowerPoint presentation.