Summit Land Conservancy Earns National Recognition
Park City, August 3, 2011.
Accreditation Awarded by National Land Trust Accreditation Commission.
The Summit Land Conservancy announced today that it has been awarded accredited status by The Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance.
“Accredited land trusts meet national quality standards for protecting important natural places and working lands forever. The accreditation seal lets the public know that the accredited land trust has undergone an extensive, external review of the governance and management of its organization and the systems and policies it uses to protect land.”
said Commission Executive Director, Tammara Van Ryn.
“This was a huge undertaking for our organization. The process represents thousands of dollars, hundreds of hours, and more than 18 months of staff and volunteer effort.”
explains Summit Land Conservancy executive director, Cheryl Fox.
In order to achieve accreditation, the Summit Land Conservancy demonstrated it follows the 12 standards and 26 indicator practices established by the Land Trust Alliance. This meant supplying written, verifiable documents that the Commission could review and analyze.
“The Commission went over everything that our organization does with a fine tooth comb. They read the fine print in the back of our easement templates, they analyzed the reconciliations between our annual review and our tax forms, they scrutinized our conservation activities and our solicitation letters.”
noted Fox.
Achieving and maintaining accreditation demonstrates the Conservancy’s dedication to the highest standards of nonprofit management and conservation practices in the nation.
“We owed it to the donors, the landowners, and most importantly to the open space we protect to be as strong and as efficient as possible.”
Fox said.
Richard Sheinberg, the Conservancy’s past president who helped spearhead the organization’s accreditation process, explains the group’s motivation to put itself through a difficult and rigorous examination.
“Public and private funding sources can look on accreditation as a national stamp of approval that assures them that their funds will be used prudently and effectively. Ultimately this process has made us better, more efficient and more competent at saving land.”
The Conservancy began in 1998 as a project of the Park City Leadership Class IV. Calling itself COOL (Conserving our Open Lands) the organization was dedicated to raising money in Summit County to save land locally. In 2002, the Conservancy became an independent nonprofit land trust, and renamed itself the Summit Land Conservancy. Today, the Conservancy protects more than 2,400 acres through the use of conservation easements. Protected lands include the McPolin Farmlands, much of Round Valley, and land along the Weber River in Eastern Summit County.
“We believe that the seal of accreditation will assist us in our ability to raise the balance of money we need to complete the preservation of the Osguthorpe Farm in Round Valley. Donors can support our efforts with the trust and confidence that we are living up to the highest standards of nonprofit and conservation practices.”
says board president, Linda Karz, speaking of the Conservancy’s largest capital campaign to date.
Land is America’s most important and valuable resource. Conserving land helps ensure clean air and drinking water, food security, scenic landscapes and views, recreational places, and habitat for the diversity of life on earth. Across the country, local citizens and communities have come together to form land trusts to save the places they love. Community leaders in land trusts throughout the country have worked with willing landowners to save over 37 million acres of farms, forests, parks and places people care about. Strong, well-managed land trusts provide local communities with effective champions and caretakers of their critical land resources, and safeguard the land through the generations.
The Summit Land Conservancy is now one of only 135 land trusts (out of a total of some 1,700) from across the country that has been awarded accreditation since the fall of 2008. Accredited land trusts are able to display a seal indicating to the public that they meet national standards for excellence, uphold the public trust and ensure that conservation efforts are permanent. The seal is a mark of distinction in land conservation.
The Land Trust Accreditation Commission, based in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., awards the accreditation seal to community institutions that meet national quality standards for protecting important natural places and working lands forever. The Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance established in 2006, is governed by a volunteer board of diverse land conservation and nonprofit management experts from around the country. The Alliance, of which the Summit Land Conservancy is a member, is a national conservation group based in Washington, D.C. that works to save the places people love by strengthening conservation throughout America.
More information on the accreditation program is available on the Commission’s website, www.landtrustaccreditation.org. More information on the Alliance is available at www.landtrustalliance.org.
Black Diamond Co-founder to Receive Land Trust’s First Award
Park City, Utah September 9, 2010.
The Summit Land Conservancy is pleased to announce that it will honor Peter Metcalf, the President and CEO of Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd. with its first annual Conservation and Sustainability Award.
The award is meant to acknowledge an individual or organization demonstrating exceptional leadership and innovation while helping to improve the environment and quality of life in Summit County, Utah. The award will be presented to Metcalf at the Summit Land Conservancy’s Conservation Breakfast hosted by The Canyons on September 24.
“Peter exemplifies the type of individual this award was created to honor,”
says the Conservancy’s board chair, Richard Sheinberg.
“He has not only established a profitable business, but he has done so while giving back to the community and while also shaping one of the most progressively sustainable businesses in Utah.”
Metcalf co-founded Black Diamond Equipment in 1989 in Ventura, California. The company, headquartered in Salt Lake City since 1991, designs and manufactures innovative climbing, freeride skiing and outdoor equipment. It is known for its strong commitment to conservation and sustainable practices, promoting them as smart business.
Cheryl Fox, executive director of The Summit Land Conservancy, a non-profit conservation organization that protects open space in Summit County, says the group’s new conservation award mirrors its goals,
“By preserving local open spaces, local trails, wildlife habitat, clean water and view-sheds, the Conservancy works daily to both protect the environment and enhance our community’s quality of life.”
Since founding Black Diamond, Metcalf has been named the Small Business Person of the Year from Utah and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year from Utah. Metcalf, his wife Kathy, and their three children live in Park City. When not working, Metcalf enjoys climbing, mountaineering, skiing, trail running, and mountain biking.
For more information about the Conservancy’s Conservation and Sustainability Award and its Conservation Breakfast call 435-649-9884.
SUMMIT COUNTY BEEF TEST PROGRAM RECEIVES ENTHUSIASTIC THUMBS-UP FROM LOCAL SHOPPERS
Local Grass-fed Beef Will Now Be Available for Direct-to-Consumer Purchase
Park City, UT (June 2010) – Following a successful early June pre -pilot program at The Market at Park City that registered strong consumer demand for locally-raised grass-fed beef, with over 1300 pounds of meat sold in less than 2 weeks, the Summit County Beef program is now taking the next step towards making local grass-fed beef readily available to shoppers.
Summit County Beef will be sold direct-to-consumers starting this week, with bulk orders being taken online at www.summitcountybeef.com or (435) 503-4179 for whole and 1/2 Black Angus calves. With a limited supply, orders are first-come/ first- served, and will be delivered late October/ early November at a central pick-up location. A whole beef is $1600, which equates to approximately 250 lbs of total usable beef that takes up approximately 12-13 cubic feet of freezer space. A half beef is $800 and equals approximately 125 lbs of total usable beef that takes up approximately 6-7 cubic feet of freezer space. Credit cards and local checks will be accepted.
Typical cuts from a whole Summit County Beef include:
- Tenderloin
- Rib Eye Steak
- Sirloin Steak
- T- Bone Steak
- Sirloin Tip Roast
- Chuck Roast
- Rump Poast
- Top Round Steak
- Cube Steak
- Short Ribs
- Soup Bones
- Ground beef and/or stew meat
Consumers will have some flexibility in choosing specific cuts and will be contacted in September regarding requests. All orders will be delivered frozen, cut and wrapped in butcher paper, with the name of the cut stamped on the outside of the package.
Interested beef lovers are encouraged to place their orders now since supplies are limited…and because according to Summit County Manager Bob Jasper,
“It’s dang good beef.”
- About Summit County Beef:
- The USDA inspected grass-fed beef is raised without antibiotics by Blazzard Farms in Kamas and Half Circle Cross Ranch just outside of Coalville, and is processed in Utah, thus eliminating long trucking distances and grain-finishing at feed lots. Local grass-fed beef is healthier, has a smaller carbon footprint and means that more money is kept within the local economy, rather than going to feed lots or packers far from Utah.The ultimate goal of the Summit County Beef program is to have local grass-fed beef available at retail for long periods of time. To accomplish this involves expanding the supply of grass-fed cattle and to do so, means that ranchers have to considerably adjust their animal husbandry practices in order to produce a steady supply of high quality grass-fed beef. As an interim measure and to answer the demand for this beef, a larger (but still limited amount) of grass-fed beef is now being offered for sale direct to consumers, while supplies last.