PRESS RELEASE

Information Contact: Mary Bradford-White
(847)381-4291

Bradford-White of Barrington Area Conservation Trust Appointed to National Land Trust Alliance Committee

November 1, 2004

– Mary Bradford-White, a Barrington Hills resident and president of the Barrington Area Conservation Trust (BACTrust) was recently appointed to the Standards and Practices Program Design Steering Committee of the Land Trust Alliance, the nation’s premier nonprofit service provider to the private land conservation community.

The Land Trust Alliance (LTA) was founded in 1982 and has been a national pioneer in the private land conservation movement. It is the most prominent national organization dedicated to the effectiveness and sustainability of the nation’s land trusts and their use of conservation easements.

Bradford-White was appointed to the LTA’s Standards and Practices Program Design Steering Committee due to her founding and leadership of the Barrington Area Conservation Trust. BACTrust helps area landowners protect their lands primarily through the use of conservation easements. A conservation easement is a legal and binding agreement between and landowner and a qualified conservation organization that protects land while leaving it in private ownership.

Bradford-White’s work on the LTA’s Standards and Practices Program Design Steering Committee began in October 2004. The committee is charged with advising the LTA board and staff on the design of an integrated program of training, assessments, and credentialing. The committee will also seek input from the land trust community about program design. The Steering Committee is composed of 20 representatives from large, medium, and small land trusts, state service centers, foundations, and public agencies from across the country.

“I am honored to have been asked to serve on this committee,” said Bradford-White. “It is a testament to our work here in the Barrington area that BACTrust is the youngest and only small, all-volunteer organization serving on this important committee. Half of all conservation organizations are small, grass-roots groups like ours, and ours was the only organization of its size asked to serve. My appointment speaks to BACTrust’s high standards, its organizational sophistication, and the excellent reputation we have quickly built throughout the conservation community. Our recent work with the McGinley family at Horizon Farms to protect their 420-acre property with an easement was a nationally recognized conservation effort right here in our own backyard. This property, at the corner of Route 62 and Sutton Road, is the largest private conservation easement in the history of Illinois.”

Bradford-White participated in the LTA’s Steering Committee’s initial meeting on October 27, 2004, in Providence, Rhode Island, and she will participate in two additional meetings in February and May 2005. She expects to contribute 10 hours per month to this important endeavor, and her work is expected to contribute greatly to the further success of the Barrington Area Conservation Trust.

The Barrington Area Conservation Trust is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization formed in 2001 to preserve the open land, our rural character, and the scenic, historic, recreational, and ecologically significant resources of Barrington Hills and our nearby communities.