In 2002 The Conservation Fund launched its Great Lakes Revolving Loan Fund with a generous grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Using capital from this source, the Fund provides technical assistance and bridge financing to nonprofit land trusts working to preserve resources within the Great Lakes Basin - the nation's most significant freshwater ecosystem. By 2007 the Mott Foundation's $7.3 million gift allowed the Fund and its partners to protect nearly 20,000 acres, valued at nearly $56 million, across the region.
The Great Lakes Basin includes all of Michigan and portions of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. This is the world's largest freshwater ecosystem, and contains 20% of Earth's fresh surface water. The basin's sand dunes, coastal marshes, rocky shorelines, rivers, streams and wetlands support a rich diversity of wildlife.
But often the areas with the highest ecological value are also the most sought after for development. And the need to respond quickly to land purchase opportunities is growing. Parcels held by families for years are coming up for sale. Rising property taxes are making it impossible for some landowners to keep their property, and mergers and acquisitions lead commercial owners to sell land for cash.
The establishment of the Great Lakes Revolving Loan Fund addresses the critical need of land trusts and public agencies to respond quickly to land or conservation easement purchase opportunities with ready funding.
Because the average wait for public funds or private fundraising campaigns is 18 to 24 months, the bridge funding provided by the loan fund can make a tremendous difference. In the case of many of the GLRLF projects, homes most likely would have been build on the property and the biological, scenic and public access resources would have been lost forever.
Under the provisions of the GLRLF, short-term loans are made to public agencies and nonprofit land trusts for the conservation of coastal and freshwater sites of high ecological significance. Fund are available for two primary types of transactions: direct loans to land trusts and advance purchase of land on behalf of public agencies and/or nonprofits.
Loans from the GLRLF have helped to protect places including:
With the repayment of loans, the GLRLF will be used again for conservation throughout the Great Lakes region. On average, The Conservation Fund uses revolving funds three times every five years. Because the GLRLF will be continuously at work, it has already preserved land valued well in excess of the $7.3 million corpus provided by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.
For more information, contact:
Mike Kelly
kellym@conservationfund.org
989.892.9171
At the Fund we help save wild havens: large, natural spaces for wildlife to be exactly that—wild. Your gift ensures that wildlife, like this bear cub, has the habitat it needs to thrive.
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Phone: 703-525-6300
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