AVALONIA LAND CONSERVANCY INC

Old Mystic, CT   |  www.avalonia.org

Mission

Avalonia land Conservancy, Inc. preserves natural habitats in southeastern Connecticut by acquiring and protecting lands and by communicating the value of these irreplaceable resources.

Ruling year info

1968

Principal Officer

Terri Eickel

Main address

PO Box 49

Old Mystic, CT 06372 USA

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Formerly known as

Mashantucket Land Trust

EIN

06-6103893

NTEE code info

Land Resources Conservation (C34)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

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Communication

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Avalonia is a non-profit, nonpolitical, 501(c) (3) tax-exempt organization with a 50-year history of strategic conservation and conscientious stewardship of the land. Avalonia obtained Land Trust Alliance (LTA) accreditation in 2017. We believe that the conservation of natural resources for the benefit of people and wildlife is essential and will ensure healthy and livable communities for generations to come. While much land in southeastern Connecticut is currently undeveloped, comparatively little of it is protected. The mandated “open space” requirements of local planning and zoning authorities are often met by setting aside lots within developments and subdivisions without regard to their ecological, habitat, aesthetic, recreational or community value. We aim to preserve an ecosystem of habitat value, protecting established forest and wetlands, providing watershed protection and amphibian spawning areas, while providing community value through public access for passive recreation

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Hike and Seek

Avalonia Hike and Seek encourages exploration of our beautiful preserves by children, families, and the general public through a scavenger hunt format. It allows participants to use technology in a simple, positive way to learn about the nature of each preserve and encourage observations and sharing of discoveries!

Population(s) Served

Where we work

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Number of volunteers

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Type of Metric

Context - describing the issue we work on

Direction of Success

Increasing

Our Sustainable Development Goals

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

We are currently engaged in a multifaceted land acquisition program, which will add approximately 2,000 acres to the 3,500 plus acres of open space lands Avalonia currently owns. To accomplish our acquisition-plan objectives, we have developed a five-year capital campaign to systematically pursue a combination of state, federal, and foundation grants coupled with donations from Avalonia members and the local community.

Avalonia Land Conservancy’s vision for now and the future is to:

1. Be the primary regional and leading best-practice land trust in southeastern Connecticut, protecting and conserving natural resources including threatened and declining habitats.
2. Work collaboratively with other land trusts, preservation groups, political entities, not for profits, etc., in the southeastern Connecticut area to conserve key habitats.
3. Grow our Town and Standing Committees to become more robust, fully staffed, and functioning committees to meet stewardship, acquisition, and other organizational requirements.
4, Steward fee properties in accordance with individual management plans and develop public recreational and educational opportunities where appropriate, including compliant universal-access trails where feasible.
5. Monitor all conservation easement properties as required by law and best practices.
maintain and/or return arable lands to productive farming where appropriate through innovative partnering.
6. Strengthen financial support of conserved lands while controlling costs and maintaining transparency.

Avalonia has created a strategic conservation plan with fully-integrated mapping to allow proactive identification of priority acquisition parcels and partnering opportunities in order to achieve the goals of our 2,000 Acre campaign. Avalonia has a Acquisitions team that regularly reviews available properties for possible acquisition.

Avalonia has an organization-wide Stewardship Committee, as well as Town Committees in six towns, who demonstrate deep commitment to successfully stewarding the land appropriately. Volunteers create, mark, and maintain trails, remove invasive vegetation and plant trees and native plants, and monitor use and activity of our properties to ensure the health and well being of our natural resources.

In 2017, Avalonia completed our Land Trust Alliance accreditation. We are currently maintaining our accreditation with a Board of Directors fully versed in LTA practices and standards.

Avalonia has one full-time staff person and one part-time staff person. Avalonia is an almost entirely volunteer organization; stewardship maintenance activities such as trail clearing, boundary posting, habitat improvement and outreach are coordinated by our Stewardship Committee and executed by a corps of volunteers. Our volunteer roster includes more than 160 individuals and numerous community organizations that support our mission.

The overall management of the organization is overseen by a Board of Directors supported by staff and meticulously overseen by our Board President. Avalonia has five standing organization committees - Development, Finance, Stewardship, Acquisition, and Communications. Each committee meets monthly and plans activities in accordance with the goals of that committee.

We are currently engaged in a multifaceted land acquisition program, which will add approximately 2,000 acres to the 3,500 plus acres of open space lands Avalonia currently owns. To accomplish our acquisition-plan objectives, we have developed a five-year capital campaign from 2018 - 2023 to systematically pursue a combination of state, federal, and foundation grants coupled with donations from Avalonia members and the local community. In 2018, we closed on and fully funded the Boyd and Dutka properties in Griswold, CT, which are now integral parcels in the Tri-Town Forest Preserve. As of June 2020, we have acquired 800 acres of our 2,000 acre goal with several properties closing in 2020.

Avalonia will continue our efforts to preserve land until we achieve our 2,000 Acre goal.

Financials

AVALONIA LAND CONSERVANCY INC
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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AVALONIA LAND CONSERVANCY INC

Board of directors
as of 06/10/2020
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Kim Bradley

No affiliation

Term: 2020 - 2023

Julie Dupont-Woody

Dennis Main

Sue Sutherland

James Neil Duncan

Mark Hibbard

Rick Newton

Ron Luich

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 6/8/2020

Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.

Leadership

The organization's leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Female, Not transgender (cisgender)
Sexual orientation
Heterosexual or straight
Disability status
Person without a disability

Race & ethnicity

No data

Gender identity

 

Sexual orientation

No data

Disability

No data