{"id":119161,"date":"2014-07-09T22:23:08","date_gmt":"2014-07-10T04:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/land-conservancy-names-leibowitz-new-executive\/"},"modified":"2014-07-09T22:23:08","modified_gmt":"2014-07-10T04:23:08","slug":"land-conservancy-names-leibowitz-new-executive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/land-conservancy-names-leibowitz-new-executive\/","title":{"rendered":"Land Conservancy names Leibowitz new executive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Jon
Jon Leibowitz discusses a land conservancy parcel east of Dove Creek.<\/span>Sam Green\/Cortez Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

After a two-year internship and stint as director, Jon Leibowitz has been promoted to executive director of the Montezuma Land Conservancy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my dream job, and I plan to carry on the successful efforts of my predecessors, staff and board of directors,\u201d said Leibowitz, who recently moved to Dolores.<\/p>\n

Since MLC was formed in 1998, the group has created 76 conservation easements with volunteer landowners, mostly in Montezuma and Dolores counties, and also in San Miguel county.<\/p>\n

The easements protect 37,022 acres of traditional ranching operations, irrigated and dry-land farms, open space, and wildlife habitat in perpetuity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would like to do more outreach into San Miguel County as well,\u201d Leibowitz said.<\/p>\n

Conservation easements permanently limit development through the deed, and stay intact even if the property is sold. They also provide tax breaks that can be sold for profit, payments for conservation efforts from Colorado Parks and Wildlife, all while preserving farm and ranch operations.<\/p>\n

Leibowitz, 29, has been working toward a professional career in land conservation since first learning about them in college. He has a bachelor\u2019s degree in political science from the University of Colorado, and a law degree and master\u2019s in environmental policy from the Vermont School of Law.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up in a rural area with my grandfather and was inspired to protect agricultural land and that traditional way of life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Since being named as the new director in April, he has revamped the newsletter into a more eye-pleasing format, dealt with the sticky legal question of whether transferable development rights are valid on conservation easements (there not), conducted landowner outreach, and given a media tour of easement properties.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019d like to emphasize is that land conservation easements are strictly voluntary, and do not prohibit all uses. They limit development, yes, but current and future home sites are worked into the agreement based on landowner needs,\u201d he said. \u201cFarm and ranching operations continue, fences are still used, and water sources are protected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Land conservation efforts also include protecting wildlife habitat on private land when possible \u2013 locally, the controversial Gunnison sage grouse in the Dolores and San Miguel county area. The bird is being considered for listing on the Endangered Species List, but the decision has been delayed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife, in part to determine if local efforts to protect the bird are adequate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a sensitive subject, but one that has opened up discussion about how to protect the bird,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

MLC holds easements for wildlife purposes in the Gunnison sage grouse habitat in the Dove Creek area. The recently finalized Marsh easement, for example, includes 733 acres of sage grouse habitat east of Dove Creek.<\/p>\n

The easement permits limited livestock grazing that is consistent with protecting the conservation values specific to the property.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important for folks to know that conservation easements do not prohibit agricultural use of the property,\u201d Leibowitz said.<\/p>\n

MLC had a banner year in 2013, closing on eight projects totaling 2,908 acres of permanently protected land. It was the strongest year since 2008.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur continued success is testament to the fact that our humble little corner of Colorado is filled with local landowners and citizens committed to open-space preservation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For more information, go to http:\/\/www.montezumaland.org\/ or call (970) 565-1664<\/p>\n

jmimiaga@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

preserve ranches and farms<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6363],"tags":[188],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-119161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ds-news","tag-dolores-star"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119161"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=119161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}