Mississippi Valley Conservancy looking to the future

Group currently going through accreditation process

Hundreds of hours will get put into a process by a La Crosse-based conservancy in order to help convince landowners its mission is a permanent one.

The Mississippi Valley Conservancy is working on an accreditation process in part because would-be donors need to have confidence the land they’re allowing the group to put aside won’t simply get plowed under and turned into a subdivision decades from now.

That’s partly why the group is going through an accreditation process right now. It’s huge for convincing donors about the conservancy’s permanence, says MVC head Carol Abrahamzon, as is a pretty hefty endowment fund.

“That fund is the most imp thing that any land trust can have if they’re going to hold easements,” Abrahamzon said.

Public comments on the MVC’s work are being accepted now by the independent accreditation wing of the Land Trust Alliance.  

The MVC has helped permanently preserve about 17,000 acres of land in the region over the last 20 years.

“Our whole staff here, and our board, really feel like we need to do thins right and we need to do them well,” Abrahamzon said. “Because we’re here forever, what does that mean 100 years from now?”