The Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust is planning for the year ahead with the expectation of a surge in conservation interest.

Last year, the BRRLT celebrated its 10th anniversary and helped preserve about 1,900 acres, many of them smaller tracts.

It also boosted membership to 323 members and raised about $120,000 through fundraising in addition to 21 grants received.

Ashe County conservationist Walter Clark was hired as deputy director.

BRRLT executive director James Coman said even with the good numbers, the current year looks even busier as more people learn about conservation easements.

Additionally, the economic downturn and slumping housing market has opened up more landowner interest in easements.

“We’ve had a number of potential properties show up because deals with developers disappeared,” Coman said. “We have had an unusual number of inquiries, starting in the fall.”

Coman and other land conservationists believe the housing slump is creating a window of opportunity for land trusts as development slows down and people either desire tax breaks from donation easements or are willing to sell their land at a reduced rate in order to conserve it.

Coman said each conservation easement is unique, and it’s a time-consuming process to craft legal arrangements to meet the needs of the land trust and the individual property owner.

Some landowners only want to give up certain development or land-use rights while others want the land to remain pristine.

“It’s all over the board,” Coman said. “Some want to conserve entire tracts and other people, who don’t have a clue about how conservation easements work, want to sell to us at market price rather than develop it. We’re having continuous interest in conservation.”

Coman expects BRRLT will top its conserved acreage total from last year. “There are a number of projects we’ve carried forward into this year and expect to conserve far more land in 2008,” he said.

One of the land trust’s major long-term projects is in managing easements for the Ginn Company’s Laurelmor development in southeastern Watauga County.

The resort development is committing up to 2,750 acres to conservation easements in three phases. That constitutes more than a third of the entire development tract.

The Laurelmor conservation easement permanently protects 64 miles of trout streams and 20 acres of wetlands, and Coman said the donation was significant not only for its size, but for the commitment in protecting the most ecologically sensitive parts of the property. The first phase of 616 acres was dedicated in October.

Major projects on the radar for this year include 712 acres in Wilkes County, 41 acres on Beech Mountain and a 1,825-acre easement on Pond Mountain in Ashe County that’s a joint project of BRRLT, N.C. Department of Natural Resources, High Country Conservancy and the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.

Another 1,000 acres in projects are scattered across the seven-county region served by the land trust. Several projects will be funded through the N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund.

BRRLT also pays for all its positions through private fundraising, without using grant money.

Coman expects more positions will be funded soon, as labor resources and time constraints are now becoming one of the limiting factors in the number of easements.

“As always, we’re trying to develop as many easements as we can and as many tracts as we can,” Coman said. “We’re pushing things along as fast we can.”

With the conservation atmosphere ripe for more land preservation, Coman said landowners now have a better understanding of what easements are and the advantages for the landowners and the public.

“More and more people and attorneys and accountants know what a conservation easement is,” he said. “Much more so than was the case 10 years ago. So, there’s less education needed.”