Essays
The Conservancy for the Range of the Condor (CRC) is a land trust. Its mission is to acquire critical land by buying it, by receiving it as a gift, or by otherwise acquiring rights to such land. By “critical,” we mean land that is mostly undeveloped, is open space, and is adjacent to or near existing large tracts of open space or wilderness.
Our area of interest is the “Range of the Condor,” as our name indicates, and by that we mean what is seen as the probable range of the California Condor in 1800. That means we are focused on the dramatic and demanding—extraordinarily beautiful—lands of eleven western states, plus Alberta and British Colombia, and Baja California and Chihuahua in Northern Mexico. At this moment, our start-up phase, we are doing a lot of research in Monterey County, California, where the founders of this organization live, but we are interested in a natural expansion to the many other regions of the West, and are looking for people with interest in, and knowledge of, the critical lands in those various regions.
We at the CRC believe that large swaths of open space and wilderness are an essential contributor to the balanced well-being of the modern human, and most certainly to the survival of the many animals and plants that inhabit our land. A case could be made that wild land is absolutely necessary to the survival of the human species. We believe that, and we are willing to work very hard to protect what exists, and, further, to create wilderness out of what is no longer wild space, if we can find means and help to do that.
Upon acquiring a parcel of critical land, we will manage it ourselves, or we will turn it over to another non-profit, or to a government agency such as a park district, depending on what we think would provide the best outcome for the property and for its denizens.
As to this organization, right now we are a California Non-Profit Corporation. We are applying for federal tax-exempt status, and expect to receive it by about June of this year. Meanwhile, we can accept tax-deductible donations through our sponsor, SocialGood Fund. This website will be set up so that donations made by credit card will be made to SocialGood, and will be given to us by them. Please look for the “Donate” section of this website.
If you know of lands that we should be looking to acquire, please contact us with your recommendation. If we agree, we will put those lands on our radar, and work to get the resources to acquire them. We would need willing sellers, of course.
If you own lands that you think we should acquire, please contact us. It may be beneficial to you to flatly donate those lands to us. Those benefits may be financial, or they may be for a much better reason—because you love the land, and you want it to have a future in much the same state in which it now thrives. We don’t look only for large parcels; small is good, too—they add up!!
If you can’t donate your land, perhaps we can reach an agreement on a purchase price. If so, we will then work to acquire the cash to make the purchase.
Another possibility is for you to grant us a “Conservation Easement,” in which certain rights that come with ownership are granted to us, For example, you might give up rights to develop the property, or mine it. This works for a lot of people, as they get to retain ownership and use of the land, and donate or sell what they are not using. There is often a tax benefit in such an arrangement.
In closing this introduction to our organization, you should know that the land you have need not be a “critical” property as defined earlier. If you want to contribute to this cause, you could donate non-critically located property to us. For example, if you owned a house in a city, we would be happy to consider accepting that property as a donation. We could possibly sell it to finance purchasing of other land, or we could trade it for critical habitat—an incentive for someone living on the edge of the forest, for example, to move to settled land, and give over his/her own space to vital wilderness. Or, we could rent such a property to finance our day-to-day operations.
Our area of interest is the “Range of the Condor,” as our name indicates, and by that we mean what is seen as the probable range of the California Condor in 1800. That means we are focused on the dramatic and demanding—extraordinarily beautiful—lands of eleven western states, plus Alberta and British Colombia, and Baja California and Chihuahua in Northern Mexico. At this moment, our start-up phase, we are doing a lot of research in Monterey County, California, where the founders of this organization live, but we are interested in a natural expansion to the many other regions of the West, and are looking for people with interest in, and knowledge of, the critical lands in those various regions.
We at the CRC believe that large swaths of open space and wilderness are an essential contributor to the balanced well-being of the modern human, and most certainly to the survival of the many animals and plants that inhabit our land. A case could be made that wild land is absolutely necessary to the survival of the human species. We believe that, and we are willing to work very hard to protect what exists, and, further, to create wilderness out of what is no longer wild space, if we can find means and help to do that.
Upon acquiring a parcel of critical land, we will manage it ourselves, or we will turn it over to another non-profit, or to a government agency such as a park district, depending on what we think would provide the best outcome for the property and for its denizens.
As to this organization, right now we are a California Non-Profit Corporation. We are applying for federal tax-exempt status, and expect to receive it by about June of this year. Meanwhile, we can accept tax-deductible donations through our sponsor, SocialGood Fund. This website will be set up so that donations made by credit card will be made to SocialGood, and will be given to us by them. Please look for the “Donate” section of this website.
If you know of lands that we should be looking to acquire, please contact us with your recommendation. If we agree, we will put those lands on our radar, and work to get the resources to acquire them. We would need willing sellers, of course.
If you own lands that you think we should acquire, please contact us. It may be beneficial to you to flatly donate those lands to us. Those benefits may be financial, or they may be for a much better reason—because you love the land, and you want it to have a future in much the same state in which it now thrives. We don’t look only for large parcels; small is good, too—they add up!!
If you can’t donate your land, perhaps we can reach an agreement on a purchase price. If so, we will then work to acquire the cash to make the purchase.
Another possibility is for you to grant us a “Conservation Easement,” in which certain rights that come with ownership are granted to us, For example, you might give up rights to develop the property, or mine it. This works for a lot of people, as they get to retain ownership and use of the land, and donate or sell what they are not using. There is often a tax benefit in such an arrangement.
In closing this introduction to our organization, you should know that the land you have need not be a “critical” property as defined earlier. If you want to contribute to this cause, you could donate non-critically located property to us. For example, if you owned a house in a city, we would be happy to consider accepting that property as a donation. We could possibly sell it to finance purchasing of other land, or we could trade it for critical habitat—an incentive for someone living on the edge of the forest, for example, to move to settled land, and give over his/her own space to vital wilderness. Or, we could rent such a property to finance our day-to-day operations.