Good news, John: We've crossed the halfway mark towards our Giving Tuesday goal, thanks to the gifts your fellow Trust for Public Land supporters have already made 🥳
These gifts—and yours, if you're able to pitch in—will DOUBLE in value thanks to a time-limited 2X matching gift. They'll also help bring about the completion of epic conservation efforts like the L Bar project.
The southwestern landscape of L Bar includes dramatic volcanic cones and habitat for a variety of wildlife. Photo: Dave Cox/Mountain Media
Trust for Public Land's L Bar project is a 54,161-acre expanse of culturally and ecologically important land bordered by national forest on one side, a state wildlife area on another, and the Pueblo of Laguna on a third.
Once we fully transition the property to New Mexico, it will quadruple the nearby Marquez Wildlife Area's size, making it the largest state-owned recreation property in New Mexico.
Support L Bar and the more than 150 other conservation and park creation projects we have in the works. Make your 2X MATCHED Giving Tuesday gift before it's too late >>
The L Bar project holds special significance for the area's Indigenous peoples. Part of the landscape is considered a sacred pilgrimage site by as many as 30 Native American tribes. The Pueblo of Acoma, the Pueblo of Laguna, the Hopi Tribe, the Navajo Nation, and the Pueblo of Zuni have called the area home for more than a thousand years.
Returning this privately owned land to public stewardship will once again guarantee Native people's access to its many wonders and culturally significant sites.
Theresa Pasqual, director of Pueblo of Acoma's Tribal Historic Preservation Office, shares her excitement: "The purchase and protection of the L Bar property represent the potential for younger generations of Acoma children who have never seen these lands to now have a chance to get reacquainted with them."
Normally, we facilitate the quick transfer of private land to public ownership, but to make the financing work for the L Bar project, we needed to retain ownership longer than usual. That's a risk to TPL, but one we felt was worth it. As my colleague Jim Petterson put it, "This is a unique thing that Trust for Public Land can do, and it shows our commitment to the project. That’s the power of being both a national and local organization. We bring local knowledge and financial leverage to the table."
Thanks to persistence and collaboration, public access to the L Bar property will be protected forever. Photo: Dave Cox/Mountain Media
We're able to take on significant projects like L Bar thanks, in part, to generous, ongoing support of our members, John.
Help complete more projects like L Bar, return more land to public use, and connect more people to places that mean so much. Make your gift for Giving Tuesday.
Thank you,
Barry Hirsch
Trust for Public Land
P.S. We do our best not to ask members for gifts who just made a gift, but sometimes our records don't update fast enough to keep recent donors from receiving an appeal like this. So, if you did just give, thank you for your support, and our apologies for the extra request!
