“Green Lining” of the Real Estate Slump: More Land for Conservation

In what Will Rogers, President of the Trust for the Public Land, describes as the green lining of the real estate slump, conservation groups are finding it easier to acquire and protect land that otherwise would have been developed with housing.  The Trust for the Public Land alone has preserved nearly 1,000 acres in several states since last fall.  One particularly exciting possibility is the chance to acquire land in Oahu that is home to endangered green sea turtles and monk seals.  The land had been scheduled for a development that would have included 2,500 hotel rooms and 850 condos.  Now the development is on hold and the Trust for Public Land is looking for a buyer to protect the land.

An article in the San Francisco Chronicle describes the shift in the market and also points out that protected land can be good for the real estate market in the longrun, because protected open space usually increases property values.

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