MLTN Infoline – April 14, 2020

As the President and Congress consider new legislation to assist businesses, nonprofits, and families impacted by the ongoing health crisis and economic downturn, remember there are many informative webpages available to learn what has already been enacted. Bills passed in March include a handful of provisions that land trusts can access in order to maintain operations, continue to provide community benefits, and play a part in slowing down the spread of the virus. These provisions include Small Business Administration loans and grants and payroll tax credits to cover COVID-19 related sick and family leave. For more information check out these webpages:

Stay tuned for likely updates on this front,

Maine Trail Finder (MTF), a website for searching out trail opportunities of all kinds, is seeing almost double the use they typically see at this time of year and it’s no surprise. Mainers are exploring the outdoors at unprecedented levels for this time of year due to COVID-19. MTF is doing their best to provide up-to-date information so that Mainers can access outdoor spaces safely. This is particularly important at this time of year, when trail conditions can vary widely.  MTF has also added new features so that users can access information even more easily:

• You can now search trail status from the Find Trails page. The three options are: open, partially open (for trail systems with some trail or infrastructure closures or for trails where overcrowding has been an issue, but that are still open), and closed. You can now get a URL for a map of all closed trails in Maine or one for all partially open trails. 
• You can now clearly see if a trail is closed from the specific trail page. They still have alerts that detail why the trail is closed, but added banners on the top of the pages so the messaging is hard to miss.

Almost overnight, we have been thrust into a virtual world. Words like “Zoom,” “working remotely” and “social distancing” roll off our tongues as if we’ve been saying them our whole lives. What are the critical steps required to design and deliver a virtual meeting? How do you keep your participants actively engaged and involved? What types of visuals inspire and help to anchor information?  This 75-minute training is packed with clear, practical strategies that you’ll be able to easily apply. (And it’s fun.)

 

Conservation is a team sport. More and more, successful conservation projects require significant collaboration across business, government and non-profit sectors. Integrated social, technical and political skills have never been more important to achieve significant conservation results that are built on shared opportunities and mutual goals.

Join social entrepreneurship scholar and strategy consultant Cleveland Justis, Potrero Group, and local government and land trust leader, Councilman Josh Hastings, Lower Shore Land Trust & Wicomico County Council, as they discuss ways organizations and leaders can make decisions and engage in supportive partnerships from a thoughtful position that keeps the primary mission, business needs and constituencies in view.

Register at LTA’s website.