Fun and inspiration in Connecticut

Land Trust Alliance’s 2010 Rally in Connecticut. Energizing, exciting, inspirational, and a whole lot of fun! That is how Solid Ground team members Allison Handler, Jim Morris and Marc Smiley described their experience at Rally 2010 in Hartford, Connecticut. Rally, sponsored by the Land Trust Alliance, has been dubbed the “premier training event for land conservation” and this year brought together close to 2,000 people from all walks of the land conservation field. Whether they were taking hikes on beautiful trails that had been collaboratively conserved, playing music alongside the Travellin’ Trout Trunk Band during Rallypalooza, getting into the nitty gritty legal details of writing conservation easements, or getting certified in order to conduct assessments, those with a passion for green came and Rally delivered.

At a glance, Rally is really an opportunity for people interested in land conservation to combine classroom instruction, peer learning, networking, and some good old fashioned fun in one non-stop, information-packed, action-inspiring week. Marc made an especially significant contribution to the week by teaching and debuting Solid Ground Consulting Group alongside Barb Welch and with ongoing support from Allison and Jim. Click here to access the course packet! The event also highlighted several timely, critical issues, such as climate change, and surfaced how these issues intersect with farmland conservation and large landscape protection. In the end, participants came, learned, and were inspired…and as Allison put it, “It was incredible to be surrounded by so many people working so hard to protect so many significant, special places.”