From the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee
Press release
(Franklin, NC)— The Land Trust for the Little Tennessee (LTLT) is pleased to announce that effective January 1, 2016 it will become Mainspring Conservation Trust. The new name is the result of a multi-year process, and was formally adopted by the board of directors at its June 2015 retreat.
“The need for a new name is a positive one: we have outgrown the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee, both in project area and mission,” says Executive Director Sharon Taylor. “Mainspring Conservation Trust is the name that will carry us into the future. Mainspring is an ideal word because it defines what we have become — the chief or most powerful motive, agent or cause” for conservation in the heart of the Southern Blue Ridge.”
The term mainspring describes the principal spring that keeps a mechanism, specifically a watch, moving. Another definition is more relevant to LTLT’s work: a mainspring is “something that plays a principal part in motivating or maintaining a movement, process, or activity,” a driving force, a prime mover, a reason, a generator, an impetus.
Originally founded as the Nikwasi Land Trust in 1997, the organization became the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee in 1999. In the years since it has expanded its project area beyond the Little Tennessee River watershed into the Tuckasegee and Hiwassee watersheds. LTLT now works in Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Jackson, Macon, and Swain counties in North Carolina, and in the northern portion of Rabun County, Georgia.
The organization’s work has also broadened beyond traditional land trust projects, to include sustainable forest management and land and water restoration. When LTLT merged with the Little Tennessee Watershed Association in 2012, its work expanded further to include programs related to water, education and research.
“It gives me hope to see the organization strengthening as a regional conservation leader,” says Founding Director Paul Carlson. “Part of that is embracing a new name that is as relevant in the valleys of the Tuckasegee and Hiwassee as in the Little Tennessee.”
Though the name is changing, the mission remains the same. Mainspring Conservation Trust will continue to be dedicated to conserving the waters, forests, farms and heritage of the Southern Blue Ridge. The 18-year-old nonprofit will continue with the wise strategic planning and visionary thinking that grew LTLT out of its own name, and into Mainspring Conservation Trust.
For more information or to view a short video about the new name, visit www.ltlt.org. The new name will go into effect on January 1, 2016.
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