How to save farms and farmland has been the center of public
attention in Michigan over the last few years. The state Senate
recently held hearings to evaluate Michigan's farm economy,
while environmental groups have urged government to purchase
farmland to keep it out of the hands of developers. But citizens
around the country are working togetherwithout governmentto
protect farmland, open spaces, forests, and ecologically
sensitive sites. For example, Paul Allen, co-founder of
Microsoft Corporation, recently gave a citizen's group $3
million to complete the purchase of the Loomis Forest in
Washington state. In Georgia, local residents feared an
adjoining forested area would be developed, so they secured
private financing and bought the land themselves. In Colorado,
cattle ranchers and farmers saw development encroaching near
their farms and decided to create the non-profit Colorado
Cattleman's Association Land Trust (CCALT) to buy or accept land
donations. They reasoned that it is more efficient to establis