Christopher Dorney

National Trust for Historic Preservation

I took part in a rewarding internship at the National Trust throughout the spring semester of 2006. The internship involved creating and conducting the nationýs first comprehensive survey of historic preservation easement holding organizations. Historic preservation easements are one of the strongest preservation tools available but up until this internship nobody had a solid understanding of how extensively they were being used and how the were being implemented. The work I did helped to change that. We now know there are well over 200 easement holding organizations in the country. I also learned through my conversations with these organizations that many would like to learn more about easements and how to best run their programs. I found that there is a profound need for more networking amongst easement holding entities so that the use of this tool can be strengthened and enhanced. Thanks in large part to this internship I now feel the need to help facilitate this networking amongst easement holding organizations as part of my professional career.