What is a Land Trust?

Land trusts are local, regional, or statewide nonprofit conservation organizations directly involved in helping protect natural, scenic, recreational, agricultural, historic, or cultural property. Land trusts work to pareserve openland that is important to the communities and regions where they operate.

Collectively, America's nearly 2000 independent land trusts:

• helped protect 2.7 million acres
• own 437,000 acres
• held conservation easements on another 450,000 acres
• have acquired, protected, and transferred 668,000 acres to other organizations and agencies
• have used other direct methods to help protect another 1,159,000 acres

Land trusts:

• Purchase land
• Acquire land through donations
• Secure conservation easements on land and monitor the terms of these easements
• Work in partnership with prevate and governmental conservation agencies

In many instances land donors can receive signigicant tax benefits based on teh value of the donated land or easement.

Land Trust info from Land Trust Alliance.