Pipestone Creek Conservation Area in Alberta Canada–Edmonton and Area Land Trust
Conservation land trusts are nonprofit organizations that acquire and steward land or conservation easements for the purpose of achieving environmental, agricultural, recreational, and/or species conservation goals.[1] Conservation land trusts often work in cooperation with landowners to achieve shared goals and may provide public outreach events on the themes of science, environmental issues, species conservation, or other topics relevant to the land they work to protect.[1] Priorities of conservation land trusts vary, but may include goals related to water quality, public access to land, and biodiversity.[1] Oversight of these priorities and of the work carried out by the land trust typically rests with a board of directors.[1] Conservation land trusts may operate in partnership with government agencies or under broader umbrella nonprofit organizations.[1] Land trusts may focus their work in specific local areas delineated by political boundaries, habitat types, or ecological zones.[1] Funding can be limited for the work of these organizations, such that many rely on volunteer labor.[1]
Regional land trusts
Although there are some global conservation land trust organizations that do work across multiple continents, such as the World Land Trust and The Nature Conservancy, most land trusts focus on smaller regional areas.[1][2][3] Conservation land trust organizations exist all across the world, and many belong to the International Land Conservation Network.[4]
In North America, most conservation land trusts are found in the United States, with a growing number in Canada and Mexico.[4] In the United States, the first conservation land trust organization was the Massachusetts Trustees of Reservations, founded in 1891.[1] As of 2021, there were over 1,300 conservation land trusts in the United States, with 446 of these accredited by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission.[1]
