Peggy Schear
Thomas W. Blaine
Land trusts are local, regional, statewide or national organizations that are established to protect land and its resources. They may also be referred to as conservancies, foundations, or associations. Their main purpose is to protect land that has natural, recreational, scenic, historic, or productive value. They are the fastest growing arm of the conservation movement today, with approximately 1,200 established, and 50 new ones being formed every year in the United States.
How are land trusts different from other conservation or preservation organizations?
Their primary difference is their direct involvement in land transactions. They initiate, implement, and monitor land protection devices for individual pieces of property or for larger land areas, depending on the trust's specific goals. Sometimes their land protection efforts are combined with other conservation organizations, but their major objective is the preservation of the land itself so that it may continue to be a resource for future generations. Land trusts often are formed to protect particular land related resources: forests, farmland, open space, wetlands, or historic districts.
There are several land protection tools available for land trusts to use including: conservation easements (see OSU Extension Fact Sheet Conservation Easements, CDFS 1261-98), acquisition of land through direct purchase or bargain sale, land donation, life estate plans, and limited development strategies. Some land trusts own land outright and are responsible for its preservation and management, while others own no land, but are primarily involved in monitoring easement restrictions. Land trusts also provide technical assistance to landowners deliberating land preservation options as well as planning and educational services for local communities and the general public.
As of 1998, land trusts nationwide had helped to protect a total of roughly 4.5 million acres of land.
Typically, a land trust is organized as a private, nonprofit, incorporated organization. This enables the land trust to hold titles to real estate and to accept charitable donations.
In some states, public agencies perform a similar function as private land trusts, but state laws must be structured to allow public agencies to hold conservation easements. The comparison of private to public organizations in the land preservation field indicates that there are advantages and disadvantages to each.
The private, nonprofit land trust has the advantages of prompt response time, fewer regulatory/statutory restraints, confidentiality, a tax exempt status, and professional stewardship services. The advantages of the public agency include less time and paperwork to get the organization started, and a greater likelihood that it will continue to exist to serve its function in perpetuity. Some states with publicly-supported land preservation programs require that both a private, nonprofit land trust and a public local or state agency hold conservation easements to provide maximum protection for preservation strategies.
Usually, a group of citizens in a community where an interest in the preservation of land has emerged as an issue with local significance begin to meet and initiate the development of the land trust. Technical help is available from several national land conservation organizations including: the Land Trust Alliance, the Nature Conservancy, American Farmland Trust, and the Trust for Public Land. In many states, a statewide land trust network or organization is available to provide continuing advice and support to the emerging land trust.
Community organizers must recognize that they are establishing an organization that is designed to function in perpetuity, thus the legal and organizational structure should be formed carefully and will require a great deal of volunteer time.
A minimal amount of funds are necessary to prepare and file the legal documents necessary for state and federal requirements. Once the organizational hurdles are overcome, the land trust will require physical space in which to operate, as well as professional and support personnel to perform the functions required of the land trust.
While many land trusts survive on a shoe string budget with part-time help for years, the responsibilities of an effective land trust require a dependable, steady flow of resources to monitor and enforce the land preservation strategies the organization was formed to maintain.
Most land trusts are funded by membership dues, fund-raisers, private contributions, grants, donations from businesses and foundations, consulting fees, and contracting their services to other agencies.
Yes. Try the following addresses:
Columbia Land Conservancy: Five year strategic plan. Chatham, New York.
Hitchings, Benjamin. 1992. Land Trusts: a primer, conserving land for the common good. Lake County Soil and Water Conservation District, Ohio.
Land Trusts, finding answers that save land. The Land Trust Alliance, Washington, D.C.
Pennsylvania Land Trust Handbook. 1993. Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
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