Land Trust Movement

The first conservation easements in the United States were reportedly written in the late 1880s to protect parkways in the Boston area, and in 1891 the first land trust was formed.

Since then the number of land trusts has steadily increased, with most forming in the last 25 years. The number of new local and regional trusts formed from 1998 to 2003 doubled, from 743 to 1,537, while an enormous amount of land also moved into conservation easements – an increase of 1,624 percent. Today, easements have been used in every state and protect more than 37 million of acres of land.

Working to save America's land heritage
The nation's nonprofit land trusts operate independently of government. Community-based land trusts are experts at helping interested landowners find ways to protect their land through donation and purchase, by working with landowners who wish to donate or sell conservation easements (permanent deed restrictions that prevent harmful land uses), or by acquiring land outright to maintain working farms, forests, wilderness, or for other conservation reasons.

The Land Trust Alliance promotes voluntary private land conservation to benefit communities and natural systems. LTA is the national convener, strategist and representative of more than 1,800 land trusts across America. Its goals are to dramatically expand the pace of land conservation (through tax incentives), build strong land trusts through the accreditation process, to defend the permanence of conservation easements and to ensure that the work of land trusts is as strategically directed as possible.

Bear Yuba Land Trust is an active member of the Land Trust Alliance. For more information on Land Trusts in the United States, visit the Land Trust Alliance at www.lta.org