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For several decades,
the Land Trust Alliance has been tracking national trends in private
land conservation, with each five-year report showing dramatically
more land protected than ever before. The 2005 National
Land Trust Census breaks all previous records.
 Important
Findings:
Total
acres conserved by local, state and national
land trusts doubled to 37 million acres in
just the past five years. This is an area 16 ½ times
the size of Yellowstone National Park.
The
pace of conservation by local and state land trusts more than tripled
between successive five-year periods.
The
number of land trusts grew to 1,667, a 32% increase over
five years.
The
West is the fastest-growing area, for both
acres conserved and new land trusts.
Professionalism
of land trusts is increasing, with most
land trusts agreeing to more stringent rules of conduct,
and securing larger annual budgets and stewardship endowments. |
Americans love their
land, and are meeting the challenge—individually and collectively
through land trusts—to preserve the best of the American landscape,
rural livelihoods and natural areas across the country. A growing
corps of willing and visionary landowners are entrusting their lands
to the perpetual care of land trusts, making a commitment that will
extend beyond their lifetimes. This growth in virtually every
region and every aspect of private land conservation attests to the
professionalism and public trust accorded to the 1,667-member land
trust community—today and in the future.
The land trust story
is not just about acres; it is about local people taking individual
steps to preserve the natural features that define their quality of
life. Private, voluntary land conservation is working, community
by community, across America.
Find out more, download
our report and read it today!
Resources
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2005
National Land Trust Census Report
This 22 page report details the important role of private land conservation
in the U.S. Includes
graphs and tables.
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For
Media
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For
Land Trusts
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Purpose of the Five-year
Census
The National Land
Trust Census documents the pace, volume and type of private land conservation
occurring in America, along with measures of organizational development.
The Census is intended to help land trust professionals and policymakers
to assess the effectiveness of private, voluntary means of conservation.
Whether or not private conservation is working is a critical question
in an era of decreased federal and state budgets for land acquisition
(although new conservation bond initiatives are stimulating conservation
transactions in some areas of the country).
Among the items
surveyed are:
- Number of
acres privately conserved, at both the state and national levels;
- Types of
conservation tools employed by local land trusts and landowners;
- Types of
land conserved targeted for conservation;
- Regional
growth patterns in private land conservation; and
- Human and
fiscal resources of land trusts operating in the U.S.
The 2005 National
Land Trust Census findings confirm the importance that Americans place
on preserving treasured natural areas coast-to-coast and in their local
communities.
Survey Methodology
The Land Trust Alliance
collected data from January to September 2006 by surveying nearly 1,840
land conservation organizations in the United States both online and
by mail. All respondents were asked to provide information on their
land conservation and organizational activities as of December 31,
2005. Of those surveyed, 173 organizations did not meet the definition
of a land trust. Over 940 land trusts responded directly, a 56% response,
slightly lower than in previous cycles. To ensure consistency with
prior Census reports, additional data were collected by e-mail, telephone
or through land trust support centers. Other data were carried over
from the 2003 National Land Trust Census for the land trusts for which
no new data were available.
updated 11/30/06
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