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What is a Land Trust

Land trusts, also called conservancies, are private nonprofit organizations that protect land directly, by owning land (fee simple) or holding development rights (conservation easements).

The Land Trust Movement is relatively young, developing a century ago when the first land trust was established in 1891 in Massachusetts. Boston landscape architect Charles Eliot formed the Trustees of Reservations, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving land for public use and enjoyment and protecting properties of exceptional scenic, historic and ecological value throughout the Commonwealth.

There are international land trusts such as Nature Conservancy and national ones such as Trust for Public Land. Most land trusts are local and define their service area by a geographical region or by county boundaries. North Olympic Land Trust’s service area is Clallam County.

While government agencies seek to protect land through ownership or regulation, a land trust (or conservancy) is non regulatory, working with voluntary private landowners who want to protect their land.

There are roughly 1,700 land trusts working in the U.S. today, collectively protecting 37 million acres, roughly 17 times the size of Yellowstone National Park (according to the 2005 Land Trust Alliance Census).

Please feel free to contact us if you have questions or thoughts to share.