THANK YOU

The land offers benefits that are essential to human well-being, including clean water and air, fresh food, opportunities to recreate and recharge, and buffers from some of the worst impacts of climate change.

Yet too many people do not have access to the land and its fundamental benefits. From rural communities to densely populated cities, land trusts work to conserve land.

And the Land Trust Alliance is committed to working with them to help ensure that every person — of any race, culture, income, age or ability — has equal access to green spaces, clean water, fresh air, nutritious food and many other benefits of nature.

Mount Grace also recently launched a new Climate and Land Justice Program centered on the importance and urgency of climate change and equitable land access for everyone, especially Black and Indigenous farmers and farmers of color.

“When we protect land, we protect wildlife connectivity, biodiversity and good soils,” said Emma G. Ellsworth, executive director at Mount Grace. “We also protect generational relationships with the land. That’s at the core of Mount Grace’s mission. It’s at the core of the very urgent work ahead of us all. Not to protect the land from people, but to restore our relationships with the land and each other for a more just and equitable future.”

This work is something we can all be proud of. Thank you for ensuring land conservation is for everyone.

There is a fundamental relationship between land conservation and water quality: The protection of upstream water sources is needed to ensure safe, reliable and affordable water for all people.

In fact, the Alliance is expanding its water work and in 2022 granted special funds to grow land trusts’ capacity to better address these issues at the local level. And it’s all thanks to you.

Calvert County, Maryland, is surrounded by water on three sides, with the Chesapeake Bay to the east, the Patuxent River to the west and the Mill Creek drainage in the middle feeding directly into both. The sounds and smells of water, birds and lush green plants envelop the senses.

“That beautiful setting is what brought most of us here to live and it is the focus of great appreciation. However, it was eventually recognized that appreciation alone would not guarantee the continued health and viability of those waterways,” said Ted Hayne, lecturer at Towson University in Maryland.

The harsh reality is that access to clean water is neither guaranteed nor equitable in the Chesapeake Bay area. Some communities have lost access to clean water or experienced water-related disasters.

The good news is that, with Alliance grant funds, the accredited American Chestnut Land Trust was able to strategically focus resources, collaborate with community members and protect precious waterways for all people in the region.

“Grant support from the Alliance has helped us to build ‘friends’ groups and begin water quality monitoring of our water. In 2022 we monitored over 50,000 acres of watersheds. And next year, more!” exclaimed Greg Bowen, ACLT’s executive director. Through its leadership of the Southern Maryland Conservation Alliance, ACLT was able to support the birth of the Friends of Mill Creek and numerous other collaborative groups to protect and restore ecosystems in the five-county Southern Maryland region.

Land trusts are uniquely positioned to lead water quality initiatives that are critically important to communities where they work. Heartfelt support from incredible donors across the country is what makes this possible.

The southeastern corner of Oregon is an arid and vast mosaic of aspen woodlands, grasslands, creeks, wet meadows and sagebrush-steppe.

It is home to rare plants that fuel life throughout the year, supporting many birds and wildlife such as California bighorn sheep, pygmy rabbit and pronghorn antelope, as well as vulnerable species like greater sage-grouse and Lahontan cutthroat trout.

Unfortunately, these special lands and wildlife face immense pressure from a changing climate and poorly planned development.

So, when Oregon Desert Land Trust had the opportunity to secure nearly 17,000 acres between the Pueblo and Trout Creek mountains last year, they saw unparalleled potential to build a connected, climate-resilient landscape linking more than 1 million acres of wildlife habitat. That’s roughly the size of the Grand Canyon.

To accomplish a large-scale project like this, ODLT sought funding and support from the Alliance to help cover acquisition costs of the land.

With this grant funding and strong partnerships with the landowner and The Nature Conservancy, ODLT will continue to work to connect these natural and working lands that benefit wildlife, people and the planet.

The project area encompasses nearly 800 square miles and helps connect several established conservation areas, including two national wildlife refuges and a wilderness area. Many of the nearby mountain streams and springs flow to Oregon’s driest spot—the Alvord Basin—providing critical water to a desert landscape that typically gets only 7 inches of rain per year.

Protecting water sources like these can make all the difference in a desert climate, especially for wildlife.

Thanks to you and many other supporters, this land in the Pueblo and Trout Creek mountains is protected forever, keeping the land intact and more resilient to drought, fire, flood and invasive species.

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The Resource Center was made possible by funding from an anonymous foundation and our awesome supporters and partners. It’s the most comprehensive source of in-depth, relevant content for volunteers, staff and board members of land trusts and all conservationists to learn, connect and grow. We hope you enjoy this incredible conservation tool.