Good things are going on down south

After a few years away due to COVID, the Land Trust Alliance’s Southeast Land Conservation Conference returned in 2023 to energize and educate the conservation community across the region once again. Staff and board members from land trusts and other conservation organizations converged on Chattanooga, Tenn., April 26-28 to share knowledge and reconnect with friends and colleagues — folks they may not have had the chance to see in person in years.

I’m proud to say that land trusts in the Southeast are stepping up to conserve land in this region that has some of the highest biodiversity in the nation. Collectively, the Southeast’s 100+ land trusts have protected almost 9 million acres as of the Alliance’s 2020 Land Trust Census — a staggering growth of 43% from 2010 (compared to national growth of 33%). Events like the Southeast Conference will help us build on this great progress.

And that’s important because the American Southeast is a spectacular region where the land is as richly diverse as its people and culture, from coastlines and marshes to islands and bayous, rivers and farmland, mountains and forests. And the need to accelerate private land conservation in the Southeast is pressing thanks to rapid population growth and development. Issues like biodiversity loss, climate change impacts, declining rural economies and inequitable access to land and the outdoors are more serious than ever.

Back at the conference, the workshop rooms were full and the comments positive at the historic Read House Hotel in downtown Chattanooga, as expertise was shared over three days of training, presentations, socializing and networking.

The gathering brought together experienced conservation professionals and people new to the field for deep learning and cross-pollination of ideas and inspiration. For example, Alachua Conservation Trust and Trust for Public Land presented in-depth instruction on how to succeed at local ballot measures to attain more public funding to support conservation. Innovative strategies related to remote monitoring and carbon sequestration were also shared. Representatives from Conservation Trust for North Carolina and Duke University shared a series of mapping tools designed to incorporate climate and equity into conservation planning, increase land trusts’ access to funding sources and support more effective community collaboration. The Mainspring Conservation Trust in North Carolina — recipient of a Southeast Remote Monitoring Grant, sponsored by Lyndhurst and Riverview foundations — presented the successes and challenges of their first year integrating new remote monitoring technology into their monitoring program. And recent interns from the Lookout Mountain Conservancy gave stirring presentations about the impacts their internship experiences have had on their lives.

Workshops followed an opening-day educational hike hosted by the Lula Lake Land Trust — a 4-mile journey through land trust’s Core Preserve that featured incredible bluff views, stunning creek crossings and a visit to the area’s famous Lula Falls.

The conference provided just snapshot of the work being done by Southeast land trusts — the stories of innovative programs and projects that organizations throughout the region are already pursuing to improve their communities provide hope that future generations will be engaged and enthusiastic about the benefits that land trusts achieve.

The Northwest Arkansas Land Trust worked with the City of Fayetteville to help site renewable energy, and in the process permanently protected a prairie parcel to sequester carbon. The land trust completed a conservation easement and land management agreement, as well as a small walking trail so area residents can enjoy birding and rare plants.

The Freshwater Land Trust in Birmingham, Alabama, has utilized EPA grant funding to install “litter gitters” in Central Alabama waterways, and as of the end of 2022 more than 10 tons of litter had been removed from local rivers and streams. (Watch more videos here.)

And last year, the Mainspring Conservation Trust finished building a fully ADA accessible trail with viewing platforms to allow more people to enjoy the beautiful preserve property they have owned since 2004.

Great conservation is happening across the Southeast and more is on the way, and the Land Trust Alliance is honored to support the innovative work of the 100+ land trusts working to benefit their communities for generations to come.