Illinois
253,491
Acres Protected
That’s about 192,039 football fields!
Land trusts have already conserved 61 million acres of private land across the nation — more than all of the national parks combined. Help us conserve another 60 million acres by the end of the decade.
Together, let’s keep Gaining Ground.
Every land trust is as unique as the community it serves.
Illinois land trusts are community-led and supported and protect lands and waters that help the entire state.
People
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19,080
-
5,872
-
96
-
57
-
371
Land Trust Longevity
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128 years old (1897)
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18 years old (2007)
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41 years old
There has been a 26% increase in Illinois land protected by land trusts since 2010.
Acre by acre, land trusts are helping to conserve Illinois lands, waters and ways of life.
Disclaimer: Land trusts conserve land in many different ways and every project is unique. Category totals may change depending on how acres are reported by survey respondents to reflect the most current data and minimize double-counting. In some instances, the total may be greater than the sum of the separate categories due to organizations that provided total acres not broken down by category.
This information reflects data collected in the National Land Trust Census, the longest-running comprehensive survey of private land conservation in America. Learn more about the Census and see which land trusts participated in the 2020 National Land Trust Census.
Illinois land trusts are gaining ground.
Land trusts across the state are helping find solutions to some of Illinois' most pressing issues.
Land Trusts Working in Illinois
Land Trust Alliance member land trusts, listed below, commit to adopting Land Trust Standards and Practices as their guiding principles.

Access Fund

American Farmland Trust

Barrington Area Conservation Trust

Citizens for Conservation

Ducks Unlimited, Inc.

Friends of the Sangamon Valley

Grand Prairie Friends

Great Rivers Land Trust

HeartLands Conservancy

Illinois Audubon Society

Illinois Climbers Association

Jo Daviess Conservation Foundation

Lake Forest Open Lands Association

Land Conservancy of Lake County

National Park Trust

Natural Land Institute

NeighborSpace

Openlands

Parklands Foundation

Prairie Land Conservancy

Prairielands Preservation Foundation

St. Clair County Greenspace Foundation

The Conservation Foundation

The Conservation Fund

The Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust

The Land Conservancy of McHenry County

The Nature Conservancy

The Prairie Enthusiasts

The Sangamon Conservancy Trust
