Nation’s largest gathering of conservation leaders to gather in New England
More than 2,300 people from throughout the United States and beyond will attend Rally 2024: The National Land Conservation Conference.
Providence, R.I. — This week, the Land Trust Alliance is hosting the nation’s largest gathering of land conservation leaders and practitioners — the 37th Rally: National Land Conservation Conference. This year’s event is at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence, Rhode Island. More than 2,300 people from throughout the United States and beyond will attend Rally 2024, which begins Sept. 25 and concludes Sept. 28 and projects to generate a direct economic impact for the city of Providence of more than $2.6 million, on top of additional revenue from shopping, dining, transportation and more generated by Rally attendees.
Rally offers learning sessions focused on land conservation topics, networking events, exhibits, plenary sessions, field trips highlighting a variety of Rhode Island conservation projects, and an awards presentation celebrating conservation leadership. The welcome dinner, plenaries and field trips are open to the media, and attendees will hear from several speakers and panelists discussing topics including clean water, renewable energy siting and community-centered conservation.
Attendees will also have the option of attending “field trips” to examine a variety of New England conservation and restoration projects. These trips include:
“Conserving the Magic of Cuttyhunk Island” hosted by Buzzards Bay Coalition.
"Urban Conservation: Collaboration for Community, Trails and Urban Agriculture” hosted by Lowell Parks and Conservation Trust.
“Building Equitable Food Systems in Urban Communities” hosted by Southside Community Land Trust.
Find the full list of field trips here.
This year, Rally will be preceded by an Indigenous Land Conservation Summit for leaders from across the country to gather for relationship building and knowledge sharing. The inaugural 2023 Summit in Portland, Oregon, brought together more than 80 people from more than 40 Indigenous communities to discuss topics such as land return, stewardship and funding for conservation efforts.
The Alliance has also partnered with the U.S. Forest Service on our 2024 Scholars for Conservation Leadership program — a career-and-leadership-development program aimed at expanding opportunities for student leaders to pursue careers in natural resource management and conservation. The program was initiated in 2019 to provide undergraduate students an opportunity to participate in a professional development experience here at Rally. All ten scholars will be attending Rally, in addition to our three fellowship recipient alumni.
More information about Rally is available at www.alliancerally.org.
About the Land Trust Alliance
Founded in 1982, the Land Trust Alliance is a national land conservation organization working to save the places people need and love by empowering and mobilizing land trusts in communities across America to conserve land for the benefit of all. The Alliance represents approximately 1,000 member land trusts and affiliates supported by more than 250,000 volunteers and 6.3 million members nationwide. The Alliance is based in Washington, D.C., with staff in communities across the United States.