From neighborhood parks and community gardens to vast mountains, forests and working family farms and ranches, land trusts conserve the places we need and love by partnering with willing landowners who wish to permanently conserve, restore and enhance their land for future generations. The Land Trust Alliance’s 2025 policy agenda is rooted in our members’ varied priorities and the Alliance’s commitment to building a land conservation community that embraces the needs and interests of all Americans.
The Alliance works tirelessly to secure federal policies and resources that enhance access to federal conservation programs by advocating for new funding mechanisms, reducing administrative barriers, strengthening agency and land trust capacity and pursuing opportunities to increase voluntary private land conservation through new and existing programs. Voluntary private land conservation is an efficient and cost-effective approach to helping landowners, supporting working lands and delivering the benefits of clean air, clean water, local food, wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities to people and communities across the nation.
The Alliance will continue to defend conservation programs and tools from threats and fight to protect private property rights. In doing so, we equip our community to tackle society’s most immense challenges including development pressures on natural and working lands, rapid loss of biodiversity, impacts of extreme weather and natural disasters, stresses on our aquifers and expanding access to land for all. With rigor and determination, the Alliance is leading our community to conserve lands that will benefit our country for years to come.
Conservation funding
Conservation funding programs protect land that offers exceptional public benefits like parks and public lands, productive farms and ranches, healthy watersheds and vital wildlife habitat.
Farm Bill: Lead the charge on reauthorization, rulemaking and implementation
The Farm Bill is the single largest source of federal funding for private land conservation. As a top priority for the Alliance, we will continue to work with our members, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other stakeholders to strengthen the implementation of 2018 Farm Bill programs. We will also continue to advocate for effective legislation, policies and funding that help farmers, ranchers, foresters and other working landowners deliver the many benefits they provide to rural communities and local economies across America.
Learn moreExpanding resources: Advocate for robust national and regional funding
Existing national programs such as the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, and regional programs in watersheds across the country such as the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay programs, offer sources of funding critical to land trust work. The Alliance will advocate for sustaining existing programs and explore next-generation conservation funding opportunities that will help our community address threats to voluntary private land conservation.
Learn moreJoin the Farm Bill working group
The Farm Bill Working Group serves as a forum for discussion and information sharing regarding Farm Bill conservation programs, provides on-the-ground examples and insights on program implementation, and helps formulate Farm Bill policy recommendations in support of land trust community objectives.
Tax issues
State and federal tax policies can play a large role in advancing land conservation.
Sound tax policy: Advocate for tax policies that advance land conservation and inoculate conservation donations and tax credits from harm
Federal tax policies can play a significant role in advancing land conservation by creating tools to help landowners make decisions for the future of their land. The Alliance will develop and advocate for a series of tax proposals designed to strengthen the existing tax code for furthering conservation. At the same time, we will fight to ensure that tools such as those that help landowners transfer land to the next generation remain intact or are strengthened. This includes pursuing legislation that pivots the IRS away from focusing on innocent donor documentation mistakes — often called “foot faults” — that result in the disqualification of truly charitable donations.
Tax shelters: Monitor Integrity Act implementation
The passage of the Charitable Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act was a critical victory for private land conservation. The legislation ended so-called abusive syndicated conservation easement transactions that cost U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars. The Alliance will continue to remain vigilant of abusive deals while monitoring and providing input on proposed rules and regulations related to the legislation.
Infrastructure, nature and energy solutions
Land trusts can lead the way in addressing the impacts of a changing climate. Our goal is to promote policies and funding that advance nature-based solutions while supporting the protection, restoration and stewardship of natural and working lands that increase climate resilience.
Nature-based solutions: Drive funding to land trusts to protect resilient lands
Land trusts can lead the way in enhancing community resilience to extreme weather events, such as flooding and hurricanes. Our goal is to promote policies and funding that reduce the impacts of storms and floods to communities while supporting the protection, restoration and stewardship of open and working lands that increase community resilience. We will educate decision-makers on the role nature-based solutions must play to deliver economic and environmental savings and the numerous other co-benefits they provide to local communities including access to clean air and water, healthy soils and wildlife habitat.
Learn moreProtecting land and water in the new energy economy
The Alliance acknowledges that data centers and other infrastructure are necessary for the continued growth of the modern American economy and provide essential technological services and national security needs. With that said, this infrastructure must not sacrifice high-value conservation and working lands. The Alliance will work to ensure that communities have their voices heard around the siting and construction of data centers and to secure compensation to offset the impacts of this infrastructure.
Learn moreEnergy siting solutions: Advance conservation-compatible energy infrastructure
The Alliance recognizes that America’s growing energy needs require an expansion of energy production facilities as well as an expansion and enhancement of existing transmission infrastructure to secure access to power to all Americans. There is increasing pressure to site energy infrastructure — including renewable and fossil fuel energy, carbon capture and storage, and related transmission projects — on lands with high conservation and agricultural value, putting our community’s land conservation work in jeopardy and undermining the environmental benefits associated with these lands. The Alliance will educate decision-makers on the importance of smart siting of energy infrastructure as guided by regional perspectives and without undermining the essential conservation values the land trust community works hard to protect, while also working with energy partners and other stakeholders to find solutions that advance conservation and energy goals. Additionally, we will work to promote policies to increase the efficiency of energy use and transmission to minimize the impacts of infrastructure demands on lands.
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