Land and Water Conservation Fund

To assist land trusts and their partners in their land and water work, the Chesapeake Bay Land and Water Initiative develops and shares relevant resources on many subjects: policy, science, communications, fundraising and more. 

The Forest Legacy Program, administered by the U.S. Forest Service, protects privately owned forest land through the purchase of conservation easements or land in fee. The Forest Legacy Program has conserved more than 2.8 million acres of forested lands in nearly every state and territory.

You can help build support for voluntary private land conservation and counter disinformation while you build — or strengthen — your land trust’s relationship with local media by writing a letter to the editor or an op-ed for your local newspaper. This document offers guidance to assist you in crafting such a piece.

Join heirs’ property expert Diana Norris, Land Trust Alliance, as she discusses the cultural and historical context of heirs’ property and what land trusts can do to engage with landowners on conservation and support the stabilization of ownership in their own states.

In this short course, we’ll examine the synergies between climate, water and land protection. We’ll walk you through a strategic process to focus your efforts and explore resources that can guide and fund your work.

In December 2022, Congress finally passed the Charitable Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act after a seven-year long battle. Learn how we got there with this timeline of events that led to a victory that was a that was a long time coming yet was in no way guaranteed.

Land and water are inextricably connected, and protecting one often necessitates protecting the other. This book offers practical tools and resources to help land trusts address water-related conservation values in their private land conservation work.

Join us for Land Trust Alliance Advocacy Days! We invite the staff, board members and volunteers of Alliance member land trusts to participate in our annual advocacy event to make a significant difference in land conservation.

Created in 2021, this publication provides examples, advice and guidelines to help land trusts address and remove the barriers that prevent inclusion of people with disabilities in programs and on nature preserves.