Upper Saco Valley Land Trust Strategic Conservation Plan

In 2021 the Upper Saco Valley Land Trust began the process of reviewing and
revisioning its 10-Year Strategic Conservation Plan, last updated in 2011.

Led by Dan Spreduto and Peter Ellis, the 2011 Plan centered around a comprehensive Natural Resource Inventory of USVLT’s 11-town service area. Given the depth of the 2011 Natural Resource Inventory, the land trust entered this planning process seeking to produce a streamlined update to the existing Plan, with emphasis incorporating newly available resource data and making data more accessible to staff, municipal leaders, landowners and the greater public.

Upper Saco Valley Land Trust shared its Strategic Conservation plan in two ways - a longform PDF report that evaluates its 11-town service area and determines the quality of natural resources and the greatest needs for protection and a story map that captures its conservation vision for the decade ahead.

These example is part of a suite of conservation plans, story maps and communications completed by Land and Climate Grant awardees. The Land and Climate Grant Program is a joint initiative of Land Trust Alliance and the Open Space Institute. The Program provides grants and technical assistance to land trusts and conservation groups to support the development of climate-informed land conservation, stewardship or communications plans addressing issues such as habitat resilience, carbon mitigation and community adaptation to climate impacts such as stronger storms, flooding, drought, fire or extreme heat.