The Trust For Public Land HQ

The Trust for Public Land conserves wilderness, including places that safeguard clean drinking water and preserve the natural beauty of coasts and waterways.

The American conservation movement was born from a shared desire to protect our wildest places. Early visionaries proposed setting aside land to safeguard natural resources and connect people to the great outdoors. These park pioneers believed that as cities grew, access to nature would become one measure of a great nation.

Today, the wilderness and waterways they protected are integral to our health, happiness, and quality of life. In addition to providing unsurpassed opportunities for recreation and renewal, these special places perform critical behind-the-scenes services—from helping mitigate the effects of climate change to protecting clean drinking water for millions of Americans.

With an estimated two million acres of land lost to development every year, preserving these places is more important than ever. The Trust for Public Land helps communities nationwide balance the demands of growth with the protection of wilderness and open space. We use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology to identify and prioritize conservation goals—then we employ our finance, legal, and transaction expertise to accomplish them. Whether improving the health of a local bay or preserving public access to a beloved mountain trail, we're protecting life-giving land and water resources for all to enjoy.

The Trust for Public Land protects farms, ranches, forests, and other working lands that foster a healthy, vibrant agricultural system and support land-based livelihoods.

America’s farms, ranches, and working forests yield food and timber, support local economies, safeguard clean water, and form some of our nation’s most beautiful landscapes. Whether a deep northern forest, an emerald mosaic of ranchland in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, or the last farm in a New England town, working lands supply valuable resources and a link to our shared rural heritage.

These places are too important to lose. But in many communities, rising property values are making it difficult for ranchers and farmers to pay taxes on their land, or to resist the pressure to sell to eager developers.

The Trust for Public Land partners with landowners and public agencies to keep working lands working, preserving their benefits to the environment and the greater community. Often, we use conservation easements to safeguard property from development while compensating the landowner for the value such development might represent. This strategy conserves productive land and enables ranching, farming, or sustainable forestry to continue.

Our work protects both land and livelihoods—beautiful farms, meadows, and forests that support our jobs, our health, and our quality of life.