Conservancy: The Land Trust Movement in America

Land trusts, or conservancies, protect land by owning it. Although many people are aware of a few large land trusts—The Nature Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land, for instance—there are now close to 1,300 local trusts, with more coming into being each month. American land trusts are diverse, shaped by their missions and adapted to their local environments. Nonetheless, all land trusts are private, non-profit organizations for which the acquisition and protection of land by direct act...