Case Studies on Land Trusts' Biodiversity Conservation Efforts

Living Lands produced a series of 14 case studies focusing on land trusts' biodiversity-oriented conservation efforts. The case studies profile land trusts working in diverse geographic settings and varying in capacity from all-volunteer to well-staffed.

Click on a project from the list below to learn more about an individual case study.

Creative Partnership Building

Elkhorn Slough Foundation: Partnerships Protect Coastal Wetlands

The Foundation has worked with a number of stakeholders to develop a watershed conservation plan that identified critical resources in a 45,000-acre critically imperiled watershed. The plan codified management and restoration goals and strategies used to address sedimentation and contamination from agricultural runoff and was developed with the help of local, regional and state based partners. Read more >>

Coastal Mountains Land Trust: Ducktrap River Coalition

To protect and restore a highly disturbed yet ecologically significant watershed, the Coastal Mountains Land Trust initiated and coordinated the Ducktrap Coalition, a comprehensive river conservation program with 26 member organizations. The coalition includes municipal, state and federal agencies, as well as conservation environmental education and citizens groups. Working together, this coalition has made significant progress conserving the watershed. Read more >>

Door County Land Trust: Restoring Habitat and Building Partnerships

Door County Land Trust has protected over 4,000 acres since 1986 yet its greatest contribution to the peninsula it has been the lasting land stewardship partnerships it has formed after revising its land stewardship program in 2001. The organizational assessment led to the creation of two new organizations and years later, the entities are flourishing and working towards a goal of land stewardship excellence across the Door County peninsula. The land trust was a founding member of the Door County Invasive Species Team which is an alliance committed to preventing, minimizing and eradicating non-native plant species. Read more >>

Collaborative Planning

Land Trust for the Little Tennessee: Integrated Watershed Management

In 2003, with the support of many partners, this land trust completed a conservation assessment and strategy for the upper Little Tennessee River basin which identified natural and cultural heritage resources, conservation priorities and threats, and a strategic framework for conservation. After collaborating with NGOs, Universities and regional governments, the land trust has gained field experience and has created demonstration sites which they have used for educational and outreach purposes. Read more >>

Cape Cod Land Trusts: Shared Wildlife Conservation Planning

A scientific mapping and planning process identified priority parcels of wildlife habitat on Cape Cod for 25 cooperating land conservation organizations, many of which are all volunteer. The Compact of Cape Code Conservation Trusts, Inc. was formed in 1986 as a non-profit to assist six all-volunteer land trusts on the Lower Cape. Today, the compact works with 25 local and regional land trusts and watershed associations assisting with the acquisition and management of important natural areas. Read more >>

Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation: Land Stewardship on Protected Private Lands

Since its founding, the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation has gradually shifted its philosophy from “How much can we afford to invest in stewardship?” to “How much can we afford not to invest?” Disappointment with the biological condition of some protected sites, coupled with increasing private landowner requests, led the foundation to place more emphasis on land stewardship for its in fee properties and land owned by other parties. Read more >>

Conservation Finance

Legacy Land Trust: Wetland Mitigation and Wildlife Habitat

The Legacy Land Trust and Montgomery and Harris counties proposed an “in-lieu-fee” mitigation program to the Army Corps in which the land trust would market compensatory mitigation credits to permit holders in the two counties through the acquisition, preservation and/or enhancement of aquatic resources along a creek containing cypress swamps and palmetto thickets. This innovative proposition evolved into the first mitigation program in the ecologically sensitive region. Read more >>

Leveraging Volunteers

Desert Foothills Land Trust: The Sustaining Power of Volunteers

“Bring Back Cave Creek” is a multi-year effort to restore a perennial stream with high biodiversity value to its former splendor. Riparian landowners led by land trust volunteers, undertook a 10-year effort to remove non-native species. The project is a good example of how land trusts with limited resources can engage in restoration and stewardship with the help of volunteers. Read more >>

Habitat Restoration

Teton Regional Land Trust: Protecting and Restoring Priority Habitats

Teton Regional Land Trust has protected nearly 9,000 acres of land through cooperative efforts with contract biologists, partner agencies, ranchers and private landowners and has begun restoration efforts on over 4,000 acres in the upper Teton River watershed. The land trust plays a key role in helping private landowner’s access funds available for restoration through government programs. Read more >>

Chesapeake Wildlife Heritage: Restoring Habitat

This land trust offers five programs to help landowners to achieve their wildlife habitat conservation goals in every phase of land acquisition and management. They offer a wide spectrum of stewardship management advice, consultation and services. By combining services from two of its programs, Landowner Services and Sustainable Agriculture, their innovative approach has achieved significant results in land management and protection. Read more >>

Columbia Land Trust: Pioneering Oak Woodlands Restoration

The Columbia Land Trust is working to restore oak woodlands on two properties: a “mosaic” thinning project on a 580-acre property and one to reduce conifer encroachment on a 300-acre property. The land trust worked closely with experts in the local community and state and local agencies to plan its oak woodlands restoration work. After extensive documentation of baseline conditions the land trust created a multi-year plan to restore mature oak structure and understory cover while reducing fire danger on its properties. Read more >>

McKenzie River Trust: Restoring Native Habitat

After a regional assessment conducted in 2000 by the McKenzie Watershed Council identified the confluence of the McKenzie and the Willamette Rivers as a top priority for conservation due to its rich biological diversity, the McKenzie River Trust began working with the Green family, who owned over 1,000 acres in this region, to restore and protect an active floodplain. McKenzie River Trust saw this unique opportunity and decided to take on this large project, despite their small size (2.5 full time employees), as a way to grow their organization and restore a biologically diverse floodplain. Read more >>

Naromi Land Trust: Stepping Up to Land Stewardship

In 2004, Naromi Land Trust transitioned from an all volunteer land trust to one with two part-time staff. Now the land trust is thriving and has connected with a variety of partners to assist with strategic land conservation planning and management activities, which have inspired expanded interest in the land trust and have increased volunteering. Restoration partnerships with groups such as the Local Boy Scout Troop have led to increased wetland restoration and funding opportunities for restoration. Read more >>

Tall Timbers Land Conservancy: Ensuring a Century of Stewardship

Tall Timbers Land Conservancy uses working forest easements, conservation management plans and affirmative language in conservation easements to protect and steward working lands while enhancing wildlife habitat for diverse species in a region threatened by poorly-planned growth. The Conservancy has used conservation easements to protect 100,000 acres of land within the 300,000-acre Red Hills region, particularly the native longleaf-pine ecosystem. Easements may include conservation management plans and affirmative clauses to ensure the long-term stewardship of the region's ecosystems. Read more >>