Defenders' Experts
Living Lands Project
Helping land trusts conserve biodiversity
Local land trusts across the United States have done an impressive job protecting the working farms and forests, scenic landscapes and wildlife habitats that support our livelihoods and our environment. Most land trusts identify wildlife habitat as a core value, but small staff sizes and limited financial and technical resources can make on-the-ground biodiversity conservation a challenge.
Defenders’ Living Lands Project aims to connect land trusts to financial and technical resources that will assist them in making strategic decisions about:
- where to work to conserve high priority native species and habitats, and
- how to use effective land stewardship, partnerships and major funding resources to restore and manage native habitats for long-term benefit.
A strategic and science-based focus on habitat conservation results in greater protection for biodiversity and ecosystem health but also increases organizational capacity through new collaboration and funding opportunities, community support and strong easements.
Read more about the project here
Why Biodiversity?
A focus on biodiversity doesn’t just benefit wildlife; it benefits all of us in the form of cleaner air, water, and a host of other ecological services. A true win-win, land trusts who include biodiversity in their missions have found that they also benefit in a number of unexpected ways.
More about Biodiversity and Land Trusts
Living Lands Newsletter
Summer 2009
Living Lands Newsletter Archives >>
Latest news
The Farm Bill - Steady Funding in Unstable Times
Aimee Weldon, Living Lands Project Manager, wrote this featured piece in the Fall Land Trust Alliance's "Saving Land" magazine. Read the article to learn more about how to access the nation's largest source of private lands conservation funding.
Land Trust Alliance Highlights Defenders' Conservation Registry as a tool for land trusts
The Summer 2009 issue of the Land Trust Alliance's Saving Land magazine features an article on Defenders' Conservation Registry, a free, on-line database that tracks conservation actions across the landscape. The article highlights some of the Registry's key features, including its easy to use Google map interface. Read the article on page four of Conservation News.
Two Land Trusts Complete Strategic Planning Process in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
The Lower Shore Land Trust and The Capital Regional Land Conservancy completed the first of a series of planning workshops to help protect biodiversity in the Bay watershed.
Transportation Enhancement Funding
Find out how Defenders can help you get Transportation Enhancement dollars for your important conservation projects.
Case studies of Land Trusts
Defenders' Living Lands project has compiled a series of 14 case studies profiling the biodiversity-oriented conservation efforts of land trusts around the country. The purpose of the case studies is to highlight creative and innovative approaches to conservation that other land trusts may find useful. Topics covered include habitat restoration, collaborative planning, conservation finance, leveraging volunteers, and creative partnership building. Case studies profile land trusts varying in capacity from all-volunteer to well-staffed working in a diversity of geographic settings.
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