CONSERVATION LAND TRUSTS: BUILDING BRIDGES BETWEEN COMMUNITIES AND CONSERVATION

by Barry Buchanan, Co-chair Mazama Conservation Committee

The Northwest’s incredible lands provide us with clean air and water, local food, forest products, and amazing recreation opportunities. And yet our natural assets are under threat, from climate change and ecological decline, a retreating federal presence, and many competing state challenges. Fortunately for us, over the last three decades we have seen the emergence of a new strategy to keep our most special natural places intact: private land conservation. Today we have more than 30 land trusts working in every corner of Oregon and also across the state of Washington to build collaborative, lasting outcomes.

Land trusts are nonprofits that acquire land, or work with private landowners, Tribes, and public agencies to establish agreements on how land is used. In the process, diverse groups of people work together and communities are strengthened. Frequently working behind the scenes, conservation land trusts employ multiple approaches to protect and restore lands:

• Land acquisition: Land trusts simply buy land or receive donated land.

• Conservation easement: Land trusts partner with private landowners or government agencies to conserve land under a legally binding agreement known as a conservation easement.

• Management and restoration: Land trusts engage in the management or restoration of conserved land.

One of the more well-known conservation land trusts is The Nature Conservancy, which is protecting over 125 million acres of land worldwide and in all 50 U.S. states. In our area we are familiar with the Friends of the Columbia Gorge and the Columbia Land Trust.

It may be less well known that nationally there are currently over 1,200 land trusts. Local and state land trusts contributed to 70 percent of the growth in land protected in the United States since 2015. Accreditation is maintained by the Land Trust Alliance (LTA), which also gathers the above statistics. LTA created its accreditation commission in 2006, establishing common standards and practices for land trust organizations. Qualifications include 501(c)(3) charitable status, annual monitoring, development of comprehensive management plans, and standard documentation. The results are very encouraging.

Conservation easements allow land trusts to restrict development and work with landowners to restore habitat, wildlife, biodiversity, and clean water. Landowners wanting to conserve natural or working lands get scientific help from the trusts to ensure sustainable practices are deployed. As science and experience marches on, these practices become better.

There are agricultural land trusts specifically set up to protect farmland and support sustainable family farms and ranches, as well as community land trusts that support more affordable housing by separating land ownership from home ownership. There are even urban garden land trusts.

In 2021, the Oregon Desert Land Trust (ODLT) purchased the 16,645acre Trout Creek Ranch, in the Pueblo and Trout Creek Mountains of southern Oregon. These private lands hold grazing permits and connect several important conservation areas. The ODLT is working to support other ranchers in the area to open up controlled grazing and experimenting with “virtual fencing” where cows wear GPS collars and receive mild electrical encouragement to graze in designated areas. This helps prevent damaging overgrazing and reduces fencing so that wildlife can move more freely through the area.

Another common goal of land trusts is to secure recreational access where feasible. Land trusts may acquire (or work with the owner of) private lands to open these to public access for outdoor activities such as hiking, fishing, or hunting. Frequently these additions make up the so-called “checkerboard lands” which are adjacent to or “land-locked” within public lands. According to the LTA, there are over 9,700 miles of trails held by the trusts in the US.

The Deschutes Land Trust (DLT) acquired the 1,240-acre Metolius Preserve in 2003. It has actively managed the preserve, which includes Lake Creek, a tributary of the Metolius River, to promote wildlife conservation and also provide public access for hiking. The DLT also manages the Whychus Canyon Preserve (2010), which includes old growth juniper, aspens, cottonwoods, and 7-plus miles of hiking trails.

Land trusts also support communities, including those that have been historically marginalized. Tribal partnerships are increasingly front-and-center in land justice projects, and some Tribes have established their own land trusts. An important goal of some land trusts is to learn from and partner with Tribes to incorporate and sustain indigenous practices and culture, ultimately working towards returning ancestral lands. Last year, multiple partners cooperated in the historic sale of Cape Foulweather to the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, returning 27 acres of ancestral land. McKenzie River Trust acquired the land from an out-of-state developer, serving as a temporary owner until the Tribe secured funding, including a grant from NOAA made possible by the US Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The Siletz Tribe plans to sustainably conserve the land to promote biodiversity, connect Tribal members to their culture, and engage the public in understanding the importance of Oregon’s coastal habitats.

In some places, local communities decide to establish their own land trusts to protect watersheds, conserve habitat, or provide outdoor recreation. In 2022, working with the North Coast Land Conservancy (NCLC), the Arch Cape Domestic Water Supply District acquired a 1,500-acre Arch Cape Community Forest that makes up the cape’s drinking watershed. This required coordination, scientific expertise, educational outreach,

Efforts like these are examples of community-based conservation approaches, which engage local communities in conservation efforts, realizing that collaboration between scientists, governments, and people in the local communities is essential for effective long-term protection.

Land trusts engage in environmental advocacy and education, lobby local governments, and reach out to the public by holding educational lectures, workshops, and volunteer restoration events. Southern Oregon Land Conservancy conducts educational programs ensuring that conservation has a presence in Salem and Olympia during legislative sessions.

In Oregon and Washington, there are organizations to coordinate and support state land trusts—the Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts (COLT) and the Washington Association of Land Trusts (WALT). Other environmental nonprofits like the Bird Alliance of Oregon are partnering with these organizations to provide further support. Oregon State University frequently provides scientific support. These coalitions help start-up trusts along the path to accreditation and may provide legal services. COLT, along with the LTA and the Oregon Community Foundation, has established the Oregon Lands and People Project, a five-year plan to “supercharge” land conservation by deepening community partnerships and building funding.

With the federal government alarmingly retreating on long-established environmental protections, support of science, and furthermore recognizing that the state of Oregon “spends a smaller percentage of its annual budget on natural resources than almost any other state” (COLT), the work that land trusts are doing is even more essential. They are well positioned to help guide us to resiliency and adaptation in the face of climate change. Land trusts are creating bridges in the long-term effort to restore and sustain ecosystems across both public and private lands, pointing us to a future where humanity can live in the best possible harmony with the natural world and each other.