Land Trusts: Protecting Nature for our Health, and the Health of the Planet

As natural areas and wilderness are eaten up by our homes, farms, roadways and industrial development, what can the average person do to help protect nature? In the US the rate per hour of land “development” is an alarming 180 acres.

Transferring private land by sale or donation to a Land Trust enables land owners to protect cherished areas from future development and preserve natural habitats for the benefit of wildlife, natural flora and human recreation. These agreements can be developed with flexible terms to accommodate present and short-term needs of the current land owner as well as their long-term vision for the land.

For Ruth Masters, one of a growing number of conservation donors, working with land trusts was a small but real solution to the loss of nature.

“The neighborhood is expanding at breakneck speed, and I don’t have any kids to consult with. This development is right outside my property – and they’re moving in like wildfire. I realized I couldn’t take it upstairs with me, so I have done all I can think of to protect it so it does not get destroyed.”

Ruth donated 18 of her 20 acres to the local government, so that the forest and trail she had on her property next to a river in her home city would remain beyond her lifetime. To make sure they kept their word and her instructions, she worked with a land trust creating a legal document with conservation restrictions, registered on title, to ensure the land would remain as she intended.

In the U.S., land trusts have conserved more than 47 million acres of land.

Today, there are more than 1,723 land trusts in the U.S. and another 400 plus in Canada. The Land Trust Alliance reports in its 2010 census that U.S. land trusts have now conserved more than 47 million acres of land.

There is a growing awareness that human health is directly linked to saving natural areas. Not only do natural areas provide essential clean air and water, they are also a place of great beauty and inspiration, and home to thousands of animals and birds we share this planet with. To get that essential exercise Doctors are now recommending for your own health, you could get outside and hike along a nearby trail or park. And, if you want some ideas of where to go beyond national or local government parks and trails, check out your local land trust’s protected areas.

In Massachusetts, some 20,000 acres of land have been acquired and protected by the Trustees of Reservations, the first land trust in the U.S. They have an additional 20,000 acres of land with conservation restrictions (RE’s) on them, similar to Ruth’s. This non-profit conservation organization was founded in the 1890’s through a young landscape architect practicing in Boston. He proposed that a statewide corporation, governed by a board of voluntary trustees, be able to hold land tax free for the public, “just as a Public Library holds books and an Art Museum holds pictures.”

Today, this large land trust in Massachusetts has more than 200 employees with 120 properties that are protected for their exceptional scenic, historical and ecological values and for public use and enjoyment.

Crane Beach is one of their properties offering more than five miles of trails and fun on the beach for children and people of all ages. It is also a nesting site for piping plovers, a threatened bird hunted nearly to extinction in the 19th century for its eggs and feathers.