A land trust is a community-based nonprofit organization that seeks to conserve land, protecting it (and the species that inhabit it) from development and encroachment from other properties. Conserved land may have natural, historical, scenic, recreational or agricultural value.

 

Land trusts care for, or steward, the land entrusted to them. For example, they may remove invasive plant species, dead or diseased trees, or restore disturbed ecosystems to a healthy balance.

 

Land trusts often acquire land through property owners who give their land to the trust, or who use a tool called a conservation easement. Land trusts may also acquire land through purchase, often with the assistance of community partners.

 

The Farmington Land Trust (FLT) is local, serving the town of Farmington, Connecticut. However, land trusts may also work at the regional, state or national level.