Land Trusts

1. What Are Land Trusts?
2. What Do Land Trusts Protect?
3. Legal Tools of The Land Trust Trade
4. Types of Land Trusts
5. Examples of Farmers Working With Land Trusts
6. Potential Land Trust Challenges
7. Additional Resources

Land trusts are generally nonprofit, charitable organizations that own and manage land, or own and manage certain property interests that attach to the land.  They are usually tax exempt organizations, organized under IRS Code Section 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(2).

Conservation land trusts purchase or accept donations of land or easements on land to limit development and preserve wildlife habitat, farmland, forests, and open space.  They often work cooperatively with landowners to conserve land, and to ensure that land previously acquired or placed under a conservation easement continues to be properly protected. 

Community land trusts can own and manage land for a number of different purposes, including affordable housing, parks and playgrounds, community gardens, and open space generally.

Conservation land trusts can focus on protecting natural habitat, water quality, or scenic views, ensuring that the land is available for farming, forestry, or outdoor recreational use, or protecting other values provided by open land. Community land trusts can have many different purposes, including providing affordable housing, affordable commercial rent, and green space for residents.

To achieve their purposes, conservation land trusts can own land and restrict the use of that land, or they can own property interests in the land.  These interests can include conservation easements, affirmative agricultural easements, options to purchase at agricultural value (OPAVs), and more.

In addition to traditional conservation projects, land trusts can promote conservation in innovative ways, such as:

• Initiate rural and urban agricultural projects, like incubator farms or community gardens
• Promote commercial spaces to serve local communities
• Establish affordable rental and cooperative housing projects
• Conserve land or urban green space
• Steward land for the benefit of the community and for farmers and foresters

Learn more about how farmers work with land trusts through these real-world farmer stories:

• Elmer Farm
• Greenfield Berry Farm
• Full and By Farm
• Temple-Wilton Community Farm
• Urban Edge Farm

Land trusts come in different varieties, including conservation land trusts, preservation trusts, community land trusts, and more. Government entities, either on their own or in partnership with a land trust, can also be the holder of easements to protect and conserve farmland.

A conservation land trust is an organization that establishes ownership for the purpose of making sure land stays undeveloped and protected for future generations. The two basic ways conservation land trusts use to do this are 1) purchasing land or 2) purchasing a conservation easement on land.

Some examples of conservation land trusts and related organizations mentioned in this toolkit include:

• Tompkins Conservation – California-based land trust dedicated to protecting the ecology and wildlife of parks and forests on a long-term basis.
• Vermont Land Trust – Vermont-based land trust that saves the land that makes Vermont special, including farmland and forest.
• Equity Trust – Massachusetts-based land trust committed to changing the spirit and character of our material relationships.
• Peninsula Open Space Trust – Protecting and caring for open space in and around Silicon Valley.
• Middlebury Land Trust – Connecticut land trust to help preserve Middlebury, Connecticut’s natural areas for future generations.
• Eddy Foundation – Works in New York, California, and the Dominican Republic to preserve open space for the welfare of all human citizens and all plants and animals.
• Mount Grace Conservation Land Trust – Massachusetts-based regional land trust that protects significant natural, agricultural, and scenic areas, and encourages land stewardship in Massachusetts for the benefit of the environment, the economy, and future generations.
• Yggdrasil Land Foundation – National land trust that protects sustainable and biodynamic farmland, creates land access for farmers, and cultivates agriculture-based regional economies.
• Land Trust Alliance – A group of land trusts across the US devoted to promoting the health and well-being of land for places to play and exercise, build community, and connect with nature.

Community land trusts are charitable, community-based organizations, led by community residents and public representatives, and have primarily been used to promote long term housing affordability. In the farming context, community land trusts generally work to ensure community stewardship of land by ensuring permanent access, control, affordability, and stewardship of the land for the community and future generations.

Community land trusts are generally designed to ensure land is used to benefit the local community where that land is located. In the farming context, community access to farmland and forests owned by a community land trust is generally provided to farmers through a long term lease.

Examples of community land trusts that provide affordable housing, among other things, include:

• Champlain Housing Trust – One of the largest community land trusts in the country, with over 2,000 household members in rental apartments, co-ops, condos and single family homes.
• Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative – A land trust based in the Dudley section of Roxbury, Massachusetts, encompassing housing, a Town Common, gardens, urban agriculture, and open spaces for play.
• Berkshire Community Land Trust – Owns and leases land for community homes, farms, and businesses.
• National Community Land Trust Network – Group of community land trusts that promote strategic community development and permanently affordable housing to benefit lower-income families.
• Southside Community Land Trust – Serves people in economically-challenged urban neighborhoods where fresh produce is scarce, who, as a result, are at risk for life-threatening diet-related chronic diseases.
• Many more community land trusts are listed in a directory at Community-Wealth.org, a website that contains alot of information about various community wealth building activities.

This type of land trust combines certain aspects of both community and conservation land trusts.

Agricultural land held “in common” by a community land trust can provide many benefits.

• Takes land out of the real estate market and thus limits investors’ ability to speculate in land;
• Provides for ownership and stewardship by the local community in which the agricultural land is situated;
• Gives the community the ability to offer long term, secure, and equitable tenure to local farmers, and to require healthy farming practices;
• Can allow for significant interaction between the local community and local farmers in a shared space in which everyone is invested.

At the local, state, and federal levels, government agencies can also be holders of farm-related easements, either as a government entity or in partnership with a land trust organization. Government-held easements can be on private property; governments can also lease government-owned land to farmers directly. Real-world examples include:

• Countryside Conservancy in partnership with Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
• Southside Community Land Trust in partnership with the State of Rhode Island.
• Dakota County, Minnesota Farmland and Natural Areas Protection Program.
• The New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage Investment Program.

Although working with land trusts can be beneficial for farmers, landowners and land-seekers should be aware that working with land trusts has its challenges.

• Working with a land trust to secure a conservation easement or other conservation tool can be complex, time-consuming, and costly.
• Landowners who own farmland with a bank mortgage on the property may have difficulty working with a land trust.
• Land trusts and farmers may not share a common mission. For example, a land trust dedicated to preserving wildlife may not be a good match to conserve a working farm.
• Once a land trust owns a conservation easement on property, the landowner must obtain consent from the land trust for certain activities, and the land trust can prohibit the landowner from building more housing or other structures that could be helpful to their business.