what is a land trust?

A land trust is a private, independent, nonprofit organization that has joined with landowners to protect private lands in the U.S. for over 50 years. There are over 1,600 land trusts operating across the United States. There are twenty land trusts and two local and state government-sponsored programs actively working in Idaho.  

What Land Trusts Are Not

Land trusts are not a branch of any governmental entity and they are not environmental advocacy organizations. Learn more.

What Land Trusts Do

Land trusts negotiate voluntary agreements - conservation easements - with interested landowners to limit commercial development and residential subdivision of their property. In essence, land trusts help land owners secure an important private property right: to establish a conservation easement to retire development rights on their property. Conservation easements have potential federal estate tax and federal income tax benefits for landowners. Land trusts may work with local, county and federal programs that provide public funding for land conservation. Some land trusts have active trails and outdoor recreation programs.

Land trusts have one primary mission: To conserve private lands. Land trusts work with private landowners to protect private lands through voluntary agreements called conservation easements. Land trusts work closely with farmers and ranchers and a large group of partners that includes county governments, sportsmen, tribes, state and federal land and wildlife management agencies, local watershed groups and others to protect lands.