We are excited to share the launch of a new program between the Land Trust Alliance and the USDA Forest Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Earlier this month, I spoke at a ceremony attended by hundreds of people at Niagara Falls. We celebrated together as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated the U.S. side of the Niagara River a Ramsar site: a Wetland of International Importance.

During the summer, staff of the accredited Conservation Trust for North Carolina visited the small town of Princeville that has been repeatedly devastated by floodwaters. In 1999, Hurricane Floyd caused the Tar River to rise and the town was submerged.

Standing atop Burnt Mountain, a great arc of the northern Green Mountains embraces you in soft-shouldered beauty stretching from horizon to horizon. Up close, the vivid colors of the fall foliage surround you.

Tucked away in the Winter 1989 issue of Exchange, the original quarterly journal of the Land Trust Alliance, is an announcement highlighting the launch of a groundbreaking new project: Land Trust Standards and Practices.