How do you break down a multitude of barriers to outdoor access in the rural mountain West so people can connect with nature? The answer is simple: find a large parcel near town — and buy it. No matter what it takes.

Deep breathing in times of stress can slow heartbeats and lower blood pressure. But when a federal court instructs you to take a "deep breath," what is your mind and body to do?

Like many people in the land trust community, I have had a lifelong fascination with the world’s biodiversity. The abundance and variety of lifeforms is both mind-boggling and inspiring.

I spent my Labor Day weekend enjoying a riverside campsite on Mount Hood National Forest in Oregon. It was a perfect late-summer weekend with blue skies and just a touch of autumn in the air. But on our final morning, the blue skies disappeared in the unmistakable haze of wildfire smoke.

“Rally is an enormous gift in these dire times,” said Carolyn Edelmann, community relations associate of the accredited D&R Greenway Land Trust in New Jersey. “Rally gives us hours, even days, of cooperation with courageous, devoted, original people who care about the health of our planet and devote their lives to its well-being. In other words, Rally delivers hope, as well as practical steps to realize our personal and professional missions!"

This fall, the Land Trust Alliance's Land and Climate Program is providing new trainings for land trusts to learn to adapt to and mitigate climate change.