Boulder County Parks & Open Space’s mission is to conserve natural, cultural, and agricultural resources and provide public uses that reflect sound resource management and community values. The county achieves this through preserving rural lands, community buffers and cultural resources; providing recreational experiences while protecting open space resources; and supporting sustainable agriculture. The county has conserved over 104,000 acres of open space from the plains to the Continental Divide. Approximately 65,000 acres are fee-owned, and 39,000 acres are private properties subject to conservation easements or similar restrictions. Several work divisions manage these land and water resources. The Real Estate Division at Parks & Open Space handles all real estate matters, including new acquisitions, conservation easement amendments, condemnations/takings of land, access by third parties with legal rights, and protection of conservation values from surface disturbance by oil and gas activities. The conservation easement team is housed within this division and is responsible for stewarding 840+ conservation easement properties through monitoring, reviewing development proposals to ensure consistency with conservation easement terms, building and maintaining strong working relationships with the landowners, and resolving violations.

Judy Anderson of Community Consultants has worked in the land trust sector for over 30 years. She currently assists nonprofit organizations on practical strategic conservation initiatives incorporating local communities, climate change, governance, communications and marking, and community-based fundraising strategies.

Judy offers a free bi-monthly newsletter related to climate change, conservation and land trusts taking action to slow down climate. Judy also provides coaching on inclusive conservation, easement drafting and stewardship, and building greater community relevance to ensure land trusts withstand the test of time.

Judy coaches remotely as well as proving in-person trainings, workshops, and discussions.

The Connecticut Land Conservation Council (CLCC) serves Connecticut’s land trusts by representing their interests to state government, connecting them to training and guidance resources on both statewide and local levels, and providing direct assistance to help them achieve their conservation goals and ensure their long-term viability. Since its formation in 2006, CLCC has grown into one of the most effective statewide land trust service centers in the country, and its annual conference is now drawing close to 500 participants.

Draper Law PLLC is a solo law firm focused on all aspects of land conservation — from serving as transactional counsel for the purchase, sale and donation of properties and conservation easements, to providing strategic guidance on the stewardship, management and enforcement of conservation easements. Adam Draper has over 15 years of attorney experience, with the past 10 years as in-house counsel at two land conservation organizations before striking out on his own in December 2018. In partnership with private landowners, land trusts, tribal governments, corporations and federal, state and local government officials, Adam has closed more than 70 transactions conserving 7,000+ acres of working, habitat and recreation/open space lands worth over $30 million. Adam is a sought-after public speaker and industry expert on land conservation, and has presented several sessions at the Land Trust Alliance’s annual Rally.

With offices in Pennsylvania, Florida, and Oregon and America's largest portfolio of compliance forest offset projects from Maine to Alaska, we offer landowners a single-source solution for creating and monetizing their forest carbon assets. Combining unparalleled project development experience with extensive carbon market knowledge, our in-house team offers the most comprehensive forest carbon project development and commercialization service in the United States.

GOCO invests a portion of Colorado Lottery proceeds to help preserve and enhance the state's parks, trails, wildlife, rivers and open spaces. Our independent board awards competitive grants to local governments and land trusts, and makes investments through Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Created by voters in 1992, GOCO has committed more than $1.1 billion in lottery proceeds to more than 5,000 projects in all 64 counties without any tax dollar support.

Uniting and empowering Colorado’s land trusts and partners to conserve the lands and waters that define our state. 

Representing organizations and landowners in all phases of conservation real estate transactions, including land and conservation easement sales and donations, conservation easement amendments, and exchanges. Conservation Advisors LLC secures public and private conservation capital, and analyzes and implements conservation and business strategies.

The purpose of the Environmental Lands Program’s is to identify, acquire, preserve and protect endangered, environmentally sensitive and significant land in Manatee County. Funds to acquire, improve and manage land were approved by Manatee County voters in a 2020 referendum. The Program operates within the Manatee County Department of Parks and Natural Resources in coordination with partners, volunteers and Environmental Land Management Acquisition Committee members, who advise the Manatee County Board of County Commissioners on related matters.

The Partnership for Gulf Coast Land Conservation (the Gulf Partnership) is a coalition of more than 20 local, regional and national conservation organizations that work in the Gulf Coast region within the five Gulf of Mexico states – Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Our mission is to increase the pace, quality and permanence of voluntary land and water conservation within the coastal region.

Pitkin County is located in the central Rocky Mountains of Colorado. The Pitkin County Open Space and Trails Program was established by the voters of Pitkin County in 1990 by the passage of a ballot initiative creating a County Program for the purpose of acquiring open spaces and developing trails. The Program is funded by a property tax. In 2016, Pitkin County Open Space and Trails Board of Trustees is to acquire, preserve, maintain and manage open space properties for multiple purposes including, but not limited to, recreational, wildlife, agricultural, scenic and access purposes; and to acquire, preserve, develop, maintain and manage trails for similar purposes.

We act as the unified voice for land trusts across Washington state on behalf of private land conservation. We have three major program areas/services that we provide to help support the land trust community: advocacy and policy; networking and education; and partnerships and outreach.

The Washington State Conservation Commission (SCC) is the coordinating state agency for all 45 conservation districts (CDs) in Washington State. Together, the SCC and CDs provide voluntary, incentive-based programs that empower people to practice conservation and ensure healthy natural resources and agriculture for all.

What we do:

• Provide financial and operational support and oversight to our state’s 45 conservation districts.
• Design policy and program structures that can be customized to address site-specific natural resource conditions and landowner needs.
• Facilitate collaborative solutions that meet state natural resource priorities and work on the ground.

The Office of Farmland Preservation is a program housed within the Washington State Conservation Commission. Through the direction provided by RCW 89.10.010, OFP works to address the rapid loss of working agricultural land in our state. OFP does this by supporting and sponsoring agricultural conservation easements, assisting local governments and organizations as they develop and implement measures to retain agricultural land, providing resources to assist with the transition of farmland and farm business for one generation to the next, and providing data and analysis on trends impacting farmland in Washington.

Thirty-six-year history in biological conservation, science education and organizational management.