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    What is community-centered conservation?

    Rooted in trust, building relationships

    Community-centered conservation is a model rooted in trust and relationships that delivers tangible land conservation and community benefits by engaging communities in all aspects of conservation work. This work is highly context dependent as land trusts and their partners work in different landscapes and with distinct communities, all with unique histories and relationships to land. Common practices include collaboration, listening and learning, sharing leadership and resources and showing up for communities.

    FOR WHOM? BY WHOM?

    Conserving land for the benefit of all.

    Effective community-centered conservation (CCC) ensures that the land conservation movement is shaped by and benefits all people, including but not limited to Black, Indigenous, Latinx and other People of Color, LGBTQIA+ people and people with disabilities.

    CCC invites us to ground ourselves in the history and present-day context of the land and the communities in which we work. This includes growing our understanding of and commitment to address disparities in community access to green space, healthy and local food and opportunities to participate in land conservation. It also includes a commitment to working in a way that centers community experiences, expertise and land relationships.

    When approached in an informed and relationship-focused manner, CCC can lead to deep, lasting conservation outcomes that promote the health, resilience and cultural vitality of communities and improve access to and strengthen relationships between people and the land.

    Connect with our team

    • You can reach our community-centered conservation department at CCC@lta.org.

    Program offerings

    Supporting land trusts in community-centered conservation.

    The work of our community-centered conservation department generally rolls up into one of the five themes below...

    Community-centered leadership, organizational development and planning

    Engaging New Leaders

    Launched in 2019, the Scholars for Conservation Leadership Program is a career and leadership development program designed to expand opportunities for students to pursue careers in natural resource management and conservation. The program emphasizes an equitable and community-centered approach to conservation. Consider donating to support training and fellowship opportunities through this program.

    Youth Education

    Nature and place-based education is important in all life stages, and encouraging children to find a local place in nature is the first step to creating lifelong stewards, advocates and conservation professionals. The Youth Educators Peer Network provides a space for learning and connection for those who lead youth education programs.

    Historically and culturally informed conservation

    Heirs' Property Toolkit

    Designed with support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Heirs' Property Toolkit is designed to provide information and resources to assist land trusts and agency staff in understanding the issues surrounding heirs’ property.

    While heirs’ property can affect anyone, today it disproportionately impacts Black landowners, who have seen more than an 80% reduction in farmland owned according to the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems, going from 16 million acres owned in 1910 to under 3 million acres owned in 2007.

    Oral History is Conservation History

    Speakers Jessa Rae Growing Thunder, Ph.D., director of tribal nations initiatives at Native Americans in Philanthropy, and Jocelyn Imani, Ph.D., national director of Black history and culture at Trust for Public Land, guide land conservation staff, board members, volunteers and community partners through the intricate journey of researching local land history.

    Discover the culture of history keeping in both Indigenous and African American/Black communities and how intertwined history is with land and the environment.

    An interview with: Jasmine Parson Williams

    Jasmine Parson Williams is the CEO and principal consultant at Parson Williams Group, LLC, where she partners with thoughtful organizations to improve the human experience in workplace culture.

    Sowing seeds of resilience

    Dominique Daye Hunter is an Afro-Indigenous author, poet, fashion designer and advocate. She recently published “Seeds: Stories of Afro-Indigenous Resilience,” a collection of poetry and short stories that explores her Afro-Indigenous lineage and gives voice to the trauma, healing and resilience of her ancestors. Read part 1 and part 2.

    Collaboration with allied sectors and movements

    Affordable Housing Guide

    Breaking Ground: An Affordable Housing Resource Guide for Land Trusts is a resource that the Alliance has developed with partners to encourage cross-sector collaboration between land trusts and affordable housing organizations.

    The guide introduces land trusts to terminology, foundational resources and partnership case studies related to affordable housing and the intersection with land conservation.

    Land Trust/Land Bank Map

    The National Land Bank and CLT Map is a resource that the Alliance has developed alongside the Center for Community Progress to encourage cross-sector collaboration between land trusts and community development organizations such as land banks.

    The map identifies where land banks, conservation land trusts and community land trusts may have shared service areas and could explore opportunities to work together.

    Indigenous land relationships, return, access and stewardship

    Please visit this page for more information about our programs and partnerships in this area.  

    Disability access, inclusion and leadership

    Please visit this page for more information about our programs and partnerships in this area. 

    Additional educational opportunities

    The Alliance’s webinar series and blog includes an ever-expanding collection of content on community-centered conservation. Check out some of our community-centered conservation webinars and blog posts below:

    40+ Years of Conservation Success

    The Land Trust Alliance, along with the community of land trusts it serves, has grown tremendously during the last 40 years. Together, we have conserved more than 61 million acres. The Alliance is committed to doubling that number by the end of the decade.