Rally 2015: The National Land Conservation Conference

The Land Trust Alliance promotes voluntary private land conservation to benefit communities and natural systems, and represents more than 1,700 land trusts across America. The Alliance will use these funds primarily for education. Their goal is to ensure that land trusts have the skills to be effective land acquisition partners. The Alliance will offer a number of educational and training opportunities to land trust staffs, boards and volunteers to help land trusts become better informed about land conservation issues and more effective at conserving land. Land Trust Standards and Practices, the ethical and technical guidelines for the responsible operation of a land trust are a core component of the educational offerings. To ensure that land trusts have the skills to be effective land acquisition partners, among the topics addressed will be conservation finance strategies, project due diligence, protecting land for biodiversity, and protecting water resources through strategic conservation planning. While a registration fee is usually required for training activities, many of the trainings that the Alliance offers are subsidized by grants so that the trainings are affordable, or free, for members of the land trust community. In addition, the Alliance will engage partners, including federal agencies, to share information with land trusts about how to work effectively with a variety of programs, initiatives and funding sources. For example, workshops offered in the course of a year include topics such as ¿The Land and Water Conservation Fund: Strategic Shifts and Interagency Collaboration to Support National Landscape Initiatives¿ and ¿The National Wildlife Refuge System; Partnering with Land Trusts and Local Governments.¿