Pennsylvania Land Trust Association

Pennsylvania Land Trust Association
Name	Pennsylvania Land Trust Association
Formation	1989
Type	Nonprofit
Headquarters	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Region served	Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Land Trust Association

The Pennsylvania Land Trust Association is a nonprofit membership organization that supports land conservation organizations, landowners, and conservation professionals across Pennsylvania. It provides technical assistance, training, policy advocacy, and networking to local land trusts and partner institutions engaged in land protection, stewardship, and community conservation. The association works with municipal agencies, regional coalitions, and national organizations to conserve farms, forests, watersheds, and cultural landscapes.

Overview

The association serves as a statewide network for land trusts, connecting local land trusts, county agencies, and regional conservancies such as Natural Lands, The Conservation Fund, Trust for Public Land, Land Trust Alliance, and Audubon Pennsylvania. It promotes best practices used by organizations like Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, The Nature Conservancy in Pennsylvania, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and PennFuture to protect riparian corridors, working farms, and historic sites. The association offers training similar to programs by University of Pennsylvania School of Design, Penn State Extension, and Temple University Ambler for conservation easement stewardship, land trust accreditation, and easement monitoring.

History

Founded in 1989, the organization emerged during a period of growing conservation activity influenced by statewide initiatives such as the expansion of the Appalachian Trail corridor, protection efforts in the Pine Barrens, and programs from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Early collaborators included regional land trusts like Bucks County Conservancy, Montgomery County Lands Trust, and Lancaster County Conservancy, as well as national funders including William Penn Foundation and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The association’s development paralleled federal legislation and programs such as the Land and Water Conservation Fund and state-level initiatives from the Pennsylvania Farmland Preservation Program.

Programs and Services

The association provides training, technical assistance, and resources for easement drafting, stewardship, and legal compliance aligned with standards from the Land Trust Alliance National Land Trust Standards and Practices. It offers workshops featuring practitioners from Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, Conservation Fund's Center for Land Conservation, and academic experts from Lehigh University and Bucknell University. Services include conservation easement templates, model agreements used by organizations like York County Heritage Trust, mapping assistance using tools from PennDOT and geographic data resources maintained by Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access. Programs address agricultural conservation working with partners such as Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, National Young Farmers Coalition, and Farmland Information Center.

Governance and Funding

The association is governed by a board drawn from leaders of regional land trusts, conservation nonprofits, and academic institutions including representatives from Montgomery County Lands Trust, Pocono Heritage Land Trust, and universities such as Temple University. Funding sources include membership dues, grants from foundations like the William Penn Foundation and Schreyer Family Foundation, contracts with state agencies including the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and program grants from federal sources such as US Fish and Wildlife Service and National Endowment for the Humanities for cultural landscape projects. Governance follows nonprofit best practices similar to those promoted by BoardSource and accreditation models from the Land Trust Accreditation Commission.

Partnerships and Advocacy

The association partners with statewide initiatives such as the Delaware River Basin Commission, Chesapeake Bay Program, and county open space programs to advocate for funding and statutory protections. It collaborates with agricultural partners including Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture and municipal partners in towns along the Susquehanna River, Allegheny River, and Lehigh River. Advocacy work engages legislators in the Pennsylvania General Assembly and agency officials in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to influence programs like the Pennsylvania Farmland Preservation Program and funding allocations from the Commonwealth Financing Authority.

Impact and Notable Projects

The association has supported projects that protected farmland in regions like Lancaster County, conserved forest tracts in the Allegheny National Forest vicinity, and protected stream corridors feeding the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay. Notable collaborations include technical assistance to local land trusts on projects involving historic landscapes in Chester County, riparian buffers in the Schuylkill River watershed, and community land protection efforts in the Lehigh Valley. The association’s training and resources have helped member organizations achieve easement portfolios and stewardship programs consistent with successes seen by The Nature Conservancy, Trust for Public Land, and regional conservancy networks.

Criticisms and Controversies

Critics and community groups have sometimes challenged land trust transactions supported by the association over issues similar to disputes raised in other states: questions about public access on conserved land, the perpetual nature of conservation easements, and the role of private foundations such as William Penn Foundation in shaping local priorities. Local debates in places like Bucks County and Lancaster County have mirrored broader national controversies involving land use planning and conservation equity. The association has responded by promoting transparency, stewardship audits, and public engagement practices aligned with recommendations from the Land Trust Alliance.

Category:Non-profit organizations based in Pennsylvania