News & Updates

Winter 2024: Rally Answers the Question: Why Accreditation?

Fall 2023: Leveraging Your Accreditation Seal

Summer 2023: What you need to know about the seven-year accreditation term

Spring 2023: Stepping Up: Accredited Land Trusts are Addressing Major Environmental Concerns in Their Communities

Winter 2023: Celebrating First-Time Accreditation

Fall 2022: Integrity, Accountability and Service: How Commissioners Help Meet the Promise of Perpetuity

Summer 2022: Applying for Accreditation No Matter The Mission: Audubon Societies

Spring 2022: Applying for accreditation no matter the mission

Winter 2022: Accreditation at Any Size: What Motivates Land Trusts to Apply for Accreditation

Fall 2021: Accreditation At Any Size: How All-Volunteer Land Trusts Make Accreditation A Reality In 2010, the Westmoreland Conservancy, an all-volunteer land trust based in Pennsylvania, was presented with an opportunity to have a consultant help guide them through the accreditation process.

Summer 2021: Celebrating 15 Years of the Land Trust Accreditation Commission In 2004, the Land Trust Alliance's strategic plan articulated three goals: "Accelerate the pace of land conservation; improve the quality of land conservation; and ensure the permanence of land conservation."

Spring 2021: Accreditation Opens Doors In surveys of accredited and renewed land trusts, 100% report that accreditation helps the land trust community maintain the trust of Congress, the Internal Revenue Service and the public.

Winter 2021: Vision and Hope When Colorado Open Lands merged with the Colorado Conservation Trust in 2013, the process was not without its challenges. "Each merging land trust has its own culture, history of accomplishments and means of engaging with its board, landowners and stakeholders," says Community Conservation Program Manager Ben Lenth...

Fall 2020: How Commissioners and Staff Can Help "Conservation, particularly stewardship, during the time of COVID-19 can be quite a challenge for land trusts. It's important for them to know what helpful resources are available, and accredited land trusts have a resource all to themselves: the Land Trust Accreditation Commission."

Summer 2020: Meet Melissa "Growing up in a suburb of Philadelphia, Kalvestrand also credits her family for how she feels about nature. “I love being outside—biking, canoeing, hiking, camping, gardening or reading in a hammock all recharge me mentally and physically.”"

Spring 2020: One Picks Up Where the Other Left Off "When a critical member of the finance team at Chikaming Open Lands in Michigan transitioned last year, Executive Director Ryan Postema did not panic—even with the annual audit approaching."

Winter 2020: Giving Back to the Land Trust Community "Five days after her first Land Trust Accreditation Commission meeting, volunteer commissioner Karen Ferrell-Ingram's property was destroyed by a wildfire. As harrowing as this experience was, it gave her a new perspective, she says, "on the restoration of conservation values and on rebuilding a home on an easement property."

Fall 2019: How Accreditation Pays You Back "How do you quantify better stewardship records, improved board and staff relationships or a stronger land trust community? While some benefits of accreditation aren’t easily measured, many land trusts find that investing in accreditation pays them back."

Summer 2019: Shout It from the Rooftops: Market Your Accredited Status "Your land trust has earned accreditation, you’ve run around the office high-fiving everyone and it’s time to take a breather after all the hard work. But wait, how will you market your new status?"

Spring 2019: New System Saves Paper and Time, Eases Burden "In the past, land trusts applying for accreditation couldn’t escape the reams of paper required to document their adherence to Land Trust Standards and Practices... That reliance on paper changes with the new online application system launched in January for first-time and renewal accreditation."

Winter 2019: Agency Partners Value Accreditation "Does accreditation increase public confidence in land trusts? 'Yes' finds a new report evaluating the impact of the first 10 years of the accreditation program." How accreditation has impacted land trust partners including foundations, federal, state and county agencies, and landowners.

Fall 2018: Standing Ready to Help "Did you know that accreditation and land protection experts at the Land Trust Accreditation Commission are on standby to guide you through your application and act as a resource for your land trust? Commission staff can offer advice and help solve problems as you make important decisions, or just provide answers to quick questions."

Summer 2018: Requirements that Minimize Risk "When all-volunteer Chebeague and Cumberland Land Trust faced an easement crisis in 2014, board members were forced to deal with issues well beyond anything they had ever been through."

Spring 2018: Giving a Break to Those Who Need It "The Land Trust Accreditation Commission can be described as a highly professional body made up of a dedicated group of volunteers from the land conservation community who spend hours and hours reviewing accreditation applications. But it’s also a group of human beings with heart. When Lowcountry Land Trust properties were extensively damaged by Hurricanes Irma, Jose and Maria, the Commission offered flexibility to the land trust so it could focus on the immediate need for community and land trust cleanup efforts, and later focus on submitting its remaining accreditation renewal application materials."

Summer 2017: Smart, Stylish, Flexible: Accreditation Seal Options "Has your land trust ever struggled to describe what its accreditation means, in the best way possible? We can help with that! Accredited land trusts from around the country helped us come up with some smart, stylish, flexible layouts of the accreditation seal that powerfully and succinctly describe the value of accreditation."

Spring 2016: Strength and Confidence Open Doors "When a neighbor cut down a swath of trees in a nature preserve in Washington State’s San Juan Islands, the San Juan Preservation Trust (WA) knew exactly what steps to take. The land trust recently had been through the accreditation process with the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, says Dean Dougherty, director of stewardship."

Winter 2016: Good News Travels Fast - But You Have to Share It First! "Achieving accreditation should prompt an announcement to the world: “We did it! We are an accredited land trust, and that means something!” Yet almost 30% of accredited land trusts do not mention their achievement anywhere on their website—one of the easiest and most obvious ways to build awareness of your accredited status and why it matters."

Fall 2015: Getting Accredited, Growing Stronger! "What’s the hardest part about accreditation? The work it takes to get there. What’s the best part about accreditation? The work it takes to get there. When you ask land trust leaders what they gained from accreditation, they talk about various benefits — like credibility with landowners and funders, or readiness for a legal challenge or an audit. But overwhelmingly they say the number one benefit of accreditation is that the process improved how their land trust does its job."

Summer 2015: You Will Love What's Under the Cover! "Have you met the 2015 Requirements Manual? It may look the same from the outside, but under the cover it is a streamlined, compact and dramatically improved guide to understanding how a land trust will be evaluated when it pursues accreditation and renewal."

Spring 2015: From Good to Great Feedback from land trusts improves the accreditation and renewal processes "Five years ago accreditation was known within a small community of land trusts and partners, but the tide is changing. Accreditation is growing in the eyes of our conservation funders, landowners and our membership..."