Emily Molden and Nate Scott traveled to New Orleans mid-September to participate in the annual Land Trust Alliance Rally. Hundreds if not thousands of people came from all over the country to collaborate, learn and share stories of success in our fields.
This included seminars, field trips, and workshops about stormwater management, land stewardship, donor relationships, grant opportunities, tax incentives, community development, and much more.
The president of the Alliance gave a speech at the welcoming dinner highlighting the success of our members across the country, conserving more than 60 million acres; that’s more than all the national parks combined! He set a goal of doubling this number by 2030 and was very positively motivated that we could achieve this. Of course, not without the help of private donations and state and federal funding, a lot of which comes from the federal Farm Bill, which was passed this year.
Overall the best part of the conference was making connections with wonderful people working hard on land stewardship across the country, including from Hawaii. The NLC has adopted the Land Trust Alliance Standards and Practices, which serve as our guidelines for how to operate a land trust responsibly. As evidenced at the Land Trust Alliance Rally last week, the land trust community is committed to excellence in our work. We’re committed to upholding the public’s confidence in land conservation. We support each other in that commitment and look forward to participating in the LTA’s conference again next year.