The Vermont Land Trust is the largest and most experienced land trust in the state of Vermont. VLT generously shares its expertise with smaller regional land trusts, and NRLT often collaborates with VLT to accomplish conservation that is beyond our local capacity to achieve. VLT’s website provides a wealth of helpful background for landowners who are considering working with a land trust to conserve their land. See in particular the Landowner Information section of VLT’s website. www.vlt.org
NRLT is working in partnership with the Center for an Agricultural Economy to identify and protect agricultural lands that support a local farm and food system in Hardwick and surrounding towns. This region has become the center of a new renaissance that is recapturing the unique productivity of its farmland and agricultural innovators. A major barrier to this renaissance is the availability of affordable productive farmland. The long-term success of the agricultural renaissance being led by the Center will require that we conserve prime agricultural lands so that innovative agricultural producers can grow into them in the coming decades. www.hardwickagriculture.org
The Trust for Public Land has extensive legal, real estate and funding expertise to help landowners and communities protect land through public ownership of land or easements. Within the NRLT region, TPL has initiated several conservation projects in the area surrounding Zack Woods Pond in Wolcott. TPL maintains a regional office in Montpelier. www.tpl.org
NRLT is a member of the Land Trust Alliance, the umbrella organization of approximately 1,500 national, regional, state and local land trusts dedicated to land conservation. LTA develops performance standards and conducts educational programs that help member land trusts improve their practices and ensure that they can meet their obligations to protect land. LTA also tracks policy changes that affect land trusts. The Land Trust Alliance Membership ranges from the global Nature Conservancy to one-town organizations such as our close associate, the Greensboro Land Trust. www.landtrustalliance.org
The Greensboro Land Trust is a sister organization founded in 1992 that holds 18 easements. GLT helped NRLT to get started by acting as fiscal sponsor while we finalized our non-profit status. We continue to learn from this neighboring land trust, which was one of the first to undergo accreditation under LTA standards. www.greensborolandtrust.org
The Nature Conservancy Vermont Chapter can help landowners identify unusual species or important natural communities present on their land. TNC may occasionally contribute funds to support easement purchases to protect truly outstanding ecological resources. TNC volunteers may also provide stewardship assistance to protect special places from the incursion of invasive exotic species or other threats. www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/vermont
