What is a Land Trust

We are the Land Trust Alliance of British Columbia (LTABC) representing 40 land trust members across the province. Associate members (consultants, environmental groups and individuals) bring our total membership to seventy. Since 1997 when LTABC was established, we have developed educational, research and resource programs that have helped conservation groups steward, protect and restore BC’s natural and cultural diversity. BC land trusts, with the help of generous donors and willing land owners, have now protected well over one million acres of significant land. You can become a member by clicking here.

Watch our new video – THROWING SHADE

Land trusts, also known as conservancies, are community-based, non-profit organizations dedicated to the permanent protection and stewardship of natural land, species at risk and wildlife habitat.

Land trusts help landowners and communities protect places that are ecologically sensitive. These properties conserve important biodiversity significant to British Columbia – wetlands, forests, grasslands, shorelines and wildlife. These natural spaces define our communities and geography and provide a perpetual connection to nature.

In Canada, 148 land trusts work in communities, regions, provincially and nationally to protect and steward private lands forever through:

Land Acquisition – Properties are acquired by land trusts through donation or purchase. To date, more than 550,000 acres have been protected.

Ecogifts – Many land trusts work with land owners and Environment and Climate Change Canada to protect properties through this federal government program. (See page 27)

Conservation Covenants – A voluntary legal tool that allows the land to remain in private ownership but permanently limits development to protect the conservation values of the property. The covenant is held by a land trust and monitored on a regular basis. Land trusts have conserved more than 1500 properties in BC.

Stewardship – Lands that are owned and managed by land trusts, and properties with conservation covenants, require long-term stewardship. Land trusts are responsible for the ongoing management and monitoring of these properties to protect their conservation values.

Education & Volunteering – Land trusts provide education to landowners about conservation options and engage communities in the stewardship of protected natural areas while also educating people about the values of conservation, species-at-risk, and climate change. BC’s land trusts are active in more than 40 communities.