Land Trusts have a very important role to play in the implementation of the Wildlife Action Plans. Nearly all of the State Wildlife Action Plans identify promoting conservation easements as a priority.

Land trusts have been helping landowners preserve valuable natural resources for well over a century.  The habitat protection and restoration work land trusts do provides direct and vital benefits to wildlife, and often fulfills priority conservation actions laid out in the State Wildlife Action Plans.

Currently there are more than 200 land trusts that are officially members of the Teaming with Wildlife Coalition, including nationally based groups like The Nature Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land. Click here to find out which land trusts are active in your state. For a fact sheet you can use in your own outreach to land trusts, click here.

In many states, there is a statewide organization to which all local land trusts belong. If this is the case in your state, we recommend working with this "umbrella" land trust in order to outreach to the individual member land trusts.

Examples of Land Trust projects that have come from Teaming with Wildlife partnerships:

(1) The Piedmont Land Conservancy, a member of the North Carolina Teaming With Wildlife Coalition, has joined forces with the NC Wildlife Resources Commission to develop a Watershed Protection Plan for the Dan River. Piedmont has invited the NC state fish and wildlife agency to contribute to the plan to ensure that high-priority conservation actions from the Wildlife Action Plan are included.

(2) The Northern Prairies Land Trust received State Wildlife Grants funding from the Nebraska Game & Parks Commission. The land trust used the funds to hire a staff person to work on restoring native prairies and cultivating relationships with landowners in areas listed as high conservation priorities in the Wildlife Action Plan.

(3) The Alachua Conservation Trust, a member of Florida's Teaming with Wildlife Coalition, partnered with the Florida Wildlife Federation to protect 600 acres which adjoin 40,000 acres of publicly owned land. The Florida Wildlife Federation was able to provide a bridge loan to the land trust for the immediate purchase of this property known as the Phifer Flatwoods.