Land Trust Alliance and Open Space Institute Announce Nearly $400,000 in Grants to Help Communities Plan for Climate Change

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Land Trust Alliance and the Open Space Institute today announced nearly $400,000 in grants to help communities better plan for climate change and its impacts. The grants, awarded to local land trusts and other nonprofits, are funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, J.M. Kaplan Fund, Jane's Trust Foundation, Volgenau Foundation, William Penn Foundation, an anonymous foundation and several generous individual donors.

The Alliance and OSI have awarded $315,275 to recipients, named below, who will use those funds to incorporate climate science into their strategic land protection and stewardship efforts, harnessing the land's natural capacity to capture and store carbon. Such work enables people, plants and animals to better adapt to a changing climate. Additionally, the Alliance awarded $72,000 worth of direct technical assistance to land trusts nationwide for climate-focused planning or communications.

"Now more than ever, protected lands and forests are our future," said OSI President and CEO Kim Elliman. "These grants will directly address the impacts of climate change. We thank the Land Trust Alliance for their partnership in advancing a proactive response to climate on the ground."

"The generosity of our grant funders is matched only by the value and importance of these dollars to communities across our nation," said Andrew Bowman, the Alliance's president and CEO. "The grants will support the development of strategic land protection plans and related investments at a moment when every available dollar for such efforts is needed."

Since 2015, the Alliance and OSI have partnered to deliver funding, technical assistance and training to help land trusts and other conservation nonprofits respond to the climate crisis by incorporating climate science into their acquisition and stewardship planning. This year, the Alliance and OSI aligned their climate planning grant programs for the first time, bringing together funding from a consortium of national and regional climate funders.

Grants awarded by the Alliance went to California's Shasta Land Trust ($12,000); Florida's Alachua Conservation Trust ($5,000 plus $3,000 in technical assistance) and North Florida Land Trust ($10,000 plus $7,000 in technical assistance); Indiana's Central Indiana Land Trust ($10,000); Illinois' Natural Land Institute ($9,000 plus $5,000 in technical assistance); Iowa's Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation ($12,000); Maine's Three Rivers Land Trust ($3,000 in technical assistance); Maryland's Baltimore Green Space ($13,000); Massachusetts' Berkshire Natural Resources Council ($7,000 in technical assistance), Mass Audubon ($10,000), Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust ($11,000) and Sudbury Valley Trustees ($10,000 plus $7,000 in technical assistance); Montana's Gallatin Valley Land Trust ($8,000); New York's Beaverkill Valley Land Trust ($3,500 in technical assistance), Genesee Land Trust ($10,000 plus $3,000 in technical assistance) and North Salem Open Land Foundation ($5,000); Ohio's Western Reserve Land Conservancy ($11,000); Pennsylvania's Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art ($12,000 plus $5,000 in technical assistance); Tennessee's Lookout Mountain Conservancy ($12,000 plus $7,000 in technical assistance); Texas' Katy Prairie Conservancy ($9,000 in technical assistance); Vermont's Northeast Wilderness Trust ($10,000); and Wisconsin's Northwoods Land Trust, Inc. ($5,000).

Grants awarded by OSI went to Alabama's The Nature Conservancy of Alabama ($6,750); Maine's Appalachian Mountain Club ($8,140), Greater Lovell Land Trust ($2,300), Three Rivers Land Trust ($5,500) and Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness ($14,785); New Hampshire's Upper Saco Valley Land Trust ($12,000); New York's Western New York Land Conservancy ($13,000); North Carolina's Conservation Trust for North Carolina ($15,000) and North Carolina Coastal Land Trust ($9,000); Pennsylvania's Natural Lands Trust ($15,00) and WeConservePA ($14,000); and Vermont's Alliance for Vermont Communities as fiscal sponsor for the White River Land Collaborative ($5,000), Cold Hollow to Canada ($8,300) and Vermont Woodlands Association ($11,500).

About the Land Trust Alliance

Founded in 1982, the Land Trust Alliance is a national land conservation organization that works to save the places people need and love by strengthening land conservation across America. The Alliance represents nearly 1,000 member land trusts supported by more than 200,000 volunteers and 4.6 million members nationwide. The Alliance is based in Washington, D.C., and operates several regional offices. More information about the Alliance is available at http://www.landtrustalliance.org.

About the Open Space Institute

The Open Space Institute protects scenic, natural, and historic landscapes to provide public enjoyment, conserve habitat and working lands, and sustain communities. Founded in 1974 to protect significant landscapes in New York State, OSI has been a partner in the protection of nearly 2.3 million acres in North America.

About the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation

The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) is to improve the quality of people's lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research and child well-being, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke's properties. The mission of DDCF's Environment Program is to ensure a thriving, resilient environment for wildlife and people, and foster an inclusive, effective conservation movement. For more information, please visit http://www.ddcf.org.

Media Contact

Joshua Lynsen, Land Trust Alliance, 202-800-2239, [email protected]

SOURCE Land Trust Alliance