The Nature Conservancy's mission is to preserve plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive.
The Conservation Fund provides the know-how and find the funds to buy ecologically or culturally significant land (and water). So far, the Fund has forged partnerships to protect 1.3 million acres. They recently bought 300,000 acres of forestland in Vermont, New Hampshire and New York. 70 percent of the property will be protected as traditional working forests, while the remaining 30 percent includes environmentally sensitive areas that are targeted for public ownership.
Trust for Public Land. A great organization that acquires land for public use in urban areas. So far, they've saved over a million acres of land in 45 states, including Walden in Massachusetts.
The Little Traverse Conservancy is northern Michigan's Land Trust. They do not engage in lobbying or political activities -- they just acquire and protect land.
Land Trust Alliance, 1319 F Street NW, Suite 501, Washington, DC 20004, phone 202-638-4725.