The Trust for Public Land
Encyclopedia
The Trust for Public Land (TPL) is a land conservation nonprofit founded in 1972 by Huey Johnson
Huey Johnson
Huey Johnson is a pioneering environmentalist and the founder of Resource Renewal Institute , a non-profit organization that deals with environmental sustainability. He is also the founder of The Trust for Public Land, the Grand Canyon Trust and the Environmental Liaison Center...

 and based in San Francisco, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 in the United States. TPL works throughout the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 to conserve land for people as parks, gardens, and other natural places.

TPL Conservation Initiatives

TPL conserves land across all types of landscapes. Its five initiative areas are:
  • Parks for People: TPL works in cities and suburbs across America to ensure that everyone—in particular, every child—enjoys close-to-home access to a park, playground, or natural area.
  • Working Lands: TPL protects farms, ranches, and forests that support land-based livelihoods and rural ways of life.
  • Natural Lands: TPL conserves places of natural beauty that preserve wilderness for our children's children to explore and that support other species with whom we share the planet.
  • Heritage Lands: TPL protects places of historic and cultural importance that keep us in touch with the past and who we are as a people.
  • Land & Water: TPL preserves lands that protect clean water and the natural beauty of our coasts and waterways.

Along with The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy is a US charitable environmental organization that works to preserve the plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive....

, TPL has helped orchestrate the Montana Legacy Project
Montana Legacy Project
The Montana Legacy Project is a three phase purchase of more than of land owned by Plum Creek Timber in northwestern Montana. The land is within the counties of Missoula, Mineral, Lake and Powell...

.

TPL Conservation Services

The conservation of land may involve more than real estate expertise. For example, TPL offers these services:
  • Conservation Vision: TPL helps communities analyze park needs and land conservation priorities. TPL's Geographic Information System
    Geographic Information System
    A geographic information system, geographical information science, or geospatial information studies is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographically referenced data...

     (GIS) approach, known as Greenprinting
    Greenprinting
    Greenprinting relates to the conservation of land. Greenprinting is the creation of conservation scenarios that help communities make informed conservation decisions....

    , targets lands that are strong candidates for conservation and helps establish local land conservation goals.
  • Conservation Finance: TPL helps design and promote public funding programs that support land conservation. TPL helps states, counties, and municipalities, create and pass legislation and mount ballot measures that generate new funds for conservation.
  • Conservation Transactions: TPL helps structure, negotiate, and complete land transactions that create parks, playgrounds, and protected natural areas. TPL serves as an independent agent, buying land from willing landowners and then transferring it to public agencies, land trusts, or other groups for protection. In some instances, TPL will protect land through conservation easements, which restrict development but permit traditional uses such as farming and ranching.
  • Conservation Research and Education: TPL acquires and shares knowledge of conservation issues and techniques to improve the practice of conservation, promote its public benefits, and to encourage proconservation public policy.
  • The Conservation Campaign
    The Conservation Campaign
    The Conservation Campaign is a 501 non-profit organization affiliated with The Trust for Public Land . It is an essential resource for grassroots campaigns in the USA that are concerned with raising funds for land and water conservation....

    :
    TCC is a 501(c)(4) affiliate of TPL. It mobilizes public support for ballot measures and legislation that create public funds to protect land and water conservation. TCC provides support in all areas of a campaign, from campaign management to fundraising to direct mail appeals. It is the premier resource for conservation campaigns throughout the US.

Statistics

Since 1972, TPL has completed more than 3,900 land conservation projects in 46 states protecting more than 2.8 million acres (8000 km²).

Since 1996, TPL has helped states and communities craft and pass more than 350 ballot measures generating over $25 billion in new conservation-related funding.

In the 2007-2008 fiscal year, TPL helped to plan and construct 15 parks and playgrounds.

Publications

TPL produces many resources to support land conservation including,
  • The Conservation Easement Handbook: A definitive resource for land conservation professionals developing a conservation easement
    Conservation easement
    In the United States, a conservation easement is an encumbrance — sometimes including a transfer of usage rights — which creates a legally enforceable land preservation agreement between a landowner and a government agency or a qualified land...

     program to meet local acquisition needs.
  • Conservation Finance Handbook: For communities seeking to raise conservation funds at the ballot box—from initial demographic research to post election analysis. Topics include: Measuring Public Opinion, Designing a Winning Measure, and Running a Conservation Campaign.
  • Source Protection Handbook: The handbook provides resources to help a community both make the case for land conservation and also go about actually conserving those lands.

Research Centers

  • TPL's Center for City Park Excellence: Urban parks are critical components for redeveloping and reshaping the nation's cities. TPL is carrying out significant research to support the nationwide city park promotion efforts of public officials and private citizens.
  • TPL's Center for Conservation Finance: Conducts and publishes research on an array of funding topics and provides insights into emerging trends in land conservation.
  • Center for Land & Water: Learn more about the relationship between land conservation and water quality, identify tools and resources for watershed protection, and discover how land conservation is being used throughout the United States to protect water quality.

Land&People Magazine

Land&People, TPL's national magazine, is a free publication which provides information about projects across the United States which TPL has undertaken. It can be viewed online Here.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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