Dear Friends,
As friends of Ozark Land Trust, you know that by permanently protecting lands, land trusts help combat many adverse impacts on our natural resources. But not everyone is fully aware of what land trusts accomplish; sometimes the work of protecting millions of acres of lands flies under the radar.
This week, though, one publication recognized land trusts in its end of year giving guide. Margaret Renki praised the value our sector brings to the environment and conservation.
“There’s another way to protect the environment that may be less apt to inspire headlines but is nevertheless vital. The Land Trust for Tennessee, like other land trusts around the country, offers one of the simplest, least contentious and most effective ways to preserve the privately held fields and forests that serve as wildlife ecosystems and carbon sinks: Convince landowners to save them.” (Times Opinion’s Holiday Gift Guide 2021).
This recognition comes on the heels of the Land Trust Alliance’s 2020 National Land Trust Census Report shows that 61 million acres were conserved by land trusts as of year-end 2020 — an increase of more than 15 million acres since 2010.
Land trusts are powerful tools that allow groups like OLT and private landowners to voluntarily protect resources for future generations. We offer a concrete and direct response to the damages incurred from development, climate and more.
Please consider a year-end gift to OLT. Your support means so much to our ability to continue protecting lands in the Ozarks. Over 31,000 acres of a wide variety of resources, working lands, and areas where we live, work and play have been protected by OLT’s work.
https://ozarklandtrust.org/donations-page/
We so appreciate all you do in support of conservation across the Ozarks. Thank you for supporting the great work of land trusts like OLT in permanently protecting the lands that make our Ozarks region so beautiful and special for all of us.
Sincerely,
Larry Levin
Executive Director
Ozark Land Trust