There has been a lot of talk recently about presidential executive action. One of President Obama’s actions late last year was to designate two new national monuments in Nevada and Utah (http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/12/28/507314596/obama-designates-two-new-national-monuments-in-nevada-and-utah), which, like most presidential actions these days, was considered very controversial in some circles.
If you disagree with this type of government action but see the value in preserving land, there is good news. There are several organizations that specialize in private land conser
vation.
The Land Trust Alliance brings together and supports more than 1,100 member land trusts (https://www.landtrustalliance.org/). Its 2015 census reports a major milestone — there are now land trust agreements conserving 56 million acres in the U.S. (https://www.landtrustalliance.org/about/national-land-trust-census). That’s actually twice the area of all the national parks in the contiguous 48 states.
An organization I’m
more familiar with is The Nature Conservancy — “Conserving the lands and waters on which all life depends” (http://www.nature.org/). This is a world-wide organization that has chapters in all 50 states and 35 countries, more than 3500 employees, and has conserved over 60 million hectares over the past 60 years. It’s sustained by about one million members.
So if our nation’s land-preservation priorities ever change, there are still a lot of people willing to make sure land is preserved.
Both of these organizations are rated charities. Reports on charities are available here — http://give.org/ .