Public policy has an outsized impact on land conservation, ecosystem restoration, historic preservation, and sustainable agriculture. Sound legislation helps protect precious places, rehabilitate important landscapes, manage climate change impacts, and furthers our important work.
The Trustees advances policy solutions through longstanding relationships with leaders at the local, state, regional, and federal levels; in fact, our organization was founded through legislation in 1891. Our advocacy team works with lawmakers to find points of connection between our mission and broader governmental policy goals, ensuring conservation has a seat at the table. We advocate with nonprofit partners to secure adequate public funding for land acquisition and restoration projects, and environmental agency budgets. We sometimes voice our opposition to bills that would prove detrimental to our priorities and we propose viable alternatives.
Recently, wee advocated for land conservation and restoration projects as key tools for mitigating climate emissions and managing climate impacts, especially to benefit Environmental Justice Populations. We helped author language in the state’s new climate law that includes natural and working lands in the state’s Net Zero by 2050 climate goals. And we are urging the U.S. Congress to make significant Farm Bill investments to support small farms and agroecology.
