The Blue Mountain Land Trust serves Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties in Washington and Umatilla and Union counties in Oregon. It was founded in 1999 and has worked with conservation-minded landowners to protect over 4,000 acres of working farms and forests in the region. In 2014, the trust conserved a 238-acre farm that has been in the same family ownership for over 100 years.

According to the Land Trust Alliance, conserving land helps ensure clean air and drinking water; provide safe, healthy food; secure scenic landscapes and recreational places; and maintain habitat for the diversity of life on earth. Conserving land can also increase property values near greenbelts, save tax dollars by encouraging more efficient development and reduce the need for expensive water filtration facilities. Across the country, communities have come together to form more than 1,700 land trusts to save the places they need and love. To date, over 47 million acres of farms, forests and parks have been conserved, including land transferred to public agencies and protected via other means. Strong, well-managed land trusts provide local communities with effective champions and caretakers of their critical land resources, and safeguard the land through the generations.

ABOUT THE LAND TRUST ALLIANCE

Founded in 1982, the Land Trust Alliance is a national land conservation organization that works to save the place people need and love by strengthening land conservation across America. The Alliance represents 1,200 member land trusts supported by more than 5 million members nationwide. The Alliance is based in Washington, DC, and operates several regional offices. More information about the Alliance is available online.