About Us

The Minnesota Land Trust is a member-supported, nonprofit conservation organization protecting natural and scenic land right here in Minnesota.  Our mission is straightforward: To protect the natural and scenic heritage of our state through public and private partnerships.

The Land Trust was voted as a "high-impact" conservation organization by a panel of 178 peers during a 2011 study conducted by Guidestar.  Read the story here, which appeared in the New York Times Magazine supplement on November 13, 2011.

The Land Trust plays an essential role in the implementation of the long-term vision to protect Minnesota’s natural land legacy.  Our land conservation efforts focus on protecting important lands within the broad critical landscapes that are most characteristic of the state’s natural and scenic beauty. 

Since our first project in 1993, we've worked with landowners and local communities to protect more than 38,000 acres in 50 counties and 817,000 feet of shoreline on some 200 lakes, rivers, streams and wetlands.

Why are we successful?

• The Land Trust uses innovative conservation tools and strategies that protect natural and scenic land in cooperation with willing communities and landowners.
• We're efficient. Using conservation easements, we can protect land at approximately $300/acre, which is a fraction of what it would cost to purchase the land.
• We have a professional staff with years of experience in land protection, land stewardship, conservation planning, fund raising, and real estate law.
• We have a Stewardship Endowment Fund to ensure that the lands we've protected will remain protected forever.
• We live and work in communities throughout Minnesota, enabling us to develop trusted relationships and understand Minnesota from the ground up.
• As an accredited organization, the Land Trust exceeds national standards for excellence, upholds the public trust, and ensures that conservation efforts are permanent. Click here for information on accreditation.

Our Accomplishments

• Minnesota landowners are some of the most generous and stewardship minded in the nation: In just 20 years we’ve protected property valued well over $100 million - all at a total cost to the Land Trust of under $20 million thanks to landowners who donated their conservation easements.
• We've preserved some of Minnesota’s most treasured landscapes like the North Shore of Lake Superior, the trout streams and blufflands of southeastern Minnesota, our vast system of wilderness lakes and rivers in the Mississippi River headwaters region and the remaining natural areas in the Twin City metro area.
• We are a leader in conservation-based development and planning, helping developers and communities to successfully combine the construction of needed development with protected natural areas.

Because of our success, we've become a state and national leader in the use of conservation easements and are one of a relatively small group of organizations implementing land protection transactions in the state.