The Minnesota Land Trust permanently protects the lands and waters that define our communities and enrich our quality of life.

The Land Trust accomplishes this through establishing and monitoring permanent conservation easements. Conservation easements are legal agreements by which landowners voluntarily limit the development potential and use of their land. The land remains in existing ownership but the easement "runs with the title" insuring that the protections remain in place regardless of who may own the land in the future.

The Land Trust is the only statewide organization that extensively uses conservation easements as a protection strategy. The Land Trust completed its first easement in 1993 encompassing 80 acres of land in Washington County. Since then, we have completed 398 projects protecting 36,373 acres throughout the State.