Leadership of Land Trusts

This paper, part of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy’s Kingsbury Browne fellowship awarded in conjunction with the Land Trust Alliance’s 2014 Kingsbury Browne Conservation Leadership Award, examines generational transition in the land trust community. It specifically looks at how both senior and emerging leaders of land trusts view the changes that have occurred in the land trust community over the last 35 years; what challenges the two generations see ahead for land trusts and their leaders; skills and resources leaders will need to meet those challenges; how lands trusts can plan for generational succession; and how knowledge and experiences can be shared most effectively between generations. The research is informed by 24 formal interviews and additional informal conversations with emerging and senior land trust leaders, a review of a wide range of current and historical documents and reports, and the author’s personal experience of nearly four decades in land conservation and land trust work. She hopes information presented here will be a catalyst for further discussion and actions.