Incorporating justice, equity, and access priorities into land trusts' conservation efforts

Abstract

While the mainstream U.S. environmental movement has long promoted land conservation, a growing focus considers its intersections with social and political issues. In this study, we examine the ways in which land trusts (private nonprofit conservation organizations) engage with justice, equity, and access in their work, and how such issues interact with long-standing priorities of biodiversity and land conservation. Using survey data from the Land Trust Alliance's 2015 Census, we find the following to be associated with greater likelihood of reporting justice, equity, and access impact: protecting land in urban areas, drawing on a broad base of volunteers and visitors, and prioritizing local community work over broader landscape-scale conservation efforts. Supported by qualitative data collected through interviews with six land trusts, we found three primary areas of tradeoffs that land trusts consider when incorporating justice-focused work into conservation priorities: scale of impact, capacity, and public access. Ultimately, we propose a series of individual and systemic recommendations to more effectively navigate these tradeoffs and promote just and equitable practices.