Coastal Services Center

The Land Trust Alliance, the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, and the Maine State Planning Office entered into a cooperative agreement with the NOAA Coastal Services Center to leverage the skills and resources of approximately 50 organizations engaged in protecting Maine's coast for future generations. The project resulted in a coastal conservation plan that identifies protection priorities and strategies and implements a series of pilot projects at the local level. The project built on the capacity and effectiveness of key conservation land trusts operating on the coast.

NOAA Coastal Services Center's Role

The NOAA Coastal Services Center provided knowledge on coastal conservation issues, contacts with federal agencies, and technical expertise. The Center helped develop Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in select epi-centers along the coast, a Web-based tool for GIS planning, and specialized software to accompany a new strategic conservation training curriculum.

Grantee Overview

The Land Trust Alliance is a 501(c)3 charitable organization founded in 1982. The Land Trust Alliance is the national convener, strategist, and representative of more than 1,300 land trusts across America. The organization is governed by an 18 member board of directors and employs a staff of 31. The Alliance is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with regional programs in Portage, Michigan, Durham, North Carolina, and Saratoga Springs, New York. The Alliance provides training, publications, lobbying services, and strategic planning to help leverage and connect the work of their member land trusts. The Alliance has used conservation easements to conserve private land and is now adopting a new strategic plan to dramatically expand the pace of land conservation (through tax incentives), build strong land trusts, defend the permanence of conservation easements, and ensure the work of land trusts is as strategically directed as possible.

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