American Land Conservancy

Direct Purchase – American Land Conservancy worked with landowners who wish to sell or donate their land for conservation by finding a public agency or conservation buyer to own and manage the land permanently. Funding for acquisition can come from state or federal appropriations, philanthropic foundations or individuals. Sample projects include the BK Leach Memorial Conservation Area in Missouri, Crow Creek Falls in Montana, and High Meadows in Nevada.

Conservation Easement – A conservation easement is a legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust or government agency that permanently limits uses of the land in order to protect its conservation values. It allows the landowner to continue to own and use the land and sell it or pass it on to heirs subject to the restrictions of the easement. The American Land Conservancy often worked with a conservation partner who holds and monitors the easement. Sample projects include the Hearst Ranch in California (in conjunction with the California Rangeland Trust) and Bridgeport Valley in California, and Kaskaskia Island in Illinois.

Acquisition of Surface or Sub-surface Rights - Sometimes the surface of a landscape is protected, but a company or individual owns the assets on top (timber), or underneath the surface (mining, water, natural gas). The American Land Conservancy acquired these rights to prevent development and habitat destruction in pivotal landscapes. Sample projects include Bodie State Historic Park in California, Denali National Park in Alaska, and Valley Grande in New Mexico.

The genesis of American Land Conservancy can be traced to founder Harriet Burgess's first trip down the Grand Canyon. She found the trip guide, Martin Litton, inspiring.^{[citation needed]}

Many years later, Burgess and Litton started the American Land Conservancy in order to pursue the protection of another canyon – Topanga Canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California.

The American Land Conservancy's mission was to fill a niche in the land preservation movement, taking on projects too large for purchase by local land trusts and too complicated and high-risk for larger, national land trusts. Some of the American Land Conservancy's projects included the acquisition of tens of thousands of acres for the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in California and Nevada, large-scale wetlands restoration along the Mississippi River, and conservation of the 82,000-acre (330 km²) Hearst Ranch on the California Central Coast.

The organization was dissolved in 2016.^[1] Harriet Burgess had retired eight years earlier, and without succession planning sufficient to fill her shoes, the organization had foundered.^[2]