A Land Trust is a nonprofit, private organization that works hand-in-hand with landowners concerned with the need to conserve open space -- undeveloped lands with significant ecological, scenic, recreational, agricultural, cultural or historic values -- within their community.

Land trusts have been active in the United States since the 19th century and represent the fastest-growing conservation movement in the United States, having assisted in the preservation of millions of acres of open space from Maine to California and Minnesota to Texas.