Rensselaer Land Trust is an accredited land trust. Accreditation means Rensselaer Land Trust meets national quality standards for protecting important natural places and working lands forever. Rensselaer Land Trust has demonstrated to the Land Trust Accreditation Commission its commitment to excellence. Accredited land trusts meet national quality standards for protecting important natural places and working lands forever. These land trusts demonstrate their commitment to excellence by adopting Land Trust Standards and Practices, the ethical and technical guidelines for the responsible operation of a land trust, and meeting the accreditation requirements drawn from them. Learn More: http://www.landtrustaccreditation.org/about.
Review from Guidestar
Rensselaer Land Trust conserves land and natural treasures and is accredited by its national organization. Many folks volunteer and take part. It is small but mighty and has done great work! I'm proud to be part of it.
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I am a donor to Rensselaer Land Trust and a volunteer. Rensselaer Land Trust not only preserves land for future generations, it provides a sense of community and love for the land through hikes and other activities. The organization does a great deal with very little money. I highly recommend it for recognition.
This well established conservation organization has remained vibrant - growing and changing as it matures. Nationally accredited for its practices, RLT delivers its mission every day.
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This organization has gone great lengths to help the community and the environment. Besides hosting great events, workshops, and meetings, the Rensselaer Land Trust has been helping land owners preserve their property for over 25 years. This past year (2014) was exceptionally exciting because RLT reached over 1,000 acres of conservation in Rensselaer County. I'm happy to be involved in this organization and recommend it to any nature lovers in the area.
RLT has embarked on a major project to establish and promote an urban preserve of 20 acres in South Troy. The project has become a collaborative effort including the donor family, LTA-EPF funding, the City of Troy, the local neighborhood, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, local nurseries and the Capital District Community Gardens. So far we estimate RLT has donated at least 450 hours of volunteer effort to make this preserve available to the community including removal of invasive species and trash, construction of a fence and kiosk and planting of 500 trees and shrubs.
I have been involved with the Rensselaer Land Trust for a little over a year as a volunteer and have found the staff, board, volunteers, and donors to be active, committed, and dedicated to the agency's mission . Preservation of lands and water and improvement of access have been ongoing accomplishments by this energetic and committed group. The organization strives to reach out to the public to provide opportunities to get involved and learn of resources offered in Rensselaer County lands.
I have been a Board member for several years and have seen the organization go from strength to strength. RLT has articulated a clear mission and built the infrastructure to support it. It has protected over 1,000 acres in Rensselaer County. It has won reaccreditation from the Land Trust Alliance. It has established a core group of committed donors. It has made strategic use of social media. It has added an urban preserve in Troy and collaborated with the Capital District Community Gardens and the Rensselaer Plateau Alliance. It has added popular programs on foraging to its rich array of outings. Although it has only one full-time and one part-time employee, both are extraordinarily talented and dedicated and do tremendous work.
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The Rensselaer Land Trust is a small organization with a big impact. With just two (great) part-time staff people, and a core of dedicated volunteers, it promotes the preservation of Rensselaer County's significant natural areas through education, outings, advocacy, and, most important of all, by partnering with landowners to conserve private land and create public preserves. It works to preserve open space for the benefit of city as well as countryside. It is an honor to be associated with this organization.
Much of the Rensselaer plateau is forgotten, abandoned, and abused. As the Moose seeks it's home there, so do developers wishing to profit from selling homes to people from nearby cities. This of course, places pressure on the entire eco and infrastructure. The Rensselaer Land Trust is an important advocate to maintain a degree of balance in a situation essential to preservation of these
lands for the future.
The RLT is a clearing house for ideas and news about land conservation efforts in Rensselaer County. It serves a function that the State and the County have failed to fulfill. It organizes hikes and focuses attention on the natural resources of the county. It does useful work.
I have been involved as a donor, officer and board member with the Rensselaer Land Trust for over twenty years from its founding through December 2010 when I resigned due to a job relocation. In that time the organization has grown tremendously and matured. The RLT works to preserve the lands of Rensselaer County, to protect habitat, preserve fields, forests and watersheds though easements with landowners and in so doing, it promotes environmental awareness through public outings and outreach efforts. A land trust has the responsibility to steward its easements in perpetuity and early on, we recognized the importance of stewardship by allocating 10% of income to a reserve fund set aside for that purpose. The board takes their responsibility seriously and the RLT became accredited, the smallest land trust to do so, by the Land Trust Alliance. The RLT's dedicated board serves voluntarily, though its staff is paid.
