The Land Conservancy - About The Land Conservancy

The land around us gives us our homes, our communities, and the food we eat. It also gives us timeless beauty and inspiration: the golden tall grasses shimmering in the autumn sunlight, the rustle of the wind through the corn stalks, the magnificent iridescence of the wildflowers in the spring. But once the land is developed, these treasures that feed our senses and nourish our souls are gone forever. What will our children's lives be like when nature and agriculture are squeezed out of our communities?

The Land Conservancy, a program area of Southwestern Illinois Resource Conservation & Development, is a non-profit land trust organization that works in partnership with landowners and community leaders to permanently protect the lands we value in southwestern Illinois - the farms, forests, hunting lands, wildlife habitat, open spaces and scenic vistas. The Land Conservancy (TLC) holds conservation easements, accepts land donations, promotes partnerships, and fosters innovative land conservation techniques to protect farmland and other natural resources. TLC also provides strategic leadership that contributes to a healthy and sustainable future for our communities.

Because of rapidly soaring property values, landowners and their families are often faced with hefty tax burdens. If you're a property owner, there's a way that you can keep the land that you've loved and cared for just the way it is today…forever. In most cases, you can realize significant tax savings by preserving land through a conservation easement or other tool. Since land trusts are non-profit organizations, donations of land, conservation easements, and other donations may qualify for income, estate or gift tax savings. This can help keep family farms in the family and let people continue to live on their land regardless of surrounding development pressure.

If you care about preserving our natural environment and the rural character of southwestern Illinois, please join us in helping to protect open space within the region.