Getting Involved with Atlanta-Area Land Trusts

Land trusts are private nonprofit organizations that work to permanently protect land with conservation value — forests, wetlands, farm land, river corridors, and urban green space — through legal tools that survive changes in land ownership. Here is how they work and how to engage with them in Georgia.

The land trust model is one of the most durable tools in American conservation. Unlike government-owned public land, which is subject to policy changes and can be sold or repurposed through legislative action, land protected by a conservation easement held by an accredited land trust is protected in perpetuity. The easement runs with the land through all future ownership transfers, permanently restricting development in exchange for a legal agreement that is enforced by the land trust in partnership with the landowner.

Land trusts do not own most of the land they protect. The conservation easement model allows a landowner to retain ownership while voluntarily restricting specific uses — typically subdivision, development, and resource extraction — in exchange for a legal benefit (the easement has market value as a charitable donation for federal tax purposes) and the knowledge that the land will remain intact. The land trust holds the easement, monitors the property for compliance, and has legal standing to enforce the restrictions if they are violated.

Land trusts active in the Atlanta area

The Georgia Piedmont Land Trust (GPLT) is the land trust most directly focused on the Atlanta metro region's urban fringe and Piedmont landscape. GPLT works in Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Forsyth, and surrounding counties, protecting forests, stream buffers, agricultural land at risk of subdivision, and green corridors. The organization accepts donated conservation easements, purchases land outright for conservation, and works on urban green space projects within the city.

The Chattahoochee Riverkeeper is not technically a land trust but works closely with land trusts on protecting riparian buffers along the Chattahoochee River and its tributaries, and on advocating for land use policies that protect the river corridor. The organization is also the primary citizen watchdog on water quality in the Chattahoochee watershed.

The Conservation Fund is a national organization with a significant Georgia presence, particularly in working on large-scale forest protection projects in North Georgia that have indirect benefits for the Atlanta metro watershed.

The Trust for Public Land has worked on multiple Atlanta-area projects, including the funding and negotiation of land protection for urban green space and park expansion projects. Its work tends to be project-specific rather than membership-driven.

Conservation easements: what they mean for landowners

For property owners with significant landholdings — particularly those with forested property, agricultural land at the urban fringe, or land bordering streams and wetlands — a conservation easement is worth understanding. The federal tax benefit comes from the donated value of the easement, which is determined by an appraisal comparing the land's value with and without the development restrictions. That difference is a charitable deduction. Georgia also provides a state income tax credit for qualified conservation contributions, which can be significant for landowners with substantial Georgia taxable income.

The easement process involves: an initial assessment of the land's conservation value by the land trust, a negotiation of the specific restrictions and reserved rights (what the owner retains, such as the right to farm, build one additional structure, or operate a timber business), an independent appraisal, legal drafting and execution of the easement document, and a baseline documentation report establishing the property's current condition for future compliance monitoring. The process typically takes 12 to 18 months and involves legal and appraisal costs that are normally borne by the landowner.

How residents without large land holdings can engage

Most people who want to support land conservation in the Atlanta area are not landowners with dozens of acres to protect. The most practical forms of engagement are:

• Membership and financial support. Land trusts are nonprofits funded by membership dues, donations, and grants. Georgia Piedmont Land Trust membership is open to anyone and directly supports the organization's capacity to respond to conservation opportunities.
• Volunteering. Land trusts need volunteers for stewardship monitoring (annual visits to protected properties to check compliance), restoration work parties (invasive species removal, native planting), and event support. Stewardship monitoring is a particularly meaningful volunteer role for people interested in land conservation at a hands-on level.
• Advocacy. Supporting local land use policies that protect green space — greenway and tree canopy ordinances, stream buffer protections, park bond measures — builds the political context in which land trusts operate more effectively.
• Planned giving. Land trusts actively seek planned gifts and bequests, which allow supporters to direct a portion of their estate to conservation purposes. For landowners whose land has appreciated significantly, bequeathing land directly to a land trust can be a powerful conservation action.

Georgia's conservation tax credit

Georgia's Conservation Tax Credit program allows a 25 percent state income tax credit for qualified donations of land or easements to eligible conservation organizations, up to a maximum credit of $250,000 per donor. The credit is transferable, meaning it can be sold to another Georgia taxpayer if the donor does not have sufficient Georgia tax liability to use it fully. This transferability provision makes Georgia's program particularly valuable for large-scale conservation transactions and has supported significant land protection across the state. The State Revenue Department administers the program; a conservation attorney or the land trust's staff can provide guidance on eligibility and process.