Resource Library
Resources
Whether you’re a volunteer, staff member, or board leader, the Connecticut Land Conservation Council’s Resource Library is here to support your work in conserving and stewarding land across the state.
Organized by topic, this collection offers practical tools, templates, case studies, and expert guidance tailored to the needs of Connecticut’s land trusts. From legal and financial management to community engagement, stewardship, and climate resilience, our goal is to help you navigate challenges, build capacity, and strengthen your organization.
Explore the topics that matter most to your work—and check back often, as we regularly update the library with new and relevant resources.
Quick Links
Every conservation easement and fee property represents a lasting promise to protect the land’s conservation values forever. Keeping the Promise: Core Skills for Effective Land Stewardship is an essential webinar series from CLCC and the Northwest Connecticut Land Conservancy designed to equip land trusts with the practical skills, tools, and insights needed to uphold that commitment with confidence.
CLCC’s Anatomy of a Land Transaction is a seven-part webinar series designed to give land trust staff and board members a practical, well-rounded foundation in the core components of land conservation deals. Each session features expert presenters covering key topics—from project selection, appraisals, and environmental due diligence, to surveys, baseline documentation, closings, and post-closing responsibilities—with plenty of tools and resources to take back to your organization.
CLCC’s report, “Connecticut Conservation Land Trusts & Affordable Housing: Current Status and Recommendations,” offers a fresh perspective on how land trusts can help address Connecticut’s housing crisis while advancing their conservation missions.
The report highlights a growing interest among Connecticut’s conservation land trusts to engage in affordable housing efforts—from building partnerships with community land trusts to supporting projects near conserved lands. It outlines key recommendations for overcoming barriers, including better information sharing, purposeful collaboration, and policy reforms to support dual goals of housing and land conservation.
Welcome to the Board Development Toolkit, a comprehensive, 7-part resource developed by the Connecticut Land Conservation Council and the Land Trust Alliance to help you build stronger, more effective boards to support the success of your land trust. Whether you are facing challenges in recruiting new board members, clarifying roles and responsibilities, or planning for leadership transitions, this toolkit is designed to provide practical tools and insights tailored to your needs.
“State of the Lands: Results from the 2023-24 Connecticut Land Trust Census” presents the findings of a groundbreaking effort to document land conservation activities, understand future priorities, and identify ways to better support land trusts. The insights gained from this census will guide CLCC’s future priorities and strengthen its support for the land trust community in Connecticut.
Strong, well-crafted conservation easements are essential for protecting land in perpetuity. This collection of model easements provides land trusts with a solid foundation for drafting agreements that are legally sound, adaptable, and enforceable. Whether you’re working on a new easement or ensuring compliance with best practices, these resources offer expert-vetted guidance to get you and your attorney started on drafting a conservation easement.
Strong policies are the foundation of a well-run land trust. CLCC’s Sample Policy Library provides a collection of ready-to-use templates covering governance, land stewardship, financial management, and more. Whether your land trust is refining existing policies or drafting new ones, these samples offer a valuable starting point to ensure best practices and compliance with Land Trust Standards & Practices. Use this resource to streamline policy development and strengthen your organization’s operations.
The U.S. Treasury published new regulations that have important implications for land trusts working on easement or land donations from pass-through entities, such as a partnership or limited liability company. These regulations are dense, complicated and open to further interpretation, but the basic takeaway is that, in certain circumstances, land trusts may need to report and disclose information to the IRS about these donations if the land trust acts as a “material advisor.” If the land trust fails to do so, it could trigger a $200,000 penalty. This creates a first-of-its-kind potential financial liability for land trusts.
Land trusts play a critical role in ensuring that farmland remains accessible, productive, and protected for future generations. “Farmland Access & Ownership: An Overview of Barriers, Models, and Actions to Increase Land Access for Connecticut’s BIPOC Farmers”, examines the challenges farmers face in securing land and explores opportunities for land trusts to support farmland affordability, leasing models, and long-term conservation. With data-driven insights and policy recommendations, this resource helps land trusts strengthen their farmland protection efforts, engage with local farmers, and develop strategies to keep working lands in agricultural production.
CLCC’s Land Trust Board Member Boot Camp is a five-part series that covers the essential roles, functions, and responsibilities of land trust board members. Originally produced in 2021, the content remains relevant and useful for those who are new to land trusts or board service, or for those in need of a refresher.
In July, CT DEEP announced the next round of competitive grant funding through the Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition (OSWA) and Urban Green and Community Garden (UGCG) Grant Programs. CLCC and CT DEEP hosted two annual information sessions for eligible organizations to learn about these and other land conservation funding opportunities, including CLCC’s Transaction Assistance Grant (TAG) program and our newest initiative, the Forever CT Fund Bridge Loan.
Shrinking federal funding and rising competition for grants are forcing land trusts to rethink how they fund their work—and many are turning to entrepreneurial strategies to stay resilient. In this session, Ole Amundsen explores real-world examples of land trusts of different capacities and their successful generation of new revenue streams while strengthening community connections.
Connecticut’s land trusts face many shared challenges, including expanding stewardship workloads, board succession, fundraising pressures, and the need for specialized expertise. This guide provides a comprehensive overview of collaborative options to help organizations navigate an increasingly complex conservation landscape, share capacity, strengthen operational structures, and remain rooted in their local communities. Intended for planning and discussion purposes, this resource outlines a clear progression of partnerships without constituting legal or tax advice.
Prepared by Kent Land Trust, this practical template shows how land trusts can partner with fire, police, EMS, and municipal officials to improve emergency preparedness on conservation lands. The plan includes emergency contacts, property access maps, helicopter landing zones, fire danger protocols, trail access details, and operational procedures for incidents such as rescues, missing persons, or wildfire risk. An excellent model for land trusts seeking to enhance visitor safety, strengthen local partnerships, and ensure first responders can quickly navigate preserves in an emergency.