April 14, 2021
The Horton Grove Nature Preserve was once the site of Stagville Plantation, one of the state's largest plantations.
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It’s no secret that private land conservation requires means. Be it grant awards, individual donations or earned income. For the hundreds of local and regional land trusts that lack significant endowments, conserving a piece of property very often necessitates a motivated landowner with the resources to make a donation of development rights, fee title or stewardship endowment.
While more public funding sources have emerged recently for conservation finance, particularly around working farms, landowners with means and motivation remain a staple of the private conservation process. These landowners are largely white, and their properties most often in rural and suburban areas. The distribution of conserved land and public open space has followed suit, with low-income communities and communities of color markedly deprived of access to privately conserved open spaces and less frequently affiliated with private land conservation as land donors, visitors, members, staff or board.