Photo caption: The long-billed curlew can be found on the Katy Prairie Preserve, including newly acquired acreage encompassing wetlands and grasslands. Photo by Greg Lavaty.
In honor of Earth Month, local land trusts are highlighting the work being done to conserve land, strengthen communities, and create a healthier planet. Land trusts have conserved more than 60 million acres of land across the United States. Here in the Gulf Coast region, four land trusts – Bayou Land Conservancy, Galveston Bay Foundation, Houston Audubon, and Katy Prairie Conservancy – are protecting our natural world — our water, wildlife and open space — for all people, forever. Along with other local and state land trusts across the country, these organizations are leading the way forward, contributing to 70% of the growth in private land conservation since 2015. But it’s not enough and they can’t do it alone.
Bayou Land Conservancy, Galveston Bay Foundation, Houston Audubon, and Katy Prairie Conservancy are part of a national effort to increase the rate of land conservation. Together they have preserved over 60,000 acres in our region, and together along with land trusts across the country, are aiming to conserve another 60 million acres in the United States by the end of this decade.
Why? Because not only does conserved land provide the habitats that plants and animals need to survive and opportunities to enjoy the benefits of nature, it also pulls carbon from the air and protects us from extreme weather. From working ranches to neighborhood parks to forests, land trusts across the country conserve land forever.
For more information about how you can support Bayou Land Conservancy, Galveston Bay Foundation, Houston Audubon, and Katy Prairie Conservancy and land trusts across the nation that are helping to conserve land, visit GainingGroundUSA.org.
Together, let’s keep gaining ground.