The RI Land Trust Council is excited to share the results of the 2025 Census, a comprehensive look at the land trusts and the people working to conserve and steward land across the state.
There is a lot to celebrate! The Census tells an incredible story about land conservation in Rhode Island. Land trusts care for tens of thousands of acres of conserved land and hundreds of miles of trails across the state.
The Census also shows how much progress land trusts have made in the last five years. More organizations have improved their record keeping, strengthened how they monitor their properties, addressed the backlog of Baseline Documentation Reports, and are planning for the future.
It also gives us a clearer picture of where additional support and resources are needed. Volunteer recruitment, succession planning, organizational development, and access to funding continue to rise as challenges identified by the land trust community.
We’ve heard loud and clear that land trusts want more opportunities to share resources and learn from one another. The 2025 Census results will guide the RI Land Trust Council’s work, and how we support land trusts over the next several years.
Save the Date: October 28 at 12 pm
Want to dig into the results with us? Join us at lunchtime on October 28 for a Zoom webinar where we’ll walk through the findings, share what stood out to us, and talk about what they mean for the future of land conservation in Rhode Island.
Want to keep the conversation going? Join us in person that evening for a land trust networking event focused on the Census and next steps. Location and registration details are coming soon!
A huge thank you to the 39 land trusts that participated and helped us better understand where Rhode Island’s land trust community is today and where we go from here.
