Five Valleys is thrilled to announce that we were awarded an accreditation renewal from the Land Trust Accreditation Commission in August.
Voluntary accreditation provides independent verification that a land trust meets the high standards for land conservation, stewardship and nonprofit management. Five Valleys was among the first land trusts in the nation to be accredited in 2008, and we received our first accreditation renewal in 2014.
The accreditation process is, by necessity, demanding. It requires that a land trust submit detailed financial, procedural, programmatic and organizational records to the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance (LTA). The Land Trust Accreditation Commission reviews each application to confirm that the land trust has adhered to Land Trust Standards and Practices, as well as additional requirements.
The Land Trust Standards and Practices describe how to operate a land trust legally, ethically and in the public interest. All LTA members must adopt the Standards as their guiding principles, which were developed and are continually revised by the greater land trust community, Today, over 1,000 land trusts across the nation have adopted the Standards, and almost 80% of land under conservation easement or owned by land trusts are managed by accredited land trusts.
We are thankful for our conservation easement landowners, community, conservation partners and donors, without whose support and belief in our mission this accomplishment would not have been possible. The Five Valleys team looks forward to upholding, and continuing to improve upon, our promise of integrity, accountability, service and perpetuity.
Header photo by Five Valleys staff
