The Open Space Protection Collaborative (OSPC) is a partnership of five area land trusts and one national conservation organization. Our goal is to provide you, the advisor, with the necessary resources and know-how to advise your conservation-minded clients about conservation planning. Please click here to view a map of the region we serve in the Carolinas.

Many advisors skillfully assist individuals, small businesses and corporations on financial, taxation, and estate matters. But few have the tools they need to include conservation planning in their portfolio of services.

Conservation planning can make an enormous difference in the lives of your landholding clients – in estate planning, tax strategy, and perhaps most importantly of all, peace of mind. You are the gatekeeper.

If your clients own -- or want to own -- significant natural land in this region, use our resources to enhance the service you provide them.

The Open Space Protection Collaborative is funded through the generous support of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Foundation For The Carolinas.

Why Work with a Land Trust?

A land trust is a private, nonprofit conservation organization formed to protect natural resources such as forests, river watersheds, and natural areas where wildlife and plants thrive. Some trusts also work to protect resources with historic or cultural significance. Land trusts accept donations of land and, more often, of conservation easements. In some cases, they are able to purchase land or easements. The conservation easement places protective restrictions on future uses of land, and the land trust accepts responsibility to enforce those protections forever, even when the ownership of the land changes.

Why Work with the Trust for Public Land?

Sometimes the best use of land is public rather than private. In those cases, the Trust for Public Land can assist private landowners who wish to sell or donate their land for public parks, gardens, greenways, or watershed protection. The Trust for Public Land is a national conservation organization that facilitates the transfer of property from private hands to public ownership.

Part of your role as an advisor is to help your clients find a reliable land trust. All the land trusts in the OSPC abide by the Professional Standards and Practices as outlined by the Land Trust Alliance - www.lta.org.