Amongst other powers, the Trust is authorized to acquire, hold and dispose of real and personal property and to accept gifts, legacies, bequests and endowments for any purpose which falls within that of the Trust. The Board of Trustees has adopted criteria and standards for land acquisition to be used as guidelines for use by Trust staff. These criteria and standards help to ensure that the Trust uses its limited resources most efficiently and effectively, and to avoid projects that may pose liabilities. Each land offering to the Trust is reviewed individually by staff to determine if it meets general criteria. If it meets these general criteria, it is then presented to the Board of Trustees for review and decision.

Protection of large contiguous parcels of open space, or properties adjacent to areas already protected by the Trust or other conservation organization, is a primary objective of the Trust. Large contiguous parcels may be more efficiently managed and serve as superior habitat for our state’s biodiversity compared to smaller, scattered parcels. However, all land offerings are reviewed by staff using general criteria. If you are considering an offer of land to the Trust, please complete and return to us an Application for Donation of Real Estate.

Realizing that much of the effort to preserve land must come from the private sector, in 2002 the New Jersey Natural Lands Trust and The Nature Conservancy of New Jersey published The Handbook of Landowner’s Options – A Guide to Land Protection in New Jersey. The handbook describes the options available to landowners who wish to preserve the natural attributes of their property. It illustrates how property owners can work together with private, nonprofit conservation organizations and government agencies to preserve open space through a variety of methods tailored to their individual needs.

The Handbook is available on the World Wide Web at the site of the New Jersey Environmental Digital Library. The link to the document is http://njedl.rutgers.edu/ftp/PDFs/2116.pdf.

To receive hard copy(s) of this document (the first copy is free, additional copies are $1 each) contact the Trust. If requesting more than one copy, make your check payable to the New Jersey Natural Lands Trust and send your check and request to the NJ Natural Lands Trust, P.O. Box 404, Trenton, NJ 08625-0404.