The Kennebec Estuary Land Trust (KELT) has achieved land trust accreditation from the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance.

“Applying for and receiving accreditation from the Land Trust Accreditation Commission demonstrates our commitment to being a stronger organization now and for the future,” Executive Director Carrie Kinne said. “I am grateful that every board, staff and volunteer member of KELT recognized the importance of accreditation and dedicated themselves to achieving this status.”

KELT was awarded accreditation this February and is one of only 254 land trusts from across the country currently accredited. Accredited land trusts are authorized to display a seal indicating to the public that they meet national standards for excellence, uphold the public trust and ensure that conservation efforts are permanent. The seal is a mark of distinction in land conservation.

“This round of accreditation decisions represents another significant milestone for the accreditation program; the 254 accredited land trusts account for more than half of the 20,645,165 acres currently owned in fee or protected by a conservation easement held by a land trust,” said Commission Executive Director Tammara Van Ryn. “Accreditation provides the public with an assurance that, at the time of accreditation, land trusts meet high standards for quality and that the results of their conservation work are permanent.”

Each accredited land trust submitted extensive documentation and underwent a rigorous review. “Through accreditation land trusts conduct important planning and make their operations more efficient and strategic,” Van Ryn said. “Accredited organizations have engaged and trained citizen conservation leaders and improved systems for ensuring that their conservation work is permanent.”

According to the Land Trust Alliance, conserving land helps ensure clean air and drinking water; safe, healthy food; scenic landscapes and views; recreational places; and habitat for the diversity of life on earth.

In addition to health and food benefits, conserving land increases property values near greenbelts, saves tax dollars by encouraging more efficient development, and reduces the need for expensive water filtration facilities.

Across the country, local citizens and communities have come together to form more than 1,700 land trusts to save the places they love. Community leaders in land trusts throughout the country have worked with willing landowners to save over 47 million acres of farms, forests, parks and places people care about, including land transferred to public agencies and protected via other means.

Strong, well-managed land trusts provide local communities with effective champions and caretakers of their critical land resources, and safeguard the land through the generations.

“This is a definite highlight for 2014 as we celebrate our first 25years of conservation work,” Board President Jack Witham said. “This achievement will help us further protect and restore the nationally significant ecological resources of the Kennebec Estuary.”

Established in 1989 the Kennebec Estuary Land Trust (KELT) is committed to the conservation of the land, water and wildlife of the Kennebec Estuary, from Merrymeeting Bay to the Atlantic Ocean. We are a community based membership organization serving the towns of Arrowsic, Bath, West Bath, Georgetown, Westport Island, Woolwich, Bowdoinham and Dresden. Those who sit on our board of directors are drawn from the communities we serve.