About The Trust for Public Land

The Trust for Public Land is a national nonprofit land conservation organization that specializes in conservation real estate, applying its expertise in negotiation, public finance and law to protect land for people. TPL conserves land for people to enjoy as parks, gardens and other natural places, ensuring livable communities for generations to come. Founded in 1972 and based in San Francisco, TPL has helped protect more than 2 million acres in 47 states, including expansive recreation areas, historic homesteads, pocket-sized city parks, working landscapes, and urban gardens.

TPL's Conservation Finance program is at the forefront of both creating new sources of funding for public land conservation and providing research that advances the field of conservation finance in the United States. Since 1994, TPL has helped states and local governments design and pass more than 350 ballot measures, which will generate over $25.1 billion in new conservation-related funding. The work of the Conservation Finance research team is central to this success, with its cutting-edge, original research serving to inform elected officials and conservation leaders about trends and best practices in land conservation. TPL provides online sources of research, publishes reports and books and conducts regular training workshops, as outlined below:

Research

• The TPL LandVote Database® is a comprehensive history of all conservation-related ballot measures since 1988.
• The TPL LandVote Mapping System uses geographic information systems (GIS) technology to map the locations of these ballot measures and illustrate election trends.
• The Conservation Almanac is the definitive resource of land conservation activity across the country. The Almanac includes acres protected, dollars spent, and policies and programs that create and utilize revenue to buy land for parks and open space.

Publications

• The Conservation Finance Handbook guides communities seeking to raise conservation funds at the ballot box.
• The Economic Benefits of Land Conservation provides quantitative and authoritative research on the economic benefits land conservation can bring to communities.

Training

• Enroll in TPL's FREE Online Conservation Finance Course to learn how all levels of governments fund land conservation.

Center for City Park Excellence

Through an annual survey, TPL's Center for City Park Excellence maintains the nation's most complete database of city park system facts for the largest 75 U.S. cities, including a wealth of statistics on acreage, facilities, staffing and spending -- plus interesting facts on the nation's oldest, largest and most visited city parks. For more information, visit the Center's City Park Facts webpage at www.tpl.org/cityparkfacts.