Land Trust representatives celebrate accreditation at Saguaro Hill. Pictured are (L-R): President-elect Pat O'Brien, Conservation Director Stacy Fischer, Executive Director Sonia Perillo, Member Relations and Operations Manager Mary Warren, President Sue Clement and Immediate-past President Jacky Davis. Photo courtesy of David Court.

The Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance, announced this week that Desert Foothills Land Trust has been awarded accredited status.

"Accredited land trusts meet national quality standards for protecting important natural places and working lands forever," said Commission Executive Director Tammara Van Ryn. "The accreditation seal lets the public know that the accredited land trust has undergone an extensive, external review of the governance and management of its organization and the systems and policies it uses to protect land."

"We are thrilled to have received this national recognition from the Land Trust Accreditation Commission.  Being accredited enables Desert Foothills Land Trust to communicate to our supporters, elected officials, landowners and the public that we are operating according to the highest standards of legal and ethical practice, and to demonstrate our continued commitment to this rigorous evaluation," said Land Trust Executive Director Sonia Perillo. 

Land is America's most important and valuable resource. Conserving land helps ensure clean air and drinking water, food security, scenic landscapes and views, recreational places, and habitat for the diversity of life on earth. Across the country, local citizens and communities have come together to form land trusts to protect the places they love. Community leaders in land trusts throughout the country have worked with willing landowners to save over 37 million acres of farms, forests, parks and places people care about. 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.

Desert Foothills Land Trust is one of 113 land trusts from across the country that has been awarded accreditation since the fall of 2008. Accredited land trusts are able 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.

The Land Trust Accreditation Commission, based in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., awards the accreditation seal to community institutions that meet national quality standards for protecting important natural places and working lands forever. The Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance established in 2006, is governed by a volunteer board of diverse land conservation and nonprofit management experts from around the country. The Alliance, of which Desert Foothills Land Trust is a member, is a national conservation group based in Washington, D.C. that works to save the places people love by strengthening conservation throughout America. More information on the accreditation program is available on the Commission's website at www.landtrustaccreditation.org. More information on the Alliance is available at www.landtrustalliance.org.

"As we head toward our 20^th anniversary, we are tremendously proud of the high quality work the Land Trust has been doing, and we are very proud of this national recognition of that work," said Perillo.