The thing to be prevented is destructive private land-use of any and all kinds. The thing to be encouraged is the use of private land in such a way as to combine the public and private interest to the greatest possible degree. - Aldo Leopold

Our Vision

Prairies are among the most threatened ecosystems in North America. Most remaining prairies are privately owned, making cooperation between landowners and conservationists essential for their preservation.

Northern Prairies Land Trust (NPLT) facilitates and encourages land and water conservation practices by private landowners. It is organized as a land trust in order to accept and hold conservation easements when private landowners choose that tool, but its activities go far beyond those of a simple land trust. NPLT is committed to the proposition that private lands can be managed in a way that achieves the goals of private landowners while simultaneously serving the public need to conserve natural resources and sustain rural and agricultural communities.

Our Mission

To educate and assist private landowners in South Dakota and Nebraska to conserve and restore lands for habitat, agriculture, water quality, and cultural protection by building conservation easements, providing a conservation toolkit, guiding landowners in conservation opportunities and enabling a land ethic.

Grassland Preservation A Priority.  NPLT focuses on the Tallgrass Prairie Ecosystem of Eastern South Dakota and Nebraska. With field crops, recreational development, and housing pressing on the remaining range, NPLT has a decades-long record of advocating for grassland protection. 

Protect Agricultural Lands and Encourage Continuing Agricultural Production. NPLT places a priority on conservation projects which simultaneously serve to maintain ranching and agriculture while protecting native grass and wildlife. As climate change and soil degradation put agriculture’s economic future in jeopardy, NPLT is working with landowners to mitigate impact through land conservation best practices, soil farming, and regenerative agriculture.

An Education Partner to Landowners, the Community, and Like-Minded Organizations. NPLT is a source of expertise and information on the full range of conservation tools, from the federal Farm Bill and conservation tax incentives to easement drafting and state law concerns.