The idea for the formation of the Mount Washington Valley Land Trust,
now known as the Upper Saco Valley Land Trust, initially began as a collaborative effort between Tin Mountain
Conservation Center and Mount Washington Valley Community Supported Agriculture. These organizations wanted to promote
conservation and sustainable community growth through environmental education, community farming and land
protection. Although there were 40 local and regional land trusts in New Hampshire, none were active in the
Mount Washington Valley, the second fastest growing region in the state.
The Mount Washington Valley Land Trust was founded in September of 2000 as a grassroots initiative to
preserve land for community benefit in the watershed of the upper Saco River in New Hampshire and Maine.
From the beginning, we planned to involve the community in the organization's development. We held our
first public information session in October 2000, which was attended by a diverse group of over 80
community members. From the October information session, a core group of 20 to 25 people formed a
Steering Committee to guide the organization's development.
After receiving our 501(c)(3) nonprofit status from the IRS in May 2001, we elected a 15 member Board of
Directors, changed our name to the Upper Saco Valley Land Trust to better reflect the area we served, and
began soliciting membership contributions. We completed our first land conservation project, a conservation
easement, in December of 2001. To date, our 400+ contributing members have made it possible for USVLT
to protect nearly 3,853 acres from development with 27 conservation easements.
USVLT is a sponsor member of the Land Trust Alliance http://lta.org,
an organization that promotes land conservation by providing resources and leadership to over 1500 land trusts nationwide.
USVLT has adopted LTA's Standards and Practices for land trust operations.
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