| Prompts to local nonprofit conservation land trust formation and policy and planning implications (or 'threats') associated with continued successful land protection efforts by these organizations were explored. A typology of local conservation land trusts intended to aid local area stakeholders assess the degree of these threats was developed.; A 58-question telephone survey was conducted with 123 local conservation land trusts throughout the five-state Midwest Region of the U.S. The questionnaire consisted of seven sections and queried demographic information, land protection philosophies, and land-use planning activities. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with nine conservation land trusts and their local area public sector planning officials.; Applying nonprofit organizational theory to assess prompts to land trust formation revealed that Contract and Voluntary Failure offered the most frequent and useful insights. Analysis of often competing perspectives on the potential risks of nonprofit land protection efforts revealed a debate that remains theoretical in the absence of substantive data to support stakeholder claims. Participants acknowledged and often agreed that while policy and planning 'threats' posed by successful nonprofit land protection may generate fiscal, planning, and policy challenges, such protection efforts are still too isolated, sporadic, or even unconfirmed to warrant direct policy intervention. |
