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| Founded | 1978 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Monterey, California, United States |
Area served | California Central Coast |
| Method | Conservation by Design |
Revenue | US$6.08 million (2015) |
| Endowment | US$6.9 million (2015) |
Employees | 16 |
| Website | bigsurlandtrust |
The Big Sur Land Trust is a private 501(c)(3) non-profit located in Monterey, California, that has played an instrumental role in preserving land in California's Big Sur and Central Coast regions. The trust was the first to conceive of and use the "conservation buyer" method in 1989 by partnering with government and developers to offer tax benefits as an inducement to sell land at below-market rates.[1] Since 1978, with the support of donors, funders and partners, it has conserved over 40,000 acres (16,187 ha) through conservation easements, acquisition and transfer of land to state, county and city agencies. It has placed conservation easements on 7,000 acres (6,880 ha) and has retained ownership of over 4,000 acres (1,620 ha).
The trust was founded in 1978 by a small group of local Big Sur residents who were members of the Big Sur Citizens' Advisory Committee. Four of the residents visited the San Francisco offices of The Trust for Public Land in 1977 where they learned about land-trust finance and management. They decided to form an organization that could promote environmental protection in keeping with the Coast Master Plan and the California Coastal Act. In February 1978 the community members incorporated The Big Sur Land Trust as a nonprofit California corporation. Their original aim was to protect Big Sur's natural beauty "from over development without recourse to government control while recognizing a property owners' right to sell to whomever they wish".[1] The trust has partnered with many public and private agencies and organizations to protect land.