Working Lands Trust

Working Lands Trust (WLT) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation established in 2014 to ensure long-term protection and sustainability of our nation’s food and fiber supply. We accomplish this mission through education, protection of working farms and forestlands, and advancement of public policy which promotes working lands conservation. WLT is a critical partner of the Eastern North Carolina Sentinel Landscape which works with willing private landowners in 33 eastern North Carolina counties to provide voluntary tools to help manage those lands in ways which are compatible to military training exercises carried out adjacent to and in the skies above landholdings near Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Marine Corps Air Station New River, Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, U.S. Army Fort Bragg, Pope Army Air Field, and several ancillary bombing ranges and outlying landing fields near these posts critical to their training exercises. The North Carolina Forestry Association was integrally responsible for the establishment of WLT and remains a pivotal partner as we both strive to sustain working forests in North Carolina and throughout the Southern and Eastern United States where 69% of the nation's fiber supply is grown and harvested, almost all on privately owned lands. Both organizations strive to conserve the supply chain from the rapid urbanization in these states. WLT would also like to acknowledge the incredible support of our partners at The Conservation Fund, the North Carolina Agricultural Development and Farmland Protection Trust Fund, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, the U.S. Department of Defense Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration Challenge, and so many more friends we partner with through the Eastern North Carolina Sentinel Landscape.