Pennsylvania Land Trust Association

The Pennsylvania Land Trust Association (PALTA) is an American charitable conservation group that "seeks to protect Pennsylvania’s special places—the farms, forests, parks and other green spaces that people love—the places that help to ensure healthy, prosperous and secure communities.[1]

To improve the quality and accelerate the pace of land conservation efforts, PALTA provides land trusts, trail groups and other conservation practitioners with tools, training and technical assistance to improve their efficiency and effectiveness. Regarding tools, PALTA develops and maintains a collection of model legal documents for use in conservation real estate transactions including grants of purchase options, conservation easements and trail easements.[2]

PALTA promotes the fair and equitable application of well-designed land use regulations and conservation-friendly development practices by producing technical guidance for local governments on topics such as riparian buffer protection ordinances, agricultural protection zoning and transfer of development rights.[3]

Based in Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, PALTA advocates for the protection and wise use of Pennsylvania's natural resources. The Association serves as a watchdog on state legislative activity that could be detrimental to parks and conservation efforts. It also works proactively to improve public policy regarding land and water conservation.[4]

The Association was informally started in 1991 as a coalition of land trusts, and was incorporated in 1995. It hired an executive director in 2000 and has since expanded to a paid staff of three.[5] The group's membership includes many local land conservation organizations in the state.[6] A primary method of land conservation pursued by the association is through conservation easements.[7][8]

A horizontal drilling rig for natural gas in the Marcellus formation in eastern Lycoming County, Pennsylvania.

In 2010, the organization released a report that documented environmental violations by companies drilling into the Marcellus Shale Formation in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania.[9] The report was based upon state records, and cited an alleged 1,435 violations in Pennsylvania by companies drilling the Marcellus Formation since 2008.[9] In April 2009, the United States Department of Energy estimated the Marcellus formation to contain 262 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas.[10]

PALTA hosts an annual Land Conservation Conference, which serves as "a training, networking and inspirational event for those involved with private and public land conservation." In 2012 the organization honored American conservationist Barbara Yeaman with its Lifetime Conservation Achievement Award.[11]