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Who We Are

The Greenbelt Land Trust is dedicated to the conservation of non-developed areas that will contribute to the protection of water quality and preservation of a network of green space in mid-Missouri. We started out in 1993 as the Greenbelt Coalition of Mid-Missouri, an advocacy partnership for a network of "greenbelt" lands in and around the City of Columbia. The greenbelt concept was subsequently adopted by the City. In 1997 we began accepting donations of land, as well as conservation easements on private land, thereby becoming a Land Trust. In 2004 the organization's name was changed to the Greenbelt Land Trust of Mid-Missouri. Our volunteer board of directors works to permanently protect land in cooperation with landowners, communities and individual citizens. Our work is primarily supported through individual memberships, by donations of land, and by donations of conservation easements on privately held land.

What We Do

• Receive charitable donations of land and easements to protect natural and agricultural areas from conversion to urban uses.
  
• Purchase land and easements to protect natural and agricultural areas from conversion to urban uses.
• Link private land-holdings of protected areas to other publicly or privately held protected areas.
• Raise money via memberships, donations, grants, and other means to protect natural and agricultural areas.
• Manage lands held in fee simple title according to best management practices in order to develop and maintain the optimal vegetative community for the ecosystem, in perpetuity.
• Monitor and enforce conservation easements, in perpetuity.

The Tools of Conservation

The Greenbelt Land Trust does not pursue conservation through political action or advocacy. Rather, we work with conservation-minded private landowners who voluntarily choose to preserve the natural or agricultural character of their property, forever. A variety of "tools" are used to do this. Some landowners entrust property to us via donation or bargain sale, knowing that the land will never be urbanized. Others wish to retain title to the land and may live on the land, but place a conservation easement on the property, thus ensuring that no future owner will ever subdivide and convert the property to urban uses. We work with municipalities, citizens' groups, and private landowners including developers, to help insure that lands inappropriate for development are retained in a natural or agricultural condition.

Long-Term Protection

The Greenbelt Land Trust of Mid-Missouri is a 501(c)3 tax exempt corporation governed by an elected Board of Directors dedicated to one primary purpose - the conservation and protection of natural resources. We are chartered to steward land in perpetuity. Greenbelt Land Trust has an established Management Plan for each property that we own. Conservation Easements are monitored annually. A permanent fund ensures the perpetual care and stewardship of all lands protected by the Greenbelt Land Trust. Membership is our primary source of support.

Mid Missouri

Mid-Missouri is a wonderfully diverse place. We sit at the southern limit of the Ice Age, where deep glacier-deposited till thins over the limestones of the Ozarks, all blanketed with rich, silty windblown loess deposits. As a result we have productive agricultural lands, diverse forests, tall prairies, wildflower-studded rocky glades, and karst plains. Our rivers and streams range from the mighty, muddy Missouri, to the silt-laden Perche Creek system draining the agricultural till plains, to pristine spring-fed Gans Creek.

Lewis and Clark traveled through here, as did Daniel Boone. People continue to come here, and to prosper, as evidenced by Columbia's enviable growth rate and legendary low unemployment. But short-term economic vitality and growth are not without long-term dangers. We believe that a network of conservation areas, both public and private, is a key component to the sustained economic health of central Missouri. Through a carefully designed program of conservation and appropriate land use, we hope to preserve the diversity of the mid Missouri landscape for generations to come.

Greenbelt Land Trust Board

The Greenbelt Land Trust of Mid-Missouri Board of Directors meets at 7 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month in the Greenbelt office at 812 East Broadway in Columbia, Missouri.

Fred Young, president
Joe Engeln, vice president
Mariel Stephenson, treasurer
Janet Hammen, secretary
Barbara Hoppe
Mary Lottes
Dee Dokken

• Greenbelt Land Trust works cooperatively with landowners, communities and individual citizens to permanently protect land, water quality, and natural features in mid Missouri.
• Greenbelt Land Trust provides stewardship and protection for agricultural and natural areas both within and adjacent to municipalities, thus enhancing the greenbelt network of diverse open lands that make mid Missouri a special place.
• Greenbelt Land Trust supports opportunities for reasonable growth by conserving areas where development is not appropriate.
• Greenbelt Land Trust is a non-governmental organization, primarily funded by memberships and gifts from individuals.