Abstract:
Oregon land trusts have long worked with other organizations
and agencies in order to better fulfill its missions of protecting special
lands—land for natural habitat of flora and fauna—from development.
But, many barriers exist regarding the ease and understanding of the
collaborative process that ultimately hinder the ability for land trusts to
protect more land and fulfill its missions.
This research investigates Oregon land trusts’ reasons for or
against collaborating with other organizations and agencies, to what
extent land trusts are collaborating, and how effective those
collaborative efforts are perceived to be. This reseach is based on the
hypothesis that land trusts choose to collaborate with other agencies
and organizations only when it benefits the land trust organization (i.e.,
by increasing its funds and/or by increasing the number of acres
protected). This hypothesis is supported by the results.
The study led to a number of practical recommendations and tools
land trusts can use in order to improve its current collaboration and
partnership processes.