Coldwater Land Conservancy Fund

Trout Unlimited's strategic plan focuses on four key goals:  to "Protect, Reconnect, Restore and Sustain" the habitat and watersheds that support wild and native trout and salmon in North America.  To achieve the "protect" component of the plan, it will be necessary to secure the future of coldwater habitat on both public and private lands.  The Coldwater Land Conservancy Fund (CLCF) is a central component of TU's work to permanently protect private lands from incompatible development and energy exploitation.  The CLCF is intended to encourage collaborations and partnerships with land trusts and public agencies to achieve the common goal of permanently protecting lands with important trout and salmon habitat.

TU’s goal is to create, through the CLCF, a $2 million grant fund to support collaborative efforts between TU and the land trust community to protect high-priority trout and salmon habitat.  Specifically, the CLCF will be a source of restricted funding, similar to TU's successful Embrace-A-Stream program, that provides grants to land trusts and state agencies to permanently protect priority streams and watersheds throughout North America.  Once fully established, the CLCF will provide funding on a bi-annual basis to cover the transaction costs associated with donated and purchased conservation easements and the stewardship costs associated with voluntary public angling access on lands protected through TU-land trust partnerships.

Download the CLCF Campaign for America's Trout and Salmon fact sheet.

TU is starting to implement the CLCF through targeted regional funds, such as the Chesapeake Bay Coldwater Land Conservancy Fund, by working with TU's grassroots to establish council and chapter-led initiatives, and by helping conservation partners focus and leverage land protection funding for coldwater fisheries conservation.

For more information on the CLCF, contact TU's regional land protection staff or email landprotection@tu.org.