Mainspring receives accreditation renewal
Mainspring has conserved more than 29,000 acres in the Southern Blue Ridge. Ralph Preston photo
Mainspring Conservation Trust has earned renewal of its national land trust accreditation through the Land Trust Alliance, remaining part of the nationwide network of more than 450 accredited land trusts.
Nationally accredited since 2010, Mainspring is required to provide extensive documentation and is subject to a comprehensive third-party evaluation in order to achieve the distinction. Accredited land trusts now steward nearly 20 million acres — the size of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island combined.
Mainspring is one of 1,363 land trusts across the United States, according to the Land Trust Alliance’s most recent National Land Trust Census. Founded in 1997 as Land Trust for the Little Tennessee, Mainspring has conserved more than 29,000 acres in North Carolina’s six westernmost counties and in northern Rabun County, Georgia.
